The Meat Mafia Podcast

Kareem, welcome to the Meat Mafia podcast. Thank you guys so much for having me. Oh, it's been a long time coming, we're so excited for this. I know, we've been trying to get it on the calendar for like a few months. We've hounded you in every way possible. You guys came to the truck a few times, yeah? We did, yeah.

I mean, to eat. Yes. But, you know, it was, we were always like, yeah, is Kareem interested in coming on the podcast? Just because we were so excited to, uh, To tell your story, honestly, and hear, hear what the, the origin story, because we heard it once, and it was like, incredible, so. Thank you. Yeah, we're excited to share with the audience.

Thank you, thank you. I'm excited to be here, thank you guys. Oh, I mean, the, the success, and the story, and the explosion of the, of KG has been incredible to watch, because our buddy Matt put us on to you originally, so I think maybe about close to a year ago, I think was the first time we came. Yeah, yeah, because we went after KetoCon.

For, like, that wasn't our first time going. No, that was our second time. But the, I think the first time anyone's ever had your food, it's like, it's tough to explain it because the flavors, the quality, it's unlike any barbecue you've ever had before. And I know you get this a lot, but it's like, the blend of the spices, the rice, the best ribs I've ever had, it's like every, the pomegranate barbecue sauce, it's like we could go on for hours just how good the food quality is.

I can drink that. Yeah, you, I do. You probably do, but it's by far the best barbecue. And then when we met you for the first time, you were telling us all about your story of like, I think you were in the banking or the finance industry, and it's a fascinating story of how you came over to the States and got involved in barbecue.

So I think for the listener, we'd love to just learn a little bit more about your kind of your founder story and what you were doing before KG was a thing. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you know, we're doing a lot of different flavors and barbecue and I feel like KG barbecue is Kind of offering this new, uh, twist, fresh, you know, breeze of fresh air that people have been craving or didn't even know they were craving in the barbecue.

Uh, but yeah, before, uh, before I cooked barbecue, I had a totally different life. I always explain that my first bite of brisket is my new birthday. Yeah. Because really, that's how it felt like. Like I had my first bite of brisket and literally everything changed. And where was that at? Rudy's. Yeah. Believe it or not.

Yeah. And that was like 2012, right? That was 2012. Yeah. Nice. Here in Austin, yeah. Very random. Like, I didn't know anything about Texas. I didn't know Texas barbecue is a thing. Uh, I mean, I always knew there's many different styles of barbecue all over the world, but I had no intrigue or interest in venturing outside of Egypt for barbecue or food.

Uh, I love Egyptian barbecue. Yeah. The way we do barbecue in the Middle East is. It's probably still my favorite way. It's more, um, it's, it's more versatile. It's lighter in flavors and the cuts that you choose. It's more, it's something you can eat a lot more of than Texas barbecue. And I think that's why it's like the, the marriage works really well because what we do in the Middle East and the flavors and the spices and the sides and everything kind of.

cuts through the richness of Texas barbecue, and that's why it makes it more, uh, uh, more approachable for many people that don't eat a lot of barbecue or don't eat it as much. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I, I used to work in corporate finance. Uh, I went to Cairo University. I studied business because I had an existential crisis when I graduated high school.

I didn't know what the hell to do with my life. So my dad actually advised me to study business because he saw an entrepreneur in me. Um, And, uh, I, I did that because it's a really well rounded, like you can study business and then do anything. Definitely. Right? So, uh, and then I graduated university and, uh, I started applying almost everywhere.

I was really interested in marketing, advertising. So I was more focused on applying to advertising agencies in Cairo. Uh, and then I got started getting hit up by banks where I had applied. Um, and, uh, I got a really nice. Offer, uh, in a really great department in the bank, bank corporate credit department has a great future.

It's not, you know, I, it was a job, you know, I was like, yeah, this is a, it's a great bank. Like it's a really well sought after position in the bank, has great potential. Like, it's almost like this kind of job is every, uh, every family or every parent. pursue you or push you to pursue such a career. It has a very promising future.

And you look at all the bank, uh, you know, CEO, CEOs or the department heads. And, uh, you know, they have. A lot of money. Yeah. Uh, they have really weird body shapes. Yeah. From all this, like, seriously, that's one thing I noticed. Just being hunched over in front of a computer. Like, big hunch. Yeah, the weirdest shapes, man.

Yeah. It's kind of scary. Um. But, um, yeah, I just, I took it as a job, you know, and, uh, and I, I, I, I really liked it in the beginning. The first year I was like, Oh, it's my new job, my new life, my new desk, my new blah, blah. You know, it was like exciting, fresh, fresh, new thing. I liked it in the beginning, and then just like, probably a year or even less than a year, I just instantly realized this is not, like, this is not what I'm, what I'm here to do, you know?

It's not, it's not mine. Uh, I'm sure it's a great career for someone else, but it's not, it's not mine. And I feel like that's the problem, is people Most people get stuck in that, you know, like a lot of people have, uh, it's almost like a separation of, yeah, this is job. This is work. You have to do it. And then you forget that you can actually Find the thing that works for you.

Yeah. And it takes, it takes work. It takes time. It takes a lot of boundary, like a lot of, uh, you know, a lot of obstacles that you have to come, uh, come through and get over. But a lot of people, I feel like they don't realize that and they just keep going. And this grind and just thinking of this as work, you just have to do it and get it done.

Yeah. Um, so I feel, I feel lucky that I actually ended up pursuing this, you know, and ended up believing that I can. Live and do every day that's something that I love and do it for a living, you know so I took that job and I was like A year or two, I was like, you know what, fuck this, I can't do this. And then I decided to quit.

Uh, you know, my love for food started when I was young. Uh, from my mother, uh, my family, my first ex girlfriend. She loved cooking. I saw her cook a lot. And my entire family cooks. We all get together almost every weekend, whether it's at my grandpa's house, or we go out to the farm or the ranch and we get together.

We take the entire day to cook something. You know, as linger on, we spend like hours on the dinner table, like we'll eat and just like linger and talk and laugh and share stories. It's amazing. Uh, so I come from like a food heavy family, you know, and I always loved cooking. I was really interested in it in my early teenage years is when I started getting in the kitchen and cooking and, uh, hosted my first dinner party for someone that's outside of my instant family when I was 19 years old.

I had my friends over, and I made a whole spread when I was 19 years old. Uh, and then this, you know, I graduated college, and I was in my finance and banking world, and uh, this idea just kept hunting me, like, I would love to do this professionally. And, uh, I can't remember always, uh, I think it's Scarface, uh, quote, uh, he says if you're good at something, don't do it for free.

I can't remember if Scarface or something else. We should know that, being the Meat Mafia, we should definitely know that. We'll look into it. We'll find it, we'll find it. Um, so Yeah, I mean during that phase as well like I had I had this job and I decided to quit it Thinking that I'm gonna actually do something with food and I had a lot of ideas.

I had a a phase in my life where I was obsessed with chicken wings. Oh. And I was like, you know, all kinds of wings, you know, baked, grilled, fried, and all different kinds of sauces. And I was like, you know, I'm going to open a wing shop in Cairo. And then it's like, of course, everything, all the wing shops started blowing up.

I was like, you know, nevermind. And then I took almost six months off of my, uh, of, of work. And I thinking that I'm going to do something and I ended up just. Um, staying at home, not doing anything. So I decided to go back to banking. So I just chose a different bank and I said, I'm going to give it another try.

And then I went back and I was like, again, you know, less than a year I just like I realized and that that was the first, you know, around this time is when I visited the US for the first time. It was 2012 Memorial Day weekend, extremely memorable. trip for me. First time I visit the U. S. I have an uncle that lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

So I came here. I had some money saved up from work and I got my visa and I came here for two weeks with my grandparents actually. And we were here, and my friend hit me up from, uh, Austin. Like, I have an Egyptian friend living here, and he was like, Oh, you're in the U. S., you should come down to Austin for a weekend.

Uh, and I did. My grandparents were nice enough to buy the flight ticket for me. And they were like, yeah, go, go have fun, go see your friend. And I went here, and I, uh, you know, I went out the airport, and he took me from the airport. Two blues on the green, first, uh, and then we had a lot of barbecue. We had Rudy's, he was like, the first, I think we went to Hamilton Pool, and then on the way back we went to Rudy's.

So I had a great time in Austin, like, meeting the people here, seeing the music, eating the barbecue. Uh, like, I, I really enjoyed this time, like, this is a very memorable trip for me. Um, but, you know, trying the brisket for the first time. Uh, that's, that's when I say it's, it was a life changing moment. I really feel like it was like the beginning of the, the, the second half of my life, you know?

Wow. So from that first bite of Rudy's brisket, you knew that that's what you were supposed to do after that. You know, not, not quite like clearly, but like it was, impactful. Uh, uh, event in my life that, like, I wanted more of it during that weekend. Uh, and I, I kept, we kept eating a lot of barbecue and every time I did, I would just be more and more interested in it.

And then I came back to, you know, I remember it so well. I've been still have, I had my Canon camera back then. I had, I took so many pictures. I have the pic. I have pictures of that spread. I have pictures of the guy cutting the brisket that I had for the first time. Um, but I was so fascinated by the craft, you know, of course the flavors, like I'm, I just got like a flavor bomb in my mouth, you know, I had something I've never had before.

It tastes smoky, it tastes like barbecue, but it's also, uh, not, not what I'm used to, you know, like we're used to chops and kebabs and koftas and like this, like. Smoky, but charcoal char on the meats when I think of barbecue. But this has a different type of smokiness and it's way more tender than, than than our barbecue, like our barbecue.

When you grill the chops or the loin or that it has some chew to it. It's not tough, but it has some bite and chew to it, but the brisket has such a different texture. It's almost like stew meat or like that, like fork tender, like falls apart, but it's barbecue. It's cooked on a live fire. So learning more about it and seeing how it's done, it just kept growing on me and keep getting fascinated by how magical this craft is.

Like you take the cheaper cuts, the undesirable cuts that people Used to grind and not know what to do with because they're too fatty. They're too tough to cook and You beautifully transform them with this magic and minimal ingredients and a live fire salt pepper and live fire It's like very minimalistic approach and dry, you know heat and like it's just a fire and salt pepper and just transforming all these cuts that people really struggle with with cooking right and Uh, so that's also what Drew really drew me into the, to the craft.

It's not just that it's amazing and it tastes amazing. It's also, there's magic. I always think of it that way, like, Texas barbecue, there is magic behind it. Mm. You know, the fact that it's, it, it is, is, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's easy. It's easy, but it's not Also, you know, we have this saying in, in Arabic, it's like something that.

looks very easy. If you see a, like a music performer or like, or a dancer on a stage, he makes it look so easy, right? You try to do it and it's not, it's not really not. Yeah. One of my old baseball coaches used to say it's simple, but it's not easy. Yeah. And maybe that's similar to what you're saying too.

