The Balad Falafel finally brings a halal cart to Orange County

Waiting in line on a recent afternoon, the fragrance of fresh falafels wafted from the Balad Falafel and overpowered the aroma of In-N-Out’s grilled burger patties across the street in Little Arabia.

“As-salamu alaykum,” a man greeted before picking up a phone order. “Peace be upon you.”

Soon after, two youngsters ordered falafel sandwiches at the halal cart latched to a Ford truck in a west Anaheim parking lot.

Ziad Morra got to work on the order from within the cart’s tight quarters along with a hired chef.

Falafels were lowered into a vat of boiling oil to give them a browned, crunchy exterior before being mashed and stuffed into pita bread pockets. Finely diced tomatoes, pickles and cucumbers filled out the rest of the Middle Eastern meal drizzled with tahini sauce.

The patrons took their sandwiches and munched on them in their car.

After nightfall, the Balad Falafel kept its grill hot. More patrons arrived, ordered and ate underneath a pop-up tent with tables and chairs.

“As long as there’s business for the night, we will continue,” said Moe Morra, Ziad’s brother. “The other night, we left the parking lot at 5:30 in the morning.”

Falafel sandwiches aren’t new to Little Arabia, but a halal cart is.

Zaina Morra, Sanad’s daughter, hands out a sandwich to a customer.

(James Carbone/James Carbone)

Serving everything from kebabs to falafels to hot dogs, halal carts are a more ubiquitous sight on the East Coast, particularly in New York City. The Halal Guys, now a fast-growing national and international franchise, humbly began as a Manhattan food cart.

But before three Palestinian brothers — Ziad, Moe and Sanad — set up shop as co-owners of the Balad Falafel, the next closest thing in Orange County came courtesy of Shawarma Palace at Disney’s California Adventure.

More than a month into business, the Morra brothers report that the concept is working.

Falafel sandwiches stuffed with lettuce, tomato, tahini sauce are a draw at the Balad Falafel.

(James Carbone)

“We have noticed that people are coming back and bringing more family to enjoy our sandwiches,” Moe said. “We haven’t had any complaints, just people complimenting how good our sandwiches are.”

The Balad Falafel’s simple but scrumptious menu also includes chicken, chicken liver and rib-eye sandwiches.

Unlike the falafel sandwiches, the meat fillings are piled into lengthy sesame seed baguettes. Patrons can also order fries and drinks separately.

Taco trailers and stands have come and gone along Little Arabia’s stretch of Brookhurst Street, but the Balad Falafel is poised to become a fixture.

That’s because it’s situated in the parking lot of the Morra brothers’ next business venture.

Customers order at the Balad Falafel halal cart in Anaheim’s Little Arabia.

(James Carbone)

The siblings are hoping to open Al-Karmel Meat Market and Bakery sometime next month. Once it does, there are no plans to move the Balad Falafel into its quarters.

“That’s actually where the idea started from,” Moe said. “We thought we can have the Arabic market and have the food trailer right in front of our business.”

Originally from the West Bank Palestinian city of Ramallah, the Morra brothers are following in their family’s footsteps in many ways.

A Balad chicken sandwich on a fresh-baked baguette.

(James Carbone)

For years, the Morra family has imported cattle to the West Bank. An older brother still living in Palestine has worked professionally in the food industry for over a decade.

With “Balad” roughly translating to “a taste from home” in Arabic, the Morra brothers take great lengths to live up to the halal cart’s name. The recipes are culled from family traditions.

“We also bring olive oil from Palestine,” Moe said. “We focus on quality more than anything else.”

With exorbitant shipping costs, olive oil isn’t easy to import, but the effort is part of the brothers’ ethos of putting patrons before profit.

The Balad falafel sandwich is from a family recipe from Palestine. “Our falafels tastes like back home,” Sanad Morra said.

(James Carbone)

Another way the Balad Falafel sources from the Arab world comes from the sodas they sell. Whether Pepsi or 7-Up, the slim cans are emblazoned in Arabic and are made in countries like the United Arab Emirates.

Aside from sandwiches, the Morra brothers team with the Kunafa Man, a local caterer, to give patrons pastry options. Knafeh, a sweet and salty shredded phyllo dough dessert undergirded by gooey Palestinian nabulsi cheese, helps draw a crowd beyond local Arab Americans.

All the early success has the Morra brothers hoping to expand their menu in the future.

“We want to be the best that we can,” Moe said. “That’s our mission.”