Green Olives Cafe serves Middle Eastern food on Maple Street - NOLA.com

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Hilmi Abdeljalil doesn’t like to brag, but he says there’s a reason why he ran a place called Melech Ha Hummus in central Jerusalem before moving to New Orleans in 1994.

“It means king of the hummus,” says Abdeljalil, 59, who is Palestinian and has worked in the restaurant business since he was 16. “I learned to make the best hummus in the city. My cousin runs Moshiko Falafel and Shawarma, which is also the best, and he taught me everything he knows. You cannot fool me with Middle Eastern food. I know what’s good." 

Abdeljalil is once again enticing hungry diners with hummus and all kinds of Middle Eastern cuisine, this time from his new restaurant, Green Olives at 7724 Maple St. Local diners may know him from Pyramids Cafe on Calhoun Street, which opened in 2006.

“I had to go take care of my mom in 2015, so I sold the restaurant,” he says. He returned in 2019 — his mother is doing well — and Abdeljalil was missing the restaurant business. He had been driving for a ride share company to make ends meet and jumped at the opportunity to open a restaurant, even during the pandemic.

When it comes to restaurant themes, El Cucuy’s Day of the Dread stands out from the crowd.

It was weather that brought him to New Orleans in the first place. “When I first came to America, I went to live with a cousin in New Jersey,” he says. “It was February and there was so much snow — too much for me.”

He also had a cousin in New Orleans.

“After two weeks I came here and started working for my cousin in his grocery store,” he says. “I liked the city right away.”

In 1995 he started working for Mona’s Cafe on Banks Street and soon he was managing multiple locations, including opening a Mona’s Cafe in Lafayette. Pyramid’s Cafe was originally a Mona’s location, and the owner asked him to take it over and make it his own.

He owns Green Olives with his nephew Qasem Rabee.

“My old customers are already finding me, and new customers are coming back every week,” he says.

Green Olives opened Sept. 23 in a space last occupied by a Honduran eatery, but it had been the Middle Eastern restaurant Babylon’s Cafe before that. When Abdeljalil renovated the place, he ripped some paneling off a wall and found a large mural of musicians and harem dancers. Another wall of rustic multi-colored wood also was revealed. Now, a bright green entranceway welcomes diners, and there is seating both outside and inside the sunny space. Food also is available via online ordering for delivery and takeout.

Danny Millan is like the Muhammad Ali of restaurateurs.

The menu is built on favorites like smoky eggplant baba ghanoush and grape leaves stuffed with ground lamb or a vegetarian filling. Ful madammus is a dip similar to hummus made with fava beans and plenty of garlic. It’s mixed with hummus to become qudsia. The Green Olives maza sampler features a variety of spreads.

Entrees include a gyro salad, grilled lamb, chicken and beef shawarma, shish kebabs, falafel platters and more. Entree platters come with two sides and either white or wheat pita.

“It’s all about the quality of the ingredients,” Abdeljalil says. “I use tenderloin for the beef, and the lamb chops.”

Lebanese mint tea is available served hot or cold. The restaurant doesn’t serve liquor, but Abdeljalil plans to apply for a liquor license.

Making traditional Middle Eastern cuisine from scratch is the goal, Abdeljalil says.

So how does he make hummus that lives up to being named for royalty?

“You have to get the dried beans and soak them overnight,” he says. “Then on the second day, clean and cook the beans and after they are very tender (you) process (them) in the machine with tahini, lemon and salt. Very simple, but the proportions have to be perfect. I serve it with minced roasted garlic and jalapeno and a drizzle of very fruity olive oil.”

As for the falafel, that recipe is a family secret.

“Arabic women who come know this is like eating at home,” Abdeljalil says.

Hoda Tahmasebi grew up in a Persian family in Baton Rouge. She discovered her passion for food while in New York and came back to New Orleans …

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Green Olives Cafe serves Middle Eastern food on Maple Street - NOLA.com
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