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Yeah. Um, So, yeah, you know, I went back and I, I didn't, you know, I've, I was in that phase where I knew I wanted to cook professionally, did not have the guts or the energy or the money or the time to actually pursue that dream. Uh, and then after having barbecue, I think that was like, Oh, you know what?

This is something that Egyptians would like. Die for like they would they would love that, you know Like the Egyptians would love this type of food and this type of barbecue so that was my initial plan is to like hey, I'm gonna go back to Egypt and I'm gonna recreate this experience that I had, you know at home So the first thing I did was, um, look up, of course, like, watch every single video there is out there on YouTube.

Naturally. Yeah. Yeah. As you should. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy how much you can learn on YouTube now. Oh my gosh, you can learn everything. So that's literally how you started on YouTube? Mm hmm. Yeah. It was YouTube and, uh, Franklin's book. Wow. So I bought Franklin's book on, on, uh, uh, on Amazon, like the, the, the online book.

And I just read all of it, uh, and watched all of his, Franklin's YouTube videos and every single, like, brisket video I could find, uh, and then I started experimenting myself. I cooked the first brisket in my beach house, uh, in the oven, uh, it was probably, like, you know, this big. I'm talking, like, it looked, I mean, maybe, like, I don't know.

No bigger than a 12 inch diameter. It did not look like a brisket. Uh, but yeah, it went straight from the oven to the trash. Oh shit. Failed. You know, as, as, yeah. Uh, I tried, I tried, of course I hate, I hate wasting food, I tried to eat it, I still have a picture of it as well, I even made a sandwich out of it, to, in order to be able to swallow it, you know?

But the thing was, like, extremely burnt, like, Oh, you just overcooked it? Yeah, it was like, Like completely dry, like jerky, you know, you can't overcook.

Didn't you have a Weber grill too, or something like that? Yeah. Yeah. So the, my, my first trial ever was, was oven brisket. Uh, and then I went to this, uh, market, uh, like kind of like a high end fancy grocery store in Cairo, uh, that they had just acquired the agency from, uh, Weber grills in the US. And they started selling Weber products, uh, and there was like a grand opening of a new branch in Cairo.

And I went there and I was lucky that the head butcher of, of this store was there for the opening. So I went there and I got myself a Weber kettle, which is like the most basic. Vessel for barbecue right like it's a great. It's a great vessel It's a great grill, but you can also smoke on it, and there's multiple techniques or multiple methods you can use to smoke on the Weber

But I went there and I started going I went to the meat case and I asked for a brisket And, uh, I guess the guy, like, didn't know what I was talking about, so he was like, let me go find the butcher, and I was lucky that the head butcher was there for the opening. And, uh, the guy came out, his name is Ahmed, and he is such a wonderful person, I'm so glad that I met him, because he's one of the best butchers I've seen in Egypt.

So, he came up to me and he was like, Oh, my colleague here is telling me that you're asking for a brisket. Uh, he was like, I'm gonna give it to you, as long as you tell me, you tell me what you're gonna do with it. Like, he was so curious. What the hell am I going to take this cut for because you usually in the Egypt and probably most of the world brisket, the plate ribs where the dino beef ribs come from this all ground like people will just grind it because of how tough and because it just has the right fat content, super fatty makes great like burger or ground meat.

So he was so. Intrigued that by the fact that I want a whole brisket because nobody ever asked for that. Yeah So then I told him like, you know, this is what I'm doing. I showed him some pictures and he was like, let me know how that works out and how that goes. We ended up striking a great friendship and we had like parties and I would invite him.

And when we had big events, I would invite him to break down like a whole lamb or like cook things. Like he's a great person. Uh, but yeah, it took me like multiple, multiple trials. I cooked brisket in so many ways. Like, of course, my, my biggest challenge was finding briskets. Uh, there's a lot with the breeds, uh, of cows and cattle in Cairo and Egypt.

The flavor is great, but it's not marbled like here, like the black Angus. And of course you're cooking barbecue, you're cooking the Scott on a dry, harsh 12 hour cook. Right. You need so much fat. So the local. Beef in Egypt just doesn't work and even The Texas barbecue made it to Cairo recently. Wow years.

Yeah. Yeah, there's like legit like There is you know people that are doing it properly Enough, you know, yeah. Yeah So all of these restaurants they import from here like they import all of their meats Believe it or not, from the U. S. Interesting. Because you can't really work with local beef, especially when you're cooking something like brisket.

So that was the biggest challenge, was like going to butchers and like, I would go and like take my phone, uh, and pull up the beef chart. Yeah. I'm like, here's the cow, here's the brisket. Can you cut it? So, so, you know, and the other thing is aging beef and beef in general should be aged for two weeks. But in Egypt, the health department doesn't believe in that.

So you have to like kind of do all the processing and selling of the entire animal in a couple days. Oh, wow. So the meat is still very green. It's it's has so too much moisture. It doesn't cook right? Um, especially in this setting So that was the biggest like challenge is is like finding especially with brisket Sometimes I would cook beef ribs turn out better I cooked like a lot of whole chickens salmon shrimp like everything duck like everything I once I got the techniques down and how to run the fire and experiment with different kinds of wood and water pans and saucing versus not saucing and wrapping in foil or paper.

And I, I just played with it a lot. And then I understood the dynamics and the physics of and the chemistry of how this whole thing works. out of a Weber, because it's all like now, you know, I'm so grateful for that. And like, once I moved here, and I already had a great kickstart of knowing how to work with a live fire and how to cook meat on a live fire.

But you know, every single rig of barbecue is just it just has the same physics, like you have a fire source, you have the cooking chamber, you have the Chimney or the smokestack. So it's like the physics are always the same no matter what rig you're using And then I started this like supper club because things I got expensive, of course, yeah, I was cooking almost every weekend Yeah running out of all my paycheck You're still working at this point, right?

Yeah, I'm still working. Okay. I had my day job and I would be in my Office, you know, in my Just thinking about brisket? Yeah. I would be thinking of my shopping list. Thinking about what I'm going to do when I go home. It's so relatable. I feel like most people who have dreams of doing something other than the 9 to 5 job, but they're in the 9 to 5 job, like they know their head is somewhere else.

That's a good sign. You'll just be daydreaming all day. Would you get home from the job? And then just immediately go to the grill and grill something up for the night, like every single night, or was it mostly just the weekends that you were Tinkering and experimenting. I would say mostly weekends.

Weekends, okay. Just because of like, how much, uh, how much time and work it took. Yeah. Uh, and I always, when I cooked, I still, it's still the same for me. Whenever I cook, I always cook a lot. Even if I'm cooking for myself, like, sometimes I'll cook dinner for my girlfriend and I, and I, it just ends, turns into meal prep.

20 pounds. Yeah, I know, exactly. chicken. Here's 15 pounds of chicken. Well, I mean, we're cooking it, so we're going to cook it and freeze it, you know? Yeah. It's so relatable. I'm going to do the work, like, you know, you might as well cook for the week. It's like Nick, right? Yeah. Our buddy Nick. 100%. He, uh. He always has an eye for when Whole Foods has their, their crazy sales, like the Whole Foods downtown will have discounts on their New York strips where they'll sell it for like 15.

99 a pound. And he always, I think he noticed it like a couple months ago and he bought 30 pounds of New York strip. And then they had the sale again last week and he bought like another 10 pounds. But he had like 30 pounds in his freezer. He, it's like this masculine urge to just keep buying as much meat as possible.

So. And then it turns into a meal prep, like, yeah. One of the things I love investing in is a vacuum sealer. I don't know if you guys have that, or Nick. You should probably introduce him. Yeah, because if you just throw in a Ziploc bag, the air will You always get a freezer burn, even if you take as much air as you can out.

If you vacuum seal it, especially if you cook a lot, or you buy a lot of meat, vacuum sealing, it makes it last indefinitely. Wow. And you can use sous vide and vacuum seal too, right? You can sous vide it in the vacuum seal as well. But that's not, I feel like sous vide is almost sacrilegious. I would never use it on a stick.

Yeah. I would never, I mean, you know, I, you know, everybody has their own. I'm not trying to say anything about anyone. Yeah. Everybody has their own school of cooking. But sous vide, like to me, sous vide is a moist, you know, low heat cooking. Uh, and you should use this type of cooking for Cuts that need a long time to cook.

Right. But sticks don't need a long time And sticks benefit way much more from dry cooking. Right. Than wet or moist cooking. Yeah. Especially the way you described barbecue, where it's magical and an art. Yeah. It's like, yeah. This is like the sci scientific way of cooking a, a piece of meat. Yes. The yes

Yeah. It's also a lot easier. Yeah. It's more consistent. A lot, a lot easier. So it takes the challenge out of it. Yeah, less magic though. Less fun. Yeah, exactly. I saw my brother was cooking that way once. I was like, dude, this is like, so boring. Just like, let's throw it on some fire. What, the sous vide? Yeah, the sous vide.

I know some people swear by it, but it just seems so weird to put a steak in a plastic bag and then drop it in a thing of water. Yeah. It just doesn't seem natural. Yeah, I mean, I'm not about it. You know, it's probably, you probably cannot get more consistency out of any cooking method. Yeah. Than the sous vide.

Like the sous vide. You cook, you cut the steak when it's done, and it's perfect. Like the doneness will be perfect. Mmm. But good luck getting like a nice char, a nice crust, because you can, like you can sear it on the outside and get a beautiful color. But the steak has been cooking in a wet environment the entire time.

So that crust is just not going to be the same as if you cook it the entire time. Like to me, the reverse sear is when you cook a steak. It could be a sous vide. The reverse sear means that you cook the steak on a low heat for a while until it reaches that temperature. And then you take it out and you sear it.

To me, I always do it on a smoker, like a smoker or an oven. You know, if I don't have access to a smoker, I'll put my steak, if it, I only do that with bigger steaks. Yeah. With small steaks, you don't need to reverse sear. Yeah. You can just cook it in a pan. Just sear. Yeah. Just sear. Like a normal. Totally. But if it's like two plus inches, then you need to do like a double, uh, like a low and then high or vice versa.

Got it. Uh, so I always do a smoke, like, to me, a smoker and then a grill is the ultimate way to do it. Like, you smoke it, and then you just go all the way on a live fire. Yeah. If you don't have that, like, oven and pan sear, like cast iron. Uh. Well, if you can get that smoky flavor into the meat, and then rip a nice sear so you have that crust.

