Diners, Drive-ins & Dives visit to Afrah Grill in Richardson aired on Monday

by Teresa Gubbins

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Guy hung out with brother-owners Ayad and Yousset Elhor.

RICHARDSON — Afrah Restaurant in Richardson got its turn on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Monday, one of three restaurants featured on an episode called "International Eats."

Afrah is the sixth of seven restaurants in Dallas whose episodes have been aired: Pepe & Mito's, Cane Rosso, Maple & Motor, and Chop House Burgers, and Pecan Lodge. The only one left is A Taste Of Europe.

The episode begins in New York, with Guy walking along the street.

"So here I am in New York City, doing what everyone in New York City does -- walk," he says with a sneer. He goes to Gazala Place, a restaurant serving "a Middle Eastern ethnicity and religion known as Druse," where he observes the owner make paper-thin pita bread. Segment 2, on Bachi Burger, the Las Vegas maker of Asian-infused gourmet burgers, runs the longest.

Afrah comes third. They open with shots of the Texas flag and a cow chewing her cud, because that's how we roll in Dallas. But the part devoted to Afrah is very short, showing only how schwarma is made.

Getting out of his car, Guy tells the camera he has a "special Flavor Town GPS" to let him know when schwarma is approaching, and that Afrah is "rocking the schwarma."

He recounts Afrah's roots as a pastry shop, before brother-owners Ayad and Yousset Elhor decided to expand. "There was a big demand for food, so gradually we started adding little items here and there," says Ayad.

Yousset, the chef, shows how they make chicken schwarma: first coating the deboned chicken pieces in red-peppery spices, then marinating it for 24 hours, then stacking the pieces on top of each other on a vertical spit which rotates in front of a flame.

Guy likes that each bite has a bit of crust. What does schwarma mean, he asks? "It's a Turkish word," Yousset says.

Guy says he likes Yousset's jaunty cap. "He's like the Lebanese John Wayne."

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