"One of the first things Muheb “Moe” Mehirdel noticed when he moved to Los Angeles in 2015 was the lack of halal cart-style food available in the San Fernando Valley. At the time, the most well-known restaurant serving something that felt similar to it was Halal Guys, a national chain that started as a cart servicing a constant flow of Muslim taxi drivers in New York City. While the Los Angeles Halal Guys outpost had a similar menu to its New York counterpart, the taste of its food paled in comparison to the food back in Mehirdel’s hometown of Flushing, New York, where halal carts that serve meat and rice platters, along with gyros, dot nearly every block. Missing the food he was raised on and seeing an opportunity to cater to the local Muslim community, Mehirdel decided to bring his nostalgic version of New York-style halal food to Los Angeles. For Mehirdel, the decision to open New York Chicken & Gyro in Canoga Park was natural. Back in New York, his extended family owns a handful of halal restaurants across the state, including Shah’s, Hamza & Madina, and Naz’s. When Mehirdel’s father, Habib, and brothers, Sam and Hafiz, joined him in California, the family completed work on the first location in a storefront that was previously a pizzeria. For the new restaurant, Mehirdel envisioned a menu that would bring a taste of Queens to the city he now called home. New York Chicken & Gyro opened its doors in June 2017. Recipes served in the restaurant take cues from best-selling dishes at the New York restaurants run by Mehirdel’s family and the halal carts he frequented growing up. The menu spans dishes including chicken, lamb, and falafel, which are available as a platter with basmati rice, salad, and a housemade white sauce or tucked into a gyro sandwich that comes with lettuce, tomatoes, and white sauce wrapped in pita. The restaurant also sells hamburgers, fish, crispy hot wings, creamy “drip” wings, and chicken nuggets. For New York Chicken & Gyro to be considered halal, the Mehirdels had to find purveyors that offered halal-certified meat at a price point that allowed them to keep the cost of dishes on the menu affordable. Currently, the restaurant works with Wayne Farms and Delta Valley, which sell certified halal products in addition to their non-halal meat." - Rebecca Roland