Yeah. It's unbeatable. Yes. Like, that, for real, nothing compares to it. Yeah. Yeah, it get like the attention, like people, I mean, there's nothing, I mean, it gets everybody's, it's incredible. That's what I was gonna say about the sve. You're not getting anywhere going, wow, this is amazing. You're not gonna have some people like standing and staring at the and like, you know, opening a beer and like

It's not the same. Like you just can watch a fire and like stand in front of a fire. Brings people together, you know, there's something about it, you know, so if you don't do that again, magic, like you said, you'd be proud of Harry. We've got a nice little charcoal grill at the office. Oh, we've been bringing steaks in for lunch and Harry's out there just crushing some steaks out on the charcoal grill.

And the taste is amazing. That's what we do for lunch is just rip some steaks out on the grill. I love that. We might have to have you over for lunch is busy, but we'd love to have you over. You might have to teach us how to do brisket on the Weber because I've got the. We've been using a PK grill back at our apartment, but we have a Weber.

I love the PK. Yeah, just like the shape of it. It's really it makes a big difference. The Weber is like a whole new experience But I use I want to learn how to use it as a smoker I just usually just grill because it's pretty simple and we get decent cuts of steak and just Sear it up, and yeah, we can do it.

We can do it with like a big stick. We can reverse sear a big stick. Whiskey will take a long time. Yeah. That would be fun. I don't mind showing you how to do it. We'll do like a YouTube video so everyone can learn the way that you do it. But will you teach us how to make the pomegranate barbecue saucer?

Is that a secret recipe? No, that's not. That's not. Trade secrets. That's the first thing we trademarked. Alright, we're going to get into that, but back, so back to the story, so you're working your job, you're researching, you're doing all the barbecue on the weekends, when does, um, when do you, because you go to culinary school in Austin, didn't you?

At Austin Community College originally? How does that, where, where does that come in the story? When did you come back to the States? So, um, you know, I, I did a lot of experimentation back in Cairo in my backyard and, and I would invite my friends and like I was saying, like it got expensive. So I started this thing I called, I was like, come like a supper club where I had my friends, everybody that loved my food, they would come and help me put it together where we would invite more people.

Uh, but then ask for money, like ask for donation. Everybody, you're welcome to come bring your own drinks, but like put in some money. And I will cook for everyone, like I'll provide the food, just come in, bring your drinks, bring your friends, have a good time. And people loved it, like I would do it every Saturday.

Uh, and I had, I had like people wanting, wanting to come and we would just kind of like ask for a donation. And they would come in, hang out and eat barbecue and drink, eat something that they've never had before, right? Um, You know, I was happy with my results, uh, but I, I wanted more like I wanted, it was not still not the same as what I've had in Texas.

So I felt like I wanted more. So that was a time where, where I wanted to take a more serious move, uh, about quitting my job. Um, but I had a lot of trouble, um, getting over what my family thought about, about this. Um, my friends were very supportive because they. You know, they love me in a different way.

They, uh, they don't have the same, like, restraints as parents and family, and they believe in what I do. Uh, but despite, like, how much my family believes in what I do, I think it's harder for them to accept that. Yeah. Uh, so it was, it was, it was something that got. It got to me a lot and it really delayed my process and it delayed my move and it made me more scared of it because of how they told me that it's, you know, like, you're going to leave, you're going to leave your family, your friends, you're going to leave your job, your stable income, your stable future, promising future, you know, To go work in a kitchen, you know, like something kind of like looked down upon, right?

So that was that was probably the hardest thing and for that reason I decided to play it safer than I normally would have So I didn't even quit my job in 2015 I decided to take all of my paid time off in October, which is my birthday month and Come back to Austin and see if I can actually land a job So I took 30 days off, uh, and I came here to see if I can talk to a pitmaster, tell them my story.

And like, learn the job before I quit my other job. Wow. And I did that, that was, you know, again, an epic, memorable month for me. You know, I was like, finally, like, not working for a whole month. Uh, and I had so many recipes lined up that I've been wanting to cook. So I would go to the store, like, once a week.

And I get all these ingredients. And every day in this month, I made a new recipe. It's not barbecue. It has nothing to do with barbecue. It's just like recipes that I've been reading about or seeing. Uh, and I've wanted to cook. And then I would go out and I hit like multiple barbecue joints every day. My process was like, I'm gonna go in and get a sampler of their barbecue, and then sit down and eat it, and if I like it enough, I would go and talk to the owner and see if I can work with them.

So, uh, I did that and I have hit up every single joint you can think of, you know, that was 2015 So like there was a lot that hasn't opened yet. Yeah, right But but all of them, you know We got like Valentina's, Franklin, La Barbecue, like all all of these places that were even like Sam's I don't know if you guys know.

No, no. Barbecue. It's like, where's that one? Barbecue on the east side. I Think it's east. Well, it's a very old joint like very very old Um, and multiple like, you know, downtown spots, there's a place called Browns Barbecue on South Lamar. Yeah. There's a place that used to be called Lone Star Barbecue. It's not there anymore.

Like, which is funny, like knowing, even like remembering the fact that I applied in places that don't exist anymore. Yeah. It's funny. Uh, and, and I was actually faced with the, with almost like 100 percent rejection. And like, everybody said no. Uh, because that was, I think, you know, my theory is that there was a time when barbecue was really rising.

Uh, I think barbecue in Austin. Has always been there, of course, but Franklin started in 2009 and Franklin made a whole revolution in barbecue and like being, you know Very scientific nerdy about it and like making it really cool Like you don't really have to leave Austin and go to Lockhart and Elgin to get good barbecue Like this guy was came up and like he has it in his family and he's like super nerdy about it.

So he's Executed it really well So he made a whole revolution in the barbecue in Austin and not just Austin nation like worldwide I think he he made a whole revolution in the barbecue And then 2009 and then 12 and 13 this came another wave Uh, there's so many joints that opened up in 12 and 13.

Kerlin, Valentina's, the Barbecue, uh, I think Freedman's was probably there before that. But like, there's around 12 and 13, there's a huge wave of barbecue joints that opened. So when you think of 15 and 16, it's like the competition is there now, like Austin is becoming the capital of barbecue and like everybody's being really competitive about it being protective of their recipes.

And so that was like the time when I was like, is he is the Egyptian guy trying to steal your recipes. But I mean, I told them like, I'm not gonna yeah. Compete with you. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to learn. Yeah. Exactly. I was like, I told him like, I'm from Egypt. I, I'm really fascinated by what you're doing here.

And I want you to teach me and I'll just, I'll go back to Egypt and that my plan was to bring it back. Yeah. Never had plans to leave Egypt actually. Um, but yeah, everybody said no. Everybody said no. And I even had like little souvenirs and like beer cans and like I would go to the pit messes and give them a, an Egyptian beer can.

Like a little souvenir. But yeah, everybody said no, we don't do that. We're staffed, we're overstaffed, we don't do that. Um, all the way until the end I decided to offer my free labor. I said, I'm going to work for free like I was getting desperate and I really wanted to do this. So, uh, my last, actually one of my last stops on the weekend was curling barbecue.

You guys familiar? No, no. Yeah. Curling again, a spot that recently closed in the pandemic. Um, they opened in 2012. They were in business for eight years. Uh, family run truck. They used to be on a, uh, on Caesar Chavez. Uh, they were famous for their barbecue kolaches. Which is what they, they're doing now. They let go of their barbecue operation and they're doing just kolaches.

Really? You guys should try it. Really? Yeah. Are they still in the same spot? Yes, they have multiple locations actually. Okay, cool. And they sell, they make their, they make thousands of kolaches every day. And they sell it in multiple trucks and they also sell it in like The blue grocery, what is it called?

Royal Blue. Yeah, Royal Blue and like multiple cafes. Nice. So, you guys should definitely like order something for lunch. Uh, get some kolaches from there. They're really good. Uh, so yeah. I walked up to the Curlin BBQ family and I remember it so well. You know, we became amazing friends. We're really good friends until now.

I walked up to Emilis, his wife. She's from Venezuela. And Bill Curlin, he's from Philadelphia. That's true. Um, and, uh, I remember so well, you know, I walked up to the truck and my brother was here and, uh, my friend was here. Uh, they came like I was here for a month. My brother and my friend came to see me on the last weekend.

They stayed with me here on the last weekend of this trip. So both of them were with me and we walked up to the truck and I was like, you know, we got the food. The way I went back, I was like, Hey, the food was amazing. Can I talk to you guys about. This thing, I'm looking for someone to teach me and she was like, you can go talk to the boss.

The boss was like in the smoker, like Bill Kerr, and he's in the smoker. I learned later that she is the boss. I went up to him and I told him, you know, I'm from Cairo. My name is Karim and I'm interested in learning from you and I'm willing to work for free. Like, I just want three months of your time and I'll do whatever you need.

Think of it as an internship. You can use my work and services. All the hours, I'll give you all the hours. And I'm not, I don't, I don't need money. Like, just, just teach me. And he was like, yeah, why not? Like, yeah, I remember that so well. Like, the feeling that I got. You know, I went out like running out of the truck and going to my brother.

I was like, he said, yes, it's almost like proposing, you know,

and that was on the last weekend. So it was the last, yeah, that was really one of the last stops. I don't think I went to another spot after that. Wow. Like it felt like I felt the success, you know, already, even though I haven't even started. Right. But it felt like. It's like it's happening like it's a what this is like one step closer to the dream, you know Like I landed something like that's like the the hook, you know, like the the I hooked on something, right?

What made you well made you feel confident that you know you weren't gonna need pay necessarily that you would just be able to go over for the three months and Do your thing. You know, I wasn't really confident about that. You were just like, what's for all the dice? Like, I'm just, I need, like, I really, I was, I'm gonna be completely honest.

It was out of desperation. I was like, you know what, I'm gonna make it work when I have to make it work. But it seems like, uh, it seems like nobody wants to do that. Like, it seemed, which I understand. Like, if somebody came to me, I was like I'm gonna work for you and you pay me for the next three months and then I'm gonna leave.

I'm like fuck. No Yeah, you know, of course, I wouldn't say yes to that which that's probably why like I ended up Understanding where they're coming from and just like kind of giving another Step forward. I'm like, I'll, I'll, I'll compensate you by not paying me. I'll just give you free labor. Yeah, which, which is what probably ended up working out for me.

Yeah. Uh, so yeah, like he said, yes. And I was like, Like, yeah, it's on. Like, it's happening. And I went back to Cairo and I quit my job. And I was like, finally, it's happening. And I was like, here. And I went to my parents and my family. I was like, I have a job. Even though I'm not getting paid, but like, I'm not gonna stay home this time, you know?

Right, yeah. Uh, so, yeah, I went back and I quit. Quit my job and like kind of got everything together and got all my savings and and then I moved here like that was the beginning that was 2016 February is when I moved here. I worked for curling for about three to four months Three or four months in I really loved it.

