SAJJ Mediterranean made its brick-and-mortar San Francisco debut on Monday at 636 Second St. (between Brannan and Townsend), in the space that housed Merigan Sub Shop until last month.
The Mediterranean restaurant, which started three years ago as a Menlo Park food truck, has quickly become a force in the South Bay, with brick-and-mortar locations in San Jose and Mountain View, and another location opening in Sunnyvale next month. CEO Zaid Ayoub, who's originally from Jordan, told us he's excited to move from food trucks to a brick-and-mortar in the city.
SAJJ features a menu of classic Mediterranean dishes like shawarma, falafel, and pomegranate chicken, which can be ordered Chipotle-style in customizable wraps, pitas, salad bowls, and rice bowls, and topped with a variety of condiments, from hummus to tzatziki to cilantro-mint chutney. Entrees range from $9-12, and there are numerous vegan and gluten-free options.
"Since you build your meal step-by-step, you can always get something different," says Ayoub, who notes that SAJJ's most popular menu option is the "shawafel," a combination of shawarma and falafel.
So far, Ayoub says, the San Francisco location's customers have been “mostly urban professionals," although "a great deal of our demographic is older people who live nearby," he adds. A big focus of the new location will be catering and delivery, with options aimed at the many nearby offices.
Ayoub says that proximity to AT&T Park, which allows outside food, will be another source of business for SAJJ, and that he will be adding a menu suited for those on their way to a Giants game, with quick, family-sized meals to go.
Though SAJJ now has a permanent presence in the city, Ayoub says locals will continue to see its two food trucks, which are centered around a commercial kitchen and commissary in Menlo Park. A frequent presence at Off The Grid events, the trucks have traveled as far as Napa. (SAJJ also has separate vans devoted to deliveries.)
Currently, the San Francisco location is only open for lunch, from 10:30am-3pm, though it will extend its hours to 8pm sometime in January. Catering orders are currently only taken via phone; Ayoub is setting up an online ordering system for San Francisco, which will be available next week.
