Ibby's Falafel Enters a Crowded Field

During the past few months several restaurants offering Middle-Eastern cuisine have opened in Hoboken, prompting many to joke about being the battleground of a so-called “falafel war.”

Two of those new restaurants, Mamoun's Falafel, , and Ibby's Falafel, which opened in late August, are separated by barely one block on Washington Street. But it's not just location in which the two are close.

The owners come from the same family, and while blood may be thicker than water, it's still softer than the bottom line.

Adnan Kwara owns and runs Ibby's with his younger brother Firas. Adnan was born in Damascus. Firas was born in New York. The restaurant—the motto of the place is: "the falafel that made falafel famous"—was named after the nickname given to Adnan Kwara's son Ibrahim.

Adnan Kwara was running a pizzeria when he decided to return to his cultural-culinary roots in 1996. Initially he scouted locations for his first falafel joint in Hoboken.

“I always wanted to be in Hoboken," Adnan Kwara said. "I always felt that Hoboken needed us.'

But he couldn't find a viable location in the Mile Square. So he opened instead at a location on Grove Street in Jersey City. That first Ibby's succeeded and he opened a second in Freehold.

Finally after 15 years, including repeated attempts throughout the 2000's, Kwara was able to sign a lease in Hoboken, taking over for the former Dino's Sandwich Shop on Washington Street in March.

Though Ibby's is the latest falafel restaurant to open in Hoboken, Kwara feels he has at least a symbolic claim to being the first after having the intent to come here so many years ago. He also believes Ibby's tempted the larger and longer established Mamoun's to finally cross from New York into New Jersey.

“I'm humbled and honored to have inspired Mamoun's coming into Hudson County,” he said.

Mamoun's sees things somewhat differently. That chain opened in New York in 1971, adding a second location there and one in Connecticut. Mamoun's opened in Hoboken in April.

“We always wanted to be in Hoboken,” said Mamoun's owner Hussam Chater. Chater inherited the business from his father, the original Mamoun.

Chater is a cousin of the Kwara brothers. He says they all learned the falafel business by working at Mamoun's.

In response, Kwara concedes being part of the same family led to a familiarity, but that Ibby's is his own creation.

“Started as what exactly, as a nine-year old boy in his uncle's place?” he said. “No one gave me anything to start Ibby's.”

Dug into their respective restaurants, both Chater and Kwara acknowledge the rivalry mostly with apathy, at least outwardly. Both believe they make the best falafel in town, and want to be recognized as such, but they also say they aren't seeking to put the other out of business.

“We're not trying to make this a turf war,” Chater said.

His cousin agrees.

"Good luck to us," Adnan Kwara said, "and good luck to them."

If the cousins agree on one thing, it's that Hobokenites will grow to love Middle-Eastern food.

“I think it's good for you, it's healthy, it's light,” Kwara said.

Chater concurs. “Everyone is trying to eat healthier,” he said. “They want to broaden their horizons and try something new.”

If that happens, then both Ibby's and Mamoun's should thrive, and survive the Hoboken falafel war.