Like I plugged in so easily they were very impressed with my skills and like what I can do not just in the Smoker, but also in the kitchen because I've been cooking for so long. Yeah, I've been cooking and reading and watching so much about cooking, uh, and then three or four months in, uh, you know, things start evolving and I really, really start falling in love with Austin.

And that's, that's when I can things like. shifted for me, uh, which is what has been so interesting watching how my dreams and my goals change and evolve in the, in those last seven or eight years. I came here with the plan of taking this craft back to Cairo. Yes. But now it looks so different. And over the last eight years, everything kept changing.

And that was like the first thing is like, Oh, Hey, I really like it here. Like, I really like Austin. I like its people. I like how relaxed this town is. You can go to a bar and like find somebody in flip flops and next to like, you know, people like just be, people are themselves. Yeah. Yeah. It's so welcoming.

It's, it's, it's diverse enough, you know, and the outdoors, the food, the people, the hospitality, the friendliness, everybody's nice and warm and friendly and welcoming, which is has high resemblance to Middle Eastern. Culture, uh, the country, cowboy, you know, like country, huge side of country in Egypt, like farmers, like the whole countryside in Egypt is so relatable to me and like how it is like here, their values, uh, and how different they are from the city people.

This is super relatable in Egypt. Uh, so. That was the first like change for me. It's like, you know what? I really like it here. I'm gonna, I want, I would like to stay here and that's when I went to culinary school, you know, I was like, okay, maybe I'll, I can. pursue a pit master career. My dreams first started shifting from taking this idea back to Cairo to wanting to be a pit master for for a well known barbecue joint here.

That was the first change in this in these plans. And the way I asked her curling, I was like, you know, I went up to current, of course, after three months, and I And I was like, you guys, I'm kind of running out of money. Yeah, I'm like, you know, I'm kind of ready to get paid now. Yeah, there was a lot of work.

Yeah, so much work. I've had like hours. They did the only year they catered or they took their truck to South by Southwest. Oh, wow. It was that year. So it was intense work. Like, and down south by, I would work like 18 hour days, multiple days in a row. I wasn't getting paid. Damn. You know, I was like, I mean, I was, I was here for it.

Right. I was totally here for it. Mm-Hmm. . But like a few months in, I told them guys I'm, I'm kind of liking it here. Yeah. And I'm running outta my savings and I need money. Right. Uh, so it didn't work out with them. Uh, and I decided to move on and that's when I went to Valenti's. Uh, because I was trying to start making income, uh, in order to go to culinary school.

Uh, so I got hired at Valentina's, Tex Mex, you guys have tried it? Yeah. I haven't been there. Oh, dude, you have to. It's good. You have to do yourself a favor. Scott loves it. Yeah. Our pastor loves it. He brings it up all the time. Yeah. He was one of the He was the toughest boss to work for Miguel. Uh, but he has the most inspiration on my cooking style.

Really? Yeah. And he also has, you know, I, I got the inspiration of doing Egyptian barbecue from working there. Interesting. Because Valentina's, they're like the OG fusion, right? So theirs is Mexican barbecue. Yeah, it's Tex Mex, but really it's Mexican. They have homemade tortillas. Their sides are rice and beans, uh, lime, uh, you know, salsa, fresh salsa, fresh guac, fresh tortillas.

So the spin there that they're doing on barbecue is, is Amazing. It's amazing. If you got a slab of moist brisket put on a fresh hot tortilla with some guacamole and salsa So it's a squeeze of lime. It's so good. Yeah, it's like the OG Like I think Valentina is one of if not the on the first place to do fusion barbecue Did a great job on it.

I'm not a fan of any I haven't been there in a long time, but I wasn't a fan of any of their other meats like sausage or ribs or chicken or any of that, but the idea of taking this brisket and putting it in a different dish that is very ethnic and you are used to eating it, but without barbecue, that was it for me, and they do breakfast.

Here's the thing, like you have like breakfast, Potatoes in a pan, and then you add some chopped biscuit to that, and like scrambled eggs, creamy, fluffy, guacamole, salsa, tortilla, like, it's amazing. It's almost too much of a good thing. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And so Miguel was the head chef there, or the owner?

Miguel is the owner and pit master. And he was tough, but he pushed you? Yes. Yeah. He was a really tough boss, person to work for. Um. Um, but working for him and learning from what he does and his cooking style has brought me the most inspiration from any of the pitmasters that I worked for. And seeing what he's doing with barbecue and the way he grew up eating and his Mexican background is what kind of put me in a place to think about Egyptian barbecue, right?

I'm like seeing what he does with barbecue. And then I eat it and I love it. And then I start thinking about, you know, a pita bread and, like, fresh herbs and mint and tomato and a little bit of tahini sauce. So I'm taking all these, uh, all this classic cuisine, like, exactly like what he's doing. I was like, that was the reason why I thought about it.

Like, I'm eating this, you know, brisket taco and I'm thinking of shawarma. I'm thinking of the shawarma and the ingredients and the bread and the sauces and the condiments. I was like, what if you put biscuit in shawarma? So that's like how I got the inspiration, you know, uh, so yeah, I, I, I actually went after it didn't work out with Curran.

I went to Valentina's and they hired me. So I went back to Egypt. And then I came, you know, I kind of took a quick break and then I came back and started going to school, uh, Austin Community College. I did the culinary program there for like a year. Uh, never actually ended up finishing it. Almost. I want to go back and finish it.

Um, I still have like a couple of classes left. Uh, but that was one of the hardest working phases. Like I went to school full time, worked at Valentina's 60 hours a week. My shifts were three. PM to 3:00 AM five days a week. Wow. Yeah. And I would go to school first and then go to Valenti's to work. Uh, so that was, that was tough.

But I was like, that was a phase of like absorption of knowledge and information. It was like uns on fast forward, you know, I'm like, fast forward. The, the learning, uh, I went to culinary school and like learning from Miguel, uh, um. And, you know, things didn't work out with Miguel. So that was like after I think I probably I did not even last the whole year.

Adventinez was probably eight or nine months. Uh, and then, you know, leaving there was really tough. It was really tough because I didn't, I didn't want to, uh, but I also couldn't, I couldn't keep going. Uh, well, you know, like some of the management, uh, styles and like, just there's some things that did not work for me and I could not keep in it.

Uh, but it was really tough because it felt. And it felt like I'm depending on it because that was my plan. I was like, you know, I'm going to find someone. And that's what I told him. Like, I will work for you and I will go to school if you let me be your pit master, work me up to be your pit master. And that was the plan, you know?

So like leaving there felt like I'm almost like breaking off. Something that I'm depending on. Like it was done? Yeah. Potentially? Yeah, not like the whole thing was done, but it was really scary. Mm. It was really scary. Like it felt like my, the rug has been swept off of my feet, you know? Like I didn't know what the future was gonna look like.

Yeah, right. How am I gonna get something else? And like, Um, But, you know, I, I kept, I mean I kept moving. I kept moving and I, uh, at this time I, I kept applying in different places. And I worked at, yeah, I worked at, uh, uh, I don't know if you guys know Freedman's. Freedman's was a, a whiskey bar and barbecue joint on campus.

It ended up closing down. They had decent barbecue. Their whiskey was great. But like the vibes, the idea of the joint, it's a very, it's a historical Austin building as well. So it's like super old building that you go sip on whiskey and eat barbecue. It was a great place. That's awesome I worked there very briefly and then I got a job at Roland smoke, which is a Eastside late night barbecue meal barbecue food truck It's kind of like a one man show kind of operation.

Yeah, the truck is so tiny It's so tiny and they have a 250 gallon smoker It's like right in the back of the truck, and it's like you are the cashier, the prep and the pit master, and it, it, it's like 6:00 PM to 4:00 AM. Mm. Wow. Yeah, so I did that for a few months actually. I enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy the schedule or the sleep schedule that it put me in, but running the operation all by myself, cooking the meats, serving the food, doing the cashier.

And being out in the street during this time talking to the drunk people like in the late night, of course, it was fun until it stopped being fun. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. Uh, and then I did that for a few months and, uh, um, and then my longest, my longer, more impactful job was Lambert's downtown barbecue.

It's a sit down. Not high end, but more, um, casual dining. They have barbecue, uh, they do rotisserie. I think now they have offsets smokers, but they used to do rotisserie when I worked there. I got hired there to cut barbecue. And on my first day, the grill. Cook walked out literally on my first night of work.

The grill guy just left the line So the chef looked at me. I was like you on the grill now They had a chart. They had a wood fire grill Huge like this big you just throw logs of wood in there super busy restaurant like super busy Yeah, second Street like downtown Austin no matter what time of the year it was pumping.

Yeah. So, I did about a year and a half over there. That was one of my longer stops of learning. Uh, uh, I think that was the phase where I was, like, trying to give this, like, whole, like, chef, being a chef career, uh, a try, you know, working in a full size kitchen. I also wanted to learn not just smoking meats outside.

I wanted to learn how to run a kitchen, how the hierarchy of the kitchens work, and how to do ordering, how to do supply chain, how to do all of that. Uh, so working Lambert's was super helpful in that way of like knowing how a line in a in a busy kitchen works and how people can work together. how you can lead a team, how different stations operate together, how they should prep, how you can use anything that you, that you're, you have a lot of, you know, like watching the two chefs and watching the chef do their thing and being under their guidance all the time was so helpful and being inside a place that cranks out so much volumes from different stations like that and being coordination, the coordination and like Watching the chef or the sous chef, whoever is on the line as the expo or the manager run the whole thing like a maestro.

You know, you have to be the maestro if you are running a busy kitchen. Mm. And that's what I enjoy the most. If I'm in my truck. I enjoy the expo. Uh, with the expo is like the, the, the front of the mind. You are the last point where the tray is handed to the customer. Yeah. Or the food goes out. You are the last person.

You are the first person to see the ticket, as well. So you're like, you see what comes in, and then you have your team. So you are playing the instruments, and you're here, you're managing this whole orchestra, and then everything comes back to you, and you give it to the customer. So Expo would be like quality control, like Expo would be like, like, really the maestro is the perfect way to Like, yes, you are doing quality control, but your most important job is To make sure everybody's doing their job in the right time.

Because you don't want like the meat to be cut and then you're still waiting for sides. Yeah, right. Like you have to time everything to where everything lands in the right place in the right time and everything looks good and it's ready to go. And then you're taking all the orders. So you are the one that organizes your board.

You have your tickets and you're like, okay, we're gonna work on this. And now this, or these two together. Um, so that's, that's what I enjoy the most now. I enjoy expoing, I also enjoy cashiering. Because I get to talk to the people. Yeah. You do love to cashier. I do. Yeah. I really do. Because you get that social, I mean, again, it's one of the stations that can get hectic, socially hectic.

