Hummus Corner Becomes Lunchtime Go-To

It took Brandon Chopper until last summer to find the restaurant in Owings Mills. Now, the 24-year-old is trying to make up for lost time.

“I started coming here six or eight months ago,” Chopper said. “I try to come about once a week. I like the atmosphere, and they’re really friendly.

“This is my favorite place to eat,” he said.

Chopper, an employee at T. Rowe Price, doesn’t have much time for lunch most days. He depends on quick service and tasty, cheap eats so he can get back to work in the afternoon – and Hummus Corner delivers, he said.

Such praise must be encouraging for Johnny and Carla Mattar, who are of their Mediterranean-style restaurant off Lakeside Boulevard, fittingly located on the corner of the Food Lion shopping center.

The husband-and-wife duo to draw customers to their restaurant with fresh and healthy food choices for cheap. Carla Mattar has mastered the use of social media – including Facebook, Twitter and monthly newsletters with coupons – to get the word out about the couples’ restaurant.

For lunch, Hummus Corner appears to have become a go-to for Owings Mills’ young professionals.

Melanie Milazzo, 35, and Tara Tosti, 36, both of Baltimore, work in Owings Mills during the day and walk over to Hummus Corner for lunch at least once a week.

Milazzo found the quiet café as spring approached last year, and introduced Tosti to her discovery over the summer.

“It’s just a nice hangout,” Milazzo said. “The Babaganoush here is the best ever…And Johnny and Carla are really friendly.”

For Tosti, it’s the Babaganoush – “I just like saying Babaganoush,” she says – and the salads that keep her coming back with her coworker each week.

“And I [usually] hate salad,” Tosti said.

A year in, the Mattars are trying to build on a stable of regulars, while adding to that customer base. This week’s $5 lunch wrap promotion – in celebration of the restaurant’s first anniversary – is not only a way of thanking those already loyal to Hummus Corner, but also a ploy to attract new devotees.

“We want people to wish us a happy birthday,” Mattar said.

On Monday just after noon, the marketing move seemed to be paying off, as a line formed at the register for the lunch rush. Carla Mattar made sure to remind each customer of the $5 promotion, which lasts through Wednesday.

Chopper just so happened to be the first one in line Monday. After learning that his favorite, the chicken wrap, would be discounted the next two days, he made lunch plans for Tuesday a full day early.

“I’ll be here tomorrow,” he told Carla Mattar.