LANSING — Khadija Al-Kasti and Hussein Sawan have been part of a local, family-run business for just over four years, and they’re continuing that tradition with their new venture.
Rae Suboh, Sawan’s brother-in-law, opened a Mediterranean restaurant and bakery, Bread Bites, in Okemos in late 2019. Bread Bites is a family business, Sawan said, and he and his wife have both worked together with relatives in the kitchen.
Now, the couple has opened Beirut Kitchen inside Lansing Shuffle, the seventh and final restaurant to open inside the food hall and social club off Riverfront Drive. The business opened last week, serving Mediterranean dishes, including chicken shawarma and kebabs.
“It’s been our dream to have our own kitchen because we like food,” Sawan said. “Everything we make fresh, with passion, with love.”
Mediterranean dishes are focus of the menu
Suboh and their family helped Al-Kasti and Sawan open Beirut Kitchen. The couple, who reside in East Lansing, will run the small operation with occasional help from their two children, ages 14 and 15.