Yeah. Like you can feel so drained after a long day of talking to people. Mm hmm. Uh, but I, when I don't do it for a while and I come back and do it, it's so rewarding and like people come, like people come, yes, for the food and the experience, but a lot of people come. To, like, they want to talk to me, like, they want to come to say hi, and like, once they see me on the window, I feel like they get excited, and that's such a rewarding thing.

Like, it's like people You know, it makes me remember, like, how, how much this work is affecting people. Right. Uh, and it's, it's really, it's really humbling and, and heartwarming, you know, to see those people coming in with the enthusiasm that they do. Does it bring you back at all to those times when you were throwing the parties and people would just bring money and You know, you would just be cooking for everyone, you know, it's, it's definitely a different, uh, different time.

Like, like back then it felt like I needed, I needed that. I was trying to do my best to get out there and like make my dreams happen and come true. But this now the people that come through now, it's a totally different feeling in the sense of that it feels like my hard work, my hard work is paying off, you know, like getting the.

Getting the attention or getting the, the reward, uh, from whatever, whatever awards or whatever that we're getting, but mostly from the people, you know, people that come and like, oh, I drove all the way from, you know, whatever. And people come from everywhere. And I saw your YouTube video and like, I'm so excited to try your food.

And then they try the food and then they come back and they were like. I've never had anything like this. You need to come and open your food truck and you know, this place and this is the only way I want to eat barbecue now. I'm like, yeah, it's so humble. It's so it's amazing. Yeah. And like this really, yeah, it takes me like for a whole flashback of all the hard work that I've done.

It makes it feel great, and it makes it feel like it's totally worth it, you know? This fly's being a pain in the butt, I'm sorry. Yeah, for anyone listening, there's a fly that's absolutely harassing It's harassing Dirk. It likes the stash. He can smell the pomegranate barbeque. He hasn't even thought about coming over here, so that's something.

Well, I'm sure it is so humbling thinking about the fact that Now, KG is at a point where there are definitely people that have seen that YouTube video that has 2 million views and they're planning their entire Austin visit around going to KG. And I know for us, after we saw the video and we're like, Oh, that Kareem is like working the cash register and he's, he's the owner.

So other people definitely feel that too. So for you to be able to give them that experience, it just tops it all off. Yes. You know, I always think about like, why? Like why? What, what's, what is, what is, uh, what is making this food truck or this business or this Egyptian barbecue thing become so successful and bring so much attention and bring people from all over like that?

It's been a question that's been on my mind for a while, like seeing, seeing the people's reactions and see people like, Oh, I drove all the way from, you know, Denver. I'm like, no, you didn't Like, no way. Like Denver. Is that a town in Texas? No. You might like, I'm like, yeah. I was like, I can't, like, I can't believe it.

And like for a long time I was like, of course. Like I'm sure you have something else to do here in Austin, and sure you're gonna try the barbecue. Uh, but then, you know, I mean, y the YouTube video came out and then watching all the comments on the YouTube video, it's amazing. It's, it's truly amazing. Like I'm seeing people from Egypt.

So many comments from Egypt. It's like, like, go, Kareem, you're making us proud. Wow. Yeah, it really is amazing. It really is, you know, uh, so, you know, I thought about it and like become these people and like, I'll be teaching a class, for example, I'll teach I do them like twice a month now and the truck I teach a brisket class.

And you'll see everybody peaking. Like, we do the class in the morning before the truck opens, and the class ends at noon. So there's this overlap from 11 to 12, where the class is still going, but the customers are already filling up the brewery. So we get, like, people kind of, like, trying to sneak in and, like, see what's going on, and I'll be walking by with a tray of brisket or whatever, and people go, like, Here's the guy.

That's, that's the guy. That's the guy from YouTube. Yeah. So, you know, I think about it a lot, like, why, why this is happening? I know I've put so much work and I know I've developed, I worked hard on developing the menu and making sure everything is, is great and to my liking, first. But I really think it's, it's The reason it touches so many people, I think, is because of how, what it means to me.

It's like, it's something that I do from so deeply down my heart. Like it's something that I created for myself. First, it's not something that I made for a business idea. It's not just entrepreneurial. It's not just something that I want to make money out of. But it's something that means so much to me.

And the way I was, I grew up and the way I ate when I was growing up, and the influence I had from my family, and it's all just kind of coming together. And it's worked, of course, a little bit of, of American eating preference is worked into it. Like, there's so many dishes that I introduced over the last five years in pop ups that just didn't work.

Like, it's like dishes that I love. So much and I was like, people are going to love this. And I put it on the menu and just no one, no one wants to buy it. Interesting. Yeah. So like knowing it's been also really cool and interesting to learn how to make Egyptian food more palatable to, to American diners.

That has been a really cool part of it as well. But I really, yeah, like I think it comes down to doing something with, with passion, like doing your best at something with all, with all what you have right now. And this thing means so much to you and you want to be. The best at it, and you want to be creative and unique.

But first of all, this thing is like, I do it for me. Like, I do this as, this is how I want to eat. I'm not trying to make it for anyone else. I'm not trying to think what's going to work and what's not going to work. So, and I really think that's why it's, it's impacting so many people. It's because it, it, it's so close to my, to me.

And I do it from my heart, you know. Uh, um, but yeah, I mean, like. After Valentina's, uh, I, no, sorry, after, so yeah, after Lambert's, Uh, it was a year and a half working on the line at Lambert's, I got offered a sous chef job there, uh, I didn't take it, I was glad I didn't take it, Uh, and I decided to move on to a new phase of butchering, uh, cause like, by then I had the barbecue experience, I know how to smoke meats now.

I know how to work in, in a line in the kitchen. Uh, and then I wanted butchering, uh, experience. Like, I wanted to be able to break down a cow, a pig, and a lamb. Uh, and I also wanted to learn how to make sausage and charcuterie. So I applied at a place called Lone Star Meats. Uh, and it's basically like a, I still had Lamberts then.

Uh, and I used to go to Lamberts from noon, or like, no, it's actually 3 3 to midnight. Uh, and I got another job at Lone Star Meats. I would go from 9 to 2, and then 3 to midnight. Uh, 9 to 2 was the butchering job, and 3 months in, I quit it because I realized it's not, it's like the opposite of what I'm looking for.

It's not a butcher shop, it's like a meat processing facility. They don't get whole animals, they get boxed, boxed beef, which is the term for, um, that, what is, what is killing the butcher industry is the boxed beef industry. So all the places we buy meats from, they don't get whole animals anymore. Even most butcher shops don't get whole animals.

Yeah, it's really, it's really sad, actually. Uh, but most, most butchers will get the cuts that sell the most from facilities. They sell them in boxes or cases. Like we, you know, we get cases of brisket, right? So there's the huge facilities that they get the animals, and they break them down, and they do all the ground meats, ground cuts, all that, and then they package everything in boxes.

This is the brisket. This is the chuck. This is the ribeye, you know, so even butchers now They were HEB whole foods even specific specialty grocery shops. A lot of them buy boxed beef. They don't bring in whole animals So I worked for three months like packaging steaks on a on a like a factory line, you know I was like this is like The opposite of what I want.

Yeah, yeah. Uh, this is what I don't want. This is what I hate about the, like, in the industry. Like the mass production of meats. Uh, so then I applied the salt and thyme butcher shop. Uh, for the second time. Have you guys been Oh yeah, definitely. Their, their butcher shop is Unbeliev. It's great. Do you ever want a char good charcuterie board?

Yes, absolutely. Best selection. Absolutely. Yeah. So you ended up, so you got the job at Salton time? I did. Finally, yeah. It was the second time I applied there. I think I applied before I started working at Lambert. Uh, and they said they didn't hire me then, and then I went back, uh, and, and Brian, the owner, uh.

We have a full circle now. Brian is, uh, he's the owner or co owner of Salt and Thyme. Uh, he does, he's not an active partner anymore, and he left, and he works for Superior Farms. Uh, who is, Spear Farms is my favorite lamb, local, uh, like American lamb company. Wow. I, they sponsor me. Oh wow. So I work with them.

I worked with many lamb suppliers and Spear Farms are like spot on, they have the best lamb in the country. Mm. Uh, so I work with them and then Brian starts working as the regional manager of Texas. Wow, so like I work with Brian now. That's incredible. Yeah, it is so cool. He is full circle. Yeah So yeah, I got back to some time and he recognized me.

He was like, weren't you here? I Think he respected that. Yeah. Yeah, he respected he actually hired me then He was like, I actually respect them that you're back in your consistent and he hired me. I told him I'm interested in Butchering. I want to learn butchering. And he ended up kind of like, cornering me in charcuterie.

Uh, but it ended up working for me. Because I really liked it. Uh, I still was there. I was in the cold room watching Brian break down animals. I would learn from him everything. But I worked my way up to be the production manager of charcuterie at Sultan time So I did the scheduling over there I did like all I took basically my job was to take all the scraps from the butchers and turn it into product Hmm, whether it's like homemade sausages or like fresh or smoked or, or salamis or jerky or like any, anything, but basically your job is to take the by product from the butchers and all the scraps and make valuable product out of it, which is arguably a more valuable skill than butchering.

If you break down an animal, you mess up something, you can turn it into a beautiful sausage. And I just, I love. You know, like making sausage and the craft of sausage to me. It's like it's like meat engineering. Yeah, you know Yeah, you are creating the bite you're engineering the perfect bite whether it's flavor meat types fat content Whether you're choosing beef, lamb, or pork, or a combination of them, how much fat you put in it, which cuts you use in it, if you're using cheese, herbs, vegetables, cooked or not, uh, how much you smoke it, like if you double smoke it.

There's so much that goes into it, and it's such an art. Like you are, it arguably could be, you could make a sausage that can taste better than a brisket, or it tastes better than a bite of meat, you know? So it's been such a Cool, a cool experience and working alongside someone like Brian, who's like master butcher and his craft, uh, I learned so much, so much there.

Like this, this was, uh, a major, uh, uh, step in my journey is learning. I worked for a year and a half at some point. Wow. Yeah. Uh, I had a major like dip in my career and, uh, during the pandemic, the pandemic was really hard for me. Hmm. Uh, I had. You know, so like all the way up to salt and time was, uh, that was 2020 like beginning of 2020 I was still at some time and it's been already four years of working every day like full time jobs.

Uh, I hosted my first pop up in 2017. Uh, so that only one year after I started cooking for barbecue joints, I was working at Valentina's and my co worker was gonna cook for this event in this tiny honky tonk in South Austin called giddy ups. Yeah, very old tiny bar. Uh, and he was like, I'm not gonna be, I'm gonna be out of town.

They want to take my pit and go cook for this event. It was South by event. And I was like, yeah, why not? You know, so I, I did it and I was like, that was the first time that I ever sell my food, did not do anything Egyptian. I did classic brisket, ribs, sausage, uh, mac and cheese, beans, and like, you know, potato salad, like made a very classic Texas barbecue spread and people loved it.

