Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
200 N. Kirkwood
Kirkwood
314-984-8899
Lunch and dinner daily
Not long ago, the new Ranoush was a humble—and vacant—former Velvet Freeze on a corner in downtown Kirkwood. Syrian-born Aboud Alhamid passed by it daily and envisioned what others could not. Today, a red-trimmed front patio beckons, and patrons laugh aloud due largely to the antics of the animated and charismatic Alhamid: Eyes ablaze and arms flailing as if announcing a fire, he works the tables like a 21st-century jester, even balancing plates on his head…adroitly. When he connects with customers—which is often—a small, silver kiddush wine fountain sometimes appears to toast his new friends, who may in turn salute his riffs on standard Middle Eastern staples: a creamier hummus, a crispier falafel, a less farinaceous tabbouleh. At Ranoush, Alhamid has taken the conviviality of the morning bazaar in Damascus and turned it into an everyday occurrence. And in homage to Velvet Freeze nostalgia, Alhamid may soon offer ice cream. A little Butter Brickle with that baklava does sound pretty good.
