Bold Claims Department

The proprietor of a popular falafel shack near the University of Chicago claims to have single handedly brought chicken shawarma to the Windy City less than 20 years ago. The shop owner, Abed Moughrabi, a Palestinian immigrant, says that he was inspired to put the sandiwch on the menu of his Nile Restaurant after viewing a video tape his brother procured on the preparation of the dish sometime in the early 90's. Says Moughgrabi "I experimented with it and perfected it...word spread. Now, everybody else started copying it...now, there are, like, 200 or 300 places you can get chicken shawarma in the city." While there's no real way to prove the accuracy of his claim, the guy seems pretty cool -- check him out in all his meat-slinging glory here. [Chicago Sun-Times]