Like I went there, he told the smoker out for me, didn't have a truck, didn't have any of that. So he told the smoker out and I just went to the bar and slept. In the car, smoking meats overnight, ? No way. Yeah. I cooked the sides in my house and then I took everything over to the fridge and then I just spent it overnight in the car and I slept in the car and I was ready to serve the next day.

Mm. And I really loved it. Like the bar loved it. It was a, you know, it's a super cheap bar, South Austin. So I was like selling pulled pork sandwiches for like 7 and people still complain about the price. Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm like, why don't you go do it? So that was like how I started doing pop ups. And then I found this other spot called Diaz market, which is also a very similar story.

Another friend. Was supposed to cook for them and he was leaving town So he asked me to do it and that was the spot we did the pop up was super successful I was able to charge higher prices Still same Texas barbecue didn't do anything Egyptian. That was 2017 It was like their first anniversary. It's a small, tiny little grocery hippie grocery shop.

Yeah. In, in north, uh, Lamar, uh uh, and I did that and I was like, you, I called them back and I was like, you guys, this was great. This was a great event. I sold out, I cooked as much as I can. I sold out. Do you guys wanna do it again? And they were very excited about it. And I was like, yes, let's do it. We did it every two months and then we did it every month.

And then we did it every two weeks. Wow. Yeah, for a while. Uh, I, so I did that and this is when, this is really where I developed my menu and these pop ups and I started slowly introducing Egyptian dishes, Egyptian flavors, uh, from the shawarma to the shawarma was the OG, like, like the sandwich, like the pita bread, the chopped brisket, the fresh salad and tahini sauce.

That is the OG idea of the whole fusion. So that was the first thing that came on the menu. And then it was followed by many, many other dishes that came out. Uh, and everything that stayed in is what we have right now in the menu. And along this time, I also started teaching classes. Uh, I, I got on this website called cozy meal.

Uh, it's a great, it's an amazing website. It's a platform for you guys to check it out. You know, you can take your girlfriend or partner to a Valentine's Day where you go to like a chef's house and learn how to make sushi. Really? That's incredible. Homemade pasta with a professional chef. That's awesome.

Yeah, so I started applying there and I got hired and I got on their platform teaching brisket classes, steak classes, Middle Eastern cooking. How to make tacos how to make pasta like everything that I know I basically made a curriculum for a class And that was the most fun like I would just be home I would be selling take seats in my dinner table like people come to my house every weekend And I'll teach them how to cook a brisket.

Hmm, and then they like the classes would just fill up, you know I wouldn't do anything like it would just post the classes and they're on the calendar and people just start reserving And, uh, booking seats. So I did that for a, for a while, you know, and then, and then the pandemic, like I was doing private events, dinners, classes, pop ups, and then right around the pandemic time, I was feeling good about quitting sometime.

And I was like, you know what? Everything is picking up. It's great. I have a lot of consistent clients now. I'm making more money than my full time job. Uh, for, from these side gigs, so I was ready to quit sometime and I was like, right before the pandemic, I quit sometime, the pandemic hits and then I just overnight lose everything.

Like I lost my full time job on my calendar. Everything disappeared for the foreseeable future. All the classes, all the events, the pop ups, the private dinner, everything is now gone, you know. So that was a, that was a really difficult time, financially, especially. I would say my struggles have been finance, most, most of it was financial, uh, since I moved here.

Um, But I, I did, I started driving for favor and, and DoorDash and Uber, like I did that like 10 hours, 10 hours a day or something. I would just like get high in my car and I would listen to audio books and I would just drive all day, deliver food. And then I got sick of it, like three or four months, my back started hurting.

So I was like, you know what? Because I didn't, I didn't want to go back to working full time, but I said like, this is just not. It's not sustainable. So I started looking for jobs again, at barbecue joints. And that's when I found Interstellar. Uh, have you guys been? No. Do you know about it? No. Oh shit, dude.

You have to, you have to, you have to go. They just got named, uh, second best in Texas, by Texas Monthly. Texas Monthly magazine, they come out with a top 50 barbecue joints in Texas, every four years. This is the list, like, right, this is the, this is the list that every pitmaster wants to be on. So Interstellar made it.

Uh, the list came out in 2021, it's coming out again in January 2025, I'm very excited about it. I cannot wait to see what you're ranked at. I have very high hopes. Let's go. Yeah. Um, so yeah, they recently got named the second, before, before I, uh, no, sorry, after I left, after I quit some time. Interstellar, they got named that and this is the kind of list that will just like transform your entire life Like once once they got named their business probably multiplied by 10 like the least and it just keeps growing This is a list that everybody looks at So I applied and I went, you know, I went over and I I talked to John the owner I was completely honest and frank and I told him what I'm doing.

I was like, I was this close to opening my business and then the pandemic hit. So I need, I need a job. I need a job. It's going to be temporary. I will help you help me. Uh, I told him my experience. I told him I can basically. Work any station you want like I can do anything in your restaurant and I got hired there to work the smokers Well, and then I eventually ended up doing everything like I worked their line.

I did their butchering and I did everything there I had a great relationship with them like they we both knew it was only gonna be a few months But we both I learned so much from him and you know, I was I also started my my supper club during this time under I called it the underground KG Egyptian supper club.

I was working at a full time. I had a full time job there at Interstellar. But I was, you know, a few months in, I started like getting the creative itch of like wanting to do my own thing because the pandemic it's like we're in the pandemic. Nobody wants to go to a pop up or like nobody wants to come and learn how to make a steak, right?

Because everybody's like, you know, Social distancing. Uh, so I started the whole, this underground thing, uh, with my friends only. And I was like, you know, I head up, I head up Kerlin Barbecue and his wife, and then I head up Mike, uh, uh, who's a dear, dear friend that stood next to me when I moved here. He's like my father's age.

Uh, him and his wife, they have been extreme major supporters, uh, of what I do, and really dear friends of mine. Uh, they're now investors in KG BBQ. Yes. Um, so I head up Mike and Ami, his wife, and I head up Kerlin and Amelis. I was only four people on my dinner table, and I told them, You guys, I'm missing my creative space, And, uh, I think now is time for me to dive into Egyptian cuisine.

Now that I've learned so much, I've worked so much here, I went to culinary school, I want to take this information and this knowledge that I have and go back to the roots of my country's food. And start executing dishes that I love eating, I grew up eating, and never cooked, knowing all this information that I have now.

Uh, so I, I invited them and I was like, only four people on the table. And I was like, bring your own wine, and I'm gonna cook a high end, six course, Egyptian meal for you. Uh, and it was a blast. I still have a video of the whole thing. Wow. And, uh, and then I was like, okay, how, what did you guys think? They were like, this was amazing.

And, uh, and then I, like, a month or a few weeks later, I was like, I'm gonna do it again. And ask a different group of friends. And every time I did it, I would take so many pictures and videos and post it. On Instagram, and then I started doing it once, uh, once a week. It was like, Tuesday night, uh, 6. 30 every Tuesday.

I would, like, press and iron my tablecloth, and I would press the napkins, and I would put, like, the forks, and I would look up videos on how to make it look nice, and I would print little menu cards. I would decide on the menu. Like, I would just get dietary restrictions, and I would make up the menu, B Y O B.

I had the lights all like set up nicely and I had a playlist Egyptian music for this experience and I would post this thing on instagram all the time and even did paid ads and then I started it started like I got so many people reaching out. How do we get in? How do we get in? Like we want, we want to experience this.

So that went from like four people on a once a night to eight people because I had six seats on my dinner table and then. After that, I opened, like, two bar stools for, like, a chef's table experience. It's, like, right on my counter. Yeah. They're watching all the action. Uh, I went from four people to eight people twice a week.

It was Monday, Tuesday, and it was booked, like, a month out. I had people, I, at first, I can't sell food out of my kitchen. So, I had a donation base. So, it was, like, kind of, like, the old times. Yeah. I was, like, you come in. This is what I'm gonna cook for you today. Uh, you enjoy your drinks. It's like a three hour experience.

And you just pay whatever you think this was worth, you know, really open, relaxed. I started suggesting, suggesting donations after that, because I would get like 15 donations. Did you get? I was like, you get the fuck out of here. Don't come back. You're not allowed back. It's worth 15. Like, you pay more than Whataburger.

Yeah. Did you get any crazy big donations randomly from people? The biggest one I got was, 120. Wow. That was, uh, from, from, uh, like a really good friend of mine. Uh, and I also got from my former chef from culinary school. He gave me a really high donation. Um, not from random people. Really? Yeah. Not from random people.

Like the high, the, on the higher end was 85 from random people. The average was 40 to 60. Okay. Uh, and then I started suggesting 65. Yeah. I was like, you know, it's going to be worth my time. Yeah. Yeah. All of you pay me 65. Right. Um. But probably more important than that, it probably just like your creative juices were going, it probably just felt amazing to be doing something that was like truly your vision after working in all these restaurants.

finally about to get your big break and then COVID shuts everything down. I probably felt great just to be doing the pop ups again. Right. Yeah. Yeah. The whole, the whole supper club, like I was, it really was transformative. And you guys like this still, there's still highlights of the, of the supper club on my Instagram.

You should watch it. Yeah. Cause it was, it really was like, it was transformative to me and to all of my guests. Like everybody that came there. I had so many people come back. So many people book the whole table for it. Yeah, that's cool Yeah, that's really cool. I want to come back for my partner's birthday or my mom or like my parents are visiting town I'm gonna book the whole table Wow So yes, like getting that creative juices flowing and I would really enjoy the process of like, you know I there's a lot of dishes in Egypt that I grew up eating and I never made myself So I'd really enjoy the process of like looking up the recipes and I had like started learning about all these YouTube chefs and like TV chefs in Egypt and Cairo and like picking my favorite ones and the process of like, okay I'm gonna learn everybody's way and then I'm gonna see how I can make it and how can make my own version of it And to be honest, there wasn't much barbecue and it was all Egyptian food.

Interesting. Yeah. I even like started grilling some stuff, uh, out back, but I was like, you know what? Like, it's too much. It was just me sometimes. So I was like, really learn how to use the oven also. So I would cook almost everything in the oven, but I would make, you know, like I would make, you know, all the land.

I mean, of course I cooked a lot of meat, a lot of meat, like the oxtail. Uh, I did like, uh, surf and turf kebab. Uh, that was really good too. Uh, all different kinds of desserts and, and like, I would make like cocktails, but like bring your own liquor. I usually would never suggest liquor. I wouldn't just ask people to get beer or wine, right?

Just don't want it to get too crazy. It's not a liquor company. Um, but yeah, yeah. Like, and also the, the impact that it had on my business after the pandemic, after I hosted, you know, it was a whole year of no pop ups. Like I did the supper club. For almost a whole year, no pop ups at all. And then the first pop up I did after the, uh, the whole supper club thing, that was the first time that I had a line.

