Fall has a way of making us crave food that feels like a hug: warm spices, hearty flavors, pillowy bread, perhaps something savory tucked into a pita. Whether Middle Eastern food is already part of your comfort-food rotation or you are feeling brave enough to order something unfamiliar, Reno has plenty of delicious places to start exploring.
And it is worth remembering that “Middle Eastern” is an umbrella, not a single cuisine; recipes shift across countries, families, and generations, which is part of the charm.
Start with shawarma
For Radi Rejoub, owner of Aladdin’s Market & Kitchen, sharing Middle Eastern flavors is personal. Rejoub grew up in Jordan before moving to Reno in 1987. He and his wife, Naaz, opened Aladdin’s to fill a gap they saw in the community: a place where specialty ingredients and familiar family recipes could live side by side.
“We saw a need in our community for something that didn’t exist yet,” Rejoub says.
That spirit is evident at his shop, Aladdin’s - a market and full-service kitchen offering Middle Eastern and Mediterranean groceries alongside made-to-order food. For an easy introduction: Rejoub recommends the chicken shawarma sandwich, layered with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, homemade garlic, and tahini sauce, or the Aladdin’s sampler, which brings together rice, chicken kabob, beef kofta, hummus, and pita. His personal favorite? The falafel sandwich, which he calls “super nostalgic.”
The story behind the food matters, too. After Aladdin's opened in 2014, the business steadily grew through community support, while Rejoub and his wife refined family recipes until each seasoning and ingredient tasted the way they remembered.
Save room for baklava
At Mediterranean Bae, the connection to home is just as strong, though the journey is different. Bugrahan and his brother Can grew up in Turkey and came to Reno four years ago. Neither came from the restaurant industry—Can is a computer engineer, while Bugrahan is a lawyer. But, as Bugrahan puts it, “in Turkey food is not just food. It is how family comes together, how we celebrate, how we show love.”
Their first restaurant, Mediterranean Bae, opened at Reno Public Market in July 2023. Their next chapter arrives this fall with Bora Mediterranean, planned for 960 South Virginia Street in Midtown. Bora will expand on the brothers’ Aegean and Mediterranean roots with a full bar and bread baked in-house daily.
For a first visit to Mediterranean Bae, Bugrahan suggests beef and lamb gyro, chicken shish, and baklava. The gyro requires patience; the shish gets its character from marinade and fire. And for dessert? Baklava. “It represents so much of our culture,” he says, “the tradition of sharing something special with people you care about.”
At the table, hummus, grilled meats, falafel, salads, breads, and sweets are meant to mingle. Bugrahan describes a Turkish tradition in which neighbors exchange plates of food, and the plate always returns filled with something else.
Your next bite
For a more polished, modern experience, Claio Rotisserie brings its own Mediterranean-adjacent sensibility to the table, including a silky-smooth hummus worth ordering alongside its rotisserie-focused menu. For something casual, Suri’s Mediterranean is a longtime Reno favorite for a classic gyro, shawarma, falafel, and hearty platters. And SilkRoad International Market is worth a stop when you want to browse specialty groceries while sampling Afghan, Persian, and Turkish flavors, including kebabs and qabuli palaw.
The beauty of Reno’s Middle Eastern food scene is that there is no single doorway in. Start with a familiar ingredient. Try the yogurt (laban) sauce. Indulge in the falafel. Let someone at the next table convince you to try the (lahmacun) lahma bi'ajeen. Then order something for the table.
“I wanted to share the flavors and traditions I grew up with," - Radi Rejoub