The following is a blog that I first published in 2017, but that still applies, pretty sure:

When I was a kid growing up in western Pennsylvania and then as a young adult and ever since when I’ve gone back, one of my favorite food things there has been the Syrian lamb on the rod that is served in a number of restaurants and bars in the New Castle area.

New Castle has a large Syrian-American community that has been there for years, 100 or more, I expect. Thus, the Syrian restaurants and foods that can be found there.

While I’ve enjoyed all of the incredible things that are served in these places — things like kibbee, stuffed grape leaves, hummas, and tabbouli served with rice — my favorite has always been the grilled lamb pieces that are served with just pita bread and a sweet pepper oil and vinegar sauce to dip it in.

Oh, and beer! In western PA it would be Iron City, of course — or Fort Pitt or Duke back in the day — but any beer seems to work, really well, in fact.

But back on point, It seems to me there just might be a niche for such a delicacy as Syrian lamb on the rod here in North Carolina, especially in the smaller towns that are  growing and diversifying and where customs and tastes are changing fast, towns like Hillsborough and Mebane, where we happen to live.

And where Carolina barbecue isn’t the only game in town any longer.

Not to disrespect barbecue. I love it, in fact. But inserting lamb on the rod into a menu would surely help resolve the tiresome debate over whether Carolina eastern, western, or Piedmont barbecue (whatever that is) is best. Having lamb on the rod on the menu might settle it for some folks, maybe even many. For these folks, grilled lamb chunks served with hot pita and a sweet pepper and onion dip just might be the best thing on the card!

Now I have no idea how Syrian lamb on the rod is best prepared. I know it’s grilled over an open flame on long skewers. And I have a hunch there’s a special marinade that is used beforehand and while it’s grilling. Beyond that, I have no clue.

But I do know a guy who does have a clue (and absolute certainty probably). It’s this guy:

His name is Abdulmoin Almubarak. His hometown is the city of Homs, Syria, where he also went to college. But before finally escaping Syria with his family and then spending five or so years in a refugee camp in Jordan, he was trained and worked as a chef, first in Lebanon (Beirut) and then in Saudi Arabia where he tells me he once prepared and served a banquet for the king.

So, if anybody knows how to make the lamb on the rod, which I’m now thinking could become a best seller here in the South, where fine beers and mini-breweries are also abundant these days, remember, it would be Abdul.

Unfortunately — at least, for us — he’s not here now. But he just might be available.

He moved to Durham together with his wife Randa and their four children in 2016. They came by way of the U.S. State Department’s program for resettling refugees here in the U.S., which Alice and I and our friends in the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church were involved with back then.

He found a part-time job in fairly short order and then another one after that. But sadly, though also understandably, even together the jobs didn’t pay nearly what a family needed to survive.

Therefore, if another (better paying) opportunity should come along somewhere back here in the Triangle or Triad, I’m pretty sure Chef Abdul would take a serious look.

So, Mr. or Ms. Restaurateur/Bar Owner, if you’re looking for a niche and a chef who just might be able to help make that niche profitable, let me know.

I’ll put you in touch with the right guy.