Well, yeah, that was the first time that I had a line out the door. And of course, of course, it was a moment. Like it was a moment, like I was setting up and I start seeing people and then. By the time we were ready, I look back, and the line, it was at Diasmark, the line goes all the way and then wraps a little bit around the corner.

And I couldn't believe myself. I was like, I'm supposed to open, it's like 11. But I, I can't stop like taking videos of the, like, wow, this is really special. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was a huge moment. Uh, and then, yeah, that was 2021. I started going back to pop ups, uh, for the whole year I quit, uh, interstellar and then just kept doing again, going back to what I picked.

I picked up where I left really before the pandemic, but like knowing so much and knowing I had so many recipes now under my belt from the supper club. I had a lot more followers, a lot more customer base because of the supper club. Um, and then I started going back to the same thing that I was doing of just like classes, pop ups, private dinners, events.

I would sometimes go to Houston, like people would hit me up, like we have, you know, special occasion in Houston, would you come to Houston? Uh, And then 2022 is when I started working on the, on the food truck. Like that was like the time when I decided to choose. I didn't know who, who will be my investors.

Of course, I didn't have enough money to start the business. So what I did is I sat down and I wrote the business plan for the, for KG barbecue. And I said, you know, where we need the food truck, we need a smoker. We need all this equipment. This is X amount of money that is needed. This is all I have. I'm going to put all of it.

Uh, so this is the exact capital that is needed. And I had a minimum and a maximum amount of investment required. Uh, I had a whole like rules of like what would be expected, uh, like how much interference you can do in management. Um, Um, and of course, all the performers and the budgets and that's where my finance comes super handy.

I'm very grateful, very grateful for my experience in finance world. I am able to write and project financials based on the numbers that I did in my pop ups. I was able to give them a very conservative number of how the sales and the costs and the profits are going to look like for the next five years, and how much time they're expected to get their money back.

Uh, and then finally, you know, spend the whole, uh, year working on that. Um, probably the first three months was in the, uh, the, the business plan and getting, sending it to my very close family and friends, uh, and then getting the money. Um, that was done probably within like three to four months. And then the rest of the year, I was just like from March or April all the way until we opened in October of 2022.

That was all just execution, getting the smoker built, getting the food truck built, getting permits, deciding the location and all of that, uh, hiring some people and, uh, and, uh, finally opened, uh, doors to KG BBQ on October 1st, 2022. And, uh, you know, it's been a wild journey. Like I tell my girlfriend, it's been like, you know, it's been like hanging on to the side of a rocket ship.

October 1st, 2022 is the day that we got down to Austin. That's crazy. Yeah. You've got more. We're 2021. 2021. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. We're from where? Boston and New York. New York. Yeah. Cool. Um, what's interesting about your story to me is like, it doesn't surprise me how quickly things took off based on all the grunt work that you had done up until that point.

Like you probably had. Yeah. Hundreds of fans, you know, thousands of fans that you had served that knew about what you were up to. And knew whatever you were going to do was going to be special. And they were probably just anticipating and waiting for you to do that. Which is, is cool to, because if you talk to anybody in town, it's like, you know, they hear KG BBQ, it's like their eyes light up, they're like, God, it's amazing.

So, um, it's just incredible to hear the full story, too. Yeah, it's, it's, it really has been. And yeah, I mean, you're right, you know, like it's, it shouldn't be surprising how, how crazy it exploded, but it still is. Yeah. It still is, like the amount of stuff we're going through and the amount of sales we're cranking out of the food truck and how quickly it's growing and, uh, The articles and the videos and the awards, like everything is coming out, like fricking James Beard.

James Beard. The James Beard nomination, dude, like I didn't even know what James Beard did. Like for real, I thought James Beard is like high end, like high end dining and restaurants and like, I'm here chasing barbecue. I'm chasing this monthly, I'm chasing the festivals, I'm chasing like lists of barbecue in Texas.

And then James Beard comes out. I'm like, oh my God. Okay, uh, I need that now, like I didn't know I needed it. Yeah. But I need it. Um, so, yeah, I mean, you're right, you know, I did, I did put extreme, extreme hard work And this, uh, it really doesn't feel like it because of how much I was and I still am invested in it.

Yeah. It's, I was, I was going to say one of the parts of your stories that, that really stood out to me was when you were talking about how you, the resistance to quit your finance job was born out of kind of that, uh, what you were expecting your parents and what your parents were saying about your job.

And you said you wish you had kind of. But I wonder if there's a silver lining in all that, that built up that anticipation and that hunger for you to actually pursue this with that relentlessness that appears like you have where it's like, I'm just going to put everything I have into this because it's something I truly believe to my bones that I'm going to make work.

Yes. Uh, you know, I never really thought about it, but I think you might be right in the sense that. First of all, it took longer than I than I wanted to leave my job. Right. So it's almost in the sense that I felt like I had less time to work on this. And the challenge part, like I'm, I'm, I think I, my brother and I are, I think we both have that trait of like, always living and needing challenges.

and always wanting to be challenged all the time. So I think I took that as a challenge is to prove everyone that, uh, that I can. You know survive and doing what I love and doing what I want, and I don't have to pursue the societal expectations of the family of like because it's so it's so much like that in Egypt Middle East and I'm sure it's like that in like a lot of Eastern like Eastern countries or Asian countries as well It's like the expectations of lawyer doctor engineer, you know, so if you leave that norm and you go outside of the box It's very scary, and the parents, it comes from a loving place, of course, but it's, it's like a lot of projection, too.

Like a lot of these people and these parents want, they have dreams, and they never pursued them, because they think it's not the right thing to do, and they think that it's just like a fantasy. So seeing their child do that is scary and they would do whatever they need to do to stop them and to make them stick to the norm and the societal expectations.

So I think yes, like a part of it is like was a challenge for me. Uh, and also being in Austin, you know, like, I think I also took that as a challenge because like, why would I stay here if I can go to Egypt and like be the only one that does it right versus like trying to survive within. The sharks, you know, yeah, but then you kind of, and then you almost inversed it where you're now it's like in Austin, you're one of one because no one else is doing what you're doing.

You're right. It's so interesting. That's why I think podcasts are so valuable because. It's like someone that's going to KG, they're seeing like the closest thing to a finished product of your life's work, but they don't understand all the steps and the decade long journey to actually get here to like, even just the willingness to work that first job.

It was at Curlin's or for, you know, three months without any money. It's like, well, you take the drive of that guy and then you give him his own food truck. It's going to be something pretty magical. And that's why it makes sense. Cause I'm sure you're, there's part of your brain that probably hasn't even adapted to the meteoric success that you've had.

Cause October of 22 is not long ago at all. And now when people reference the best barbecue, everyone is listing KG top three, maybe even number a lot of people reference it. Number one, we referenced it as number one. So, you know, it's probably right. It's probably crazy for your brain to try and wrap that around that.

Knowing that you've worked at almost every single top barbecue restaurant and now it's like with your unique blend and this art It's like it's something beautiful. It's incredible. Yeah And it's more than a food truck too. It's almost like a restaurant on wheels, right?

You've just taken over that out I mean that outdoor area of the it was that supposed to be a mix Yeah, like mix of the brewery and you or is that mostly it's it's all the brewery It's all the brewery. We're only using their seating like our customers can you utilize their seating their bathrooms? But we don't own we don't have we don't have even have a say of how the seating looks like Yeah, but this is all their seating.

It's all the brewery. Our food truck is just parked there our customers can get our food and Go enjoy the movie, you know? Yeah. I can't help but think about just like the artistic nature in which you've pursued this, uh, dream of yours, where your heart is just fully into it, you're fully financially invested in this, you're working for out, without pay, and you just want to like see this dream come to fruition.

And I think that that is also another part of why people are drawn to it, because there aren't really that many True artists out there. Yeah anymore. Like a lot of the world is Diluted even music today. It's like, you know, you can make it on a computer. Yes. Yes Yeah, so I think that's the difference is like people people create you can create art to please others But I don't think ever it will ever make it, you know Like it's like usually the art or the songs or the music that really hits us It's something that is coming from someone that is experiencing something and they put it into words or put this art is like, that is relatable for some reason.

It's not only relatable, but it's something that you can look at and admire in someone. And I feel like it's so easy, especially in the restaurant business, uh, to find people that open up restaurants or coffee shops that they've just, They have money and it's like something that they've always wanted to do to have my own restaurant, right?

And a lot of people do that and it's just a pure business idea. Yeah, and they end up hiring Someone that either doesn't have enough passion or doesn't really know what they're doing. And that's that's why I like rest Way more restaurants fail then succeed way more like it's a crazy number Like multiples of, of restaurants for everyone, restaurants that actually makes it or stays in business.

There's multiple others that fail, which, which, uh, you know, makes sense. Makes sense with like, because it's an industry and it's a type of work that, that like needs so much of your life. It needs so much attention and care and attention to detail. And it will take up so much of your effort and brain and like, like after, you know, opening.

I would go home and dream like I would have dreams every day in the first six months whether it is our new buzzers You know, I would go to sleep and dream of the buzzer like going Yeah, or they're like someone's here to pick up their food. I swear like I would get dreams of the buzzers I would even be awake

That and like people standing in line And I would be just be so anxious and afraid all the time that someone's gonna be angry of waiting for so long Like what is taking us so long to make the food and then the people that stand in line for so long their expectations grow And, and that's even scarier, right?

So I would get, like, when we started having lines, that was my stress dreams. It was like people being angry for waiting so much. But the good part is that customers that are coming there, they're expecting the line. And it's almost like the pain of the line makes the food that much more worth it to you at the day.

Or you can do what we do and just skip the line and order online and just pick it up from the back, right? And avoid all that. Not many people know that. Yeah, we gotta cut this out. The, but like, it, it's usually, it's tricky because once it gets crazy, we, we always close it. Yeah. We always close online orders.

Yeah. When it's crazy because I would rather like serve the people that show up, but the smartest thing to do, and I would say this live here Yeah. Is to order ahead of time. Mm-Hmm. It's like, because our online ordering, once we close on Sunday for the, for the week. Everything is open and everything is in stock.

So you, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you can order for the week. But then once the rush hits and once there's a line, the online orders are shut down. So really the best way to do it, if you know that you're coming on a weekend, Is to place your order early during the week and schedule it professional tips from the master himself So your your dream of the buzzer going off my equivalent nightmare is showing up for rice and they're not being cashews in the rice Because the nuts are so it's the best it's by far the best rice I've ever had There are so many times or if I want like a somewhat healthy lunch I'll literally just get ribs, lamb chops, rice, and it's the best meal.

Yes. A little bit of barbecue sauce. It's incredible. Yeah. The rice is my favorite. The rice is my favorite thing. It's insane. With the pomegranates. It's the same thing. It's crazy how much people, like how many people come back and say the same thing about the rice. Like the rice is like, it's a surprise.

Yeah. It's almost like dessert and it's, there's so much going on and it's just the rice. I'm not talking about the bowls, like just the rice, just the rice itself. Yeah. With the nuts and the pomegranate seeds, it's so it's savory, but it's sweet. And there's a lot of like the, you got the sour, cold crunch from the pomegranate.

You get the sweetness and the chewy raisin and the rice is nice and fluffy and it's very aromatic. Flavorful. The nuttiness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like it's, it's, it's, you know, I mean, I always liked, yeah. Like the rice bowl is a good representation of my childhood eating habits because I, you know, my brother, I have one brother, two years older, we're very close together and he eats in a totally different way.

He is the kind of diner or eater that he would like, not my food can be touching. Oh, he was like, uh, which is a little psychopath. Yeah. OCD. Yeah. Just needs this separation. So like he would eat the protein first and then finish the protein and then eat the rice and then eat the salad or whatever order.

On the other hand, there's me, like, I'll ask my mom for a big bowl. Yeah. And I would ask to put everything together. Just combine. Combine it all together. That's the way to do it. I want the rice and the salad and the sauce. And then I want my protein chopped up in pieces and put it in the bowl. And then I just mix it and eat it.

So it's like thinking of, like, I was talking to my friends recently about this and like, what is the rice? Like, why? What is the idea of this rice bowl? And this came to my mind, like, this is how I used to eat when I grew up. But the story of the rice bowl is it came as a family meal actually in one of my pop ups we had leftovers and I used to sell the rice as a side and we had some rice left over and I like to feed everybody if I can so I ended up it was like, you know, there's some rice We have some brisket left, so let me chop it up.

Put it here, a little bit of that salad, with the sauce on top, and put some nuts, and we made the rice bowl. It was not on the menu. And we sat down after a long day on the coolers, and we were eating this, and we were like, Damn, this needs, this needs to be on the menu. That's my favorite thing on the menu.

Yeah, it really is. It's so good. I always say it's the best way to experience. Experience the menu. You gotta get a rice bowl. Like, as a start. Totally. Because it's a good way to experience the entire menu. A little bit of everything. You're getting two sides. You can get two proteins if you get a combo, rice bowl.

But you're getting the whole experience, you know? Right. The sauce, and it's the, you know, it has the nuts and the pomegranates, and you can get the protein of your choice, the sauce of your choice. So, it's a great way to experience a lot of the menu in just one plate. Is there a part of your story that you're most proud of?

Um,

you know, I think, I think I'm most proud of my persistence, and I don't think there's a single part, there's so many parts, honestly, there's so many parts that I feel proud of. I have this, uh, this sheet in my Google Drive, I call it the cookie jar. It's like where I, every time something comes out, an article or a video, I put it in the cookie jar.

And this is like what I go back to look at whenever I'm having a hard time with anything. Uh, so there is, you know, there's a lot of moments that I feel so proud of. You know, like the supper club, the being, feeling established, feeling that I'm giving something, creating a space and an experience that people are wanting to line up for.

And also, not just that. representing my country, and the food of Egypt and the whole, this probably is one of my biggest pride points is like being able to be in a different country, like the US, like, right, it's like, we're in America. And I'm able to draw the attention of the crowds and the people into Egypt and its culture and its food that brings me so much joy and pride in what I do.

But I would say it's, it's, you know, I'm most proud of myself for how persistent I am. And I give that like, why am I here today is because I, Kept going when things didn't seem when I didn't believe in what I'm doing and I didn't know what the hell was happening and I always think of it as like The dark, you know the dark before the sunrise, right?

Like you're you're putting your head down you're you're at such hard work. You have no idea what's happening You have no idea where you're gonna get or if you're even gonna get anywhere and you're working so hard Without seeing any reward or seeing any light So I feel like that everybody that goes into a story or goes into whatever career you're in or whatever project you're in Before you succeed you have to go through this tunnel where you see no light And your only light is believing in the future like you're believing and this thing that is gonna happen and the more work You put to it the more Steps you move towards that direction, you'll finally see it.

You'll finally go through and come out the other way and see the light. So, like, I feel like this, you know, to me, it's, it's, it was a, you know, it's an eight year process now. Like, it's, and I started seeing, honestly, like, I would say, after the, like, the first line I had in my food truck, uh, sorry, in my pop ups.

This is like, when I was like, wow, this is when it, I think to me, this was the moment I exited the tunnel. Wow. Yeah, this was like, okay, this is real. Like, there is people in Austin, the capital of barbecue, that are lining up for my food, you know? So, uh, that was probably, if I would pick a moment, it would be that, my first line.

The lights, you're probably saying the lights not just in my head anymore, I've like actually created this vision that's real and tangible and other people believe in me too. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Which is, you know, I mean, uh, and I would, I want to say, you know, like people can, can really shift your, your mentality, uh, whether it is people that they love you or not, or they're trying to.

Like something like in the TV industry, for example, you can go in some things that can make you or break you, uh, whether it's true or not, you know, like, or some like, um, even from friends or family that tell you things that will make you stop believing in yourself. And that's something that what could could have been like the some of the toughest parts and not letting these words or the opinions of other people.

affect you? Right? This was probably one of the toughest things. And that was probably also why I took me so long. Because all of these doubts and all of these peoples and what people thought of what I'm doing, and where I could go, and if I feel what they're gonna think of me. So like, I feel like the biggest one of the biggest challenges is It's to let go of what people think because nobody is in your shoes like you are you make your own destiny And if you listen to other people you're gonna live other people's lives but like Going going through this and failing and getting back up and going through this dark long ass tunnel to come out the other side is is It's priceless.

It has been a priceless experience. Yeah, it makes you savor every ounce of success you'll ever get from here. Yes. And I think a lot about, um, do you know Robert Greene? He wrote this book, The 48 Laws of Power. No. He also wrote this other book called Mastery, and one of the things he said, which actually reminded me of you, he said that if you are thinking about quitting your job, Your regular corporate job, you should do it because clearly you're not intrinsically motivated by your corporate job.

So if you're not intrinsically motivated by your job, you're not going to actually do the things to push you ahead. So you'll, if you stay in that job, you'll always be thinking about this, the ultimate passion that you want to be doing. And you'll just do the bare minimum at your job and probably coast through middle management, maybe get fired.

And then not only are you working that job, you're potentially getting fired when there was this whole other version of yourself that existed. So you're better off being the crazy Egyptian that goes to the US. Yeah. To turn this vision into reality. And I, you know, those three months of no pay restaurant to restaurant COVID pop ups, it just makes everything you're doing so worth it.

And that's why we love doing the show is because. You get the goldmine episodes like this that motivates both Harry and I for the journey that we're on. Yes. And a lot of other people that are going to be listening to this episode, dude. So your story is amazing. We appreciate you sharing it, coming on the podcast.

Absolutely. And we, we got to do, um, we got to do some type of cooking together, right? Oh, yeah. We need some type of cooking. We'll get, got to learn from the Egyptian cowboy. Yeah, I would love that. That'd be so fun. I bet you're an amazing teacher too. I love teaching. Yeah. I love teaching. Like, yeah, this is like, uh, I've done a lot of things in my career.

My cooking career and teaching is what I absolutely enjoy the most. Like I, it gives me so much, uh, you know, it gives back, like I love the idea of Not whole, I mean, of course, there's things that you will never learn from me. Like the barbecue sauce. Well, we'll see, we'll give that to you. You're like, let's see how many beers we can get.

Yeah, we'll bring the hard liquor.

Um, but, uh, yeah, it's like the idea of, uh, Because I, I feel like, I feel like I, I had so many stepping stones, you know, in this, in this journey, and like I depended and relied on so many people and I took their knowledge and their information in order to be where I am today, you know, so it's not just about like sitting in a room with people.

And teaching them how to smoke a brisket or cook a steak. And just seeing them so, like, brightly excited about it and very excited to take it home and try it at home and the pictures that I get from people. I always tell people, if you cook a brisket, please share a picture. And I get it all the time.

Like, people, like, hit me up with emails and like, I cooked my first brisket. It was great. Thank you. But the idea of giving this back to the community, like, I've been through this and I would have been nothing without my mentors and the people that taught me. So, the idea of giving this back to the people and to the community is, is, is a very, it's very satisfying to me.

Definitely. It's amazing. Love your story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us and our audience is gonna love this So thank you guys anyone who's not in Austin and is planning a trip Make sure you go to KG barbecue because it is the best in town. Yes. Yes Thank you guys so much. And I want to say also for the people that are in town I'm gonna be which I'm super excited about this.

I'm gonna be giving a TED talk Oh, yeah. Let's go. Yeah. March 23rd. Uh, for all of our local beloved Austinites, if you are in town, uh, come, come through. It's going to be in UT campus. TEDxUT, March 23rd. Uh, I still can't believe that I'm going there. That's incredible. Uh, it's nerve wracking. Uh, I don't know how I'm going to do this.

Are you going to have a grill on, or a, a, a pit on stage? Hey, do you hate your job? Yeah. What's the topic going to be? Uh, I think it's going to be, you know, the idea of, uh, pursuing your dreams. Love it. And, and doing what you love and not Listening to other people. I'm really going to be doing like what I'm doing here, just like kind of saying my story and the timeline of my story and always relating it with the different dynamics of this message, relating that to my story.

But really, the big message I'm telling everyone is, is It's trying to tell them and be a live example of that. You can, you can do what you love. Yeah. You don't have to be stuck in a nine to five. And if you have passion, I believe that every one of us is born here in this world to do something different.

Yeah. Whether it is your leader or you're a follower, there's so many different styles of people and psychological mentalities and passions and you know, it's, it's beautiful. Like we need that. We need this diversity. Of, of styles of people. So, everybody knows that. Deep inside they know whether they want to believe it or not.

They know what they're here and what they're born to do. Most of us do that. But we just kind of like shove it down. And just like believe in what we're going through right now. And, and then you end up regretting it. Like, you know, to me that was the biggest driver. Is regretting that I'm not, that I That I didn't do it.

Yeah, like being like, you know, 50 years old and being like, I could have done this. Like that was the feeling that I moved across the world because to avoid that. I was like, I don't want to live with that. Like, I would rather go and fail. and come back just to know that I, you know, I, at least I tried, you know, that regret would be like a mental prison.

Yep, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I couldn't imagine anyone more equipped to speak on that topic of going for it and chasing your dreams and leaning into your uniqueness better than you. So March, March 23rd at UT, can we go? Yes. All right. Awesome. We'll be there. Yeah. That's going to be amazing. Thank you. We appreciate it, man.

Thank you.