The Spice of Family Life: Odeh’s Mediterranean Kitchen
Born in Nazareth, Mahmoud Odeh’s ("Odeh") journey to owning and operating Odeh’s Mediterranean Kitchen has been anything but straightforward. Odeh moved to Greensboro in 1997, originally coming to the United States to play soccer. After an injury cut his soccer career short, Odeh was left working a variety of jobs, including coaching soccer, security, and construction. As he migrated from job to job, Odeh continually sought out ways to make his love for cooking a part of his career.
“Every chef job I applied for required culinary education,” Odeh explains. “I applied for a job with a famous chef who had been on TV, and he said, ‘I would love to hire you. You have everything I'm looking for, but the only thing you don't have is your chef’s education.’ But that gave me the opportunity to start chasing my dreams and start making recipes.”
With a new hunger to start his own restaurant, Odeh soon after met his wife, Brandi. The two soon started looking for houses together, ultimately settling in High Point, just down the road from where their restaurant would be.
“Sometimes, things happen for a reason,” Odeh says.
Starting up, however, was no small feat. Prior to the opening of Odeh’s, Brandi had worked in restaurants and, at the time, was working in marketing for a beverage company. Wanting to plant their roots down more firmly, Brandi and Odeh decided to take their leap of faith and open the restaurant together.
“It was definitely difficult,” Brandi explains. “We were jumping into something high risk and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit four months into opening. But, we were still really excited about opening the restaurant. At first it was hard to see the vision, but Odeh helped me see the vision.”
“We had a lot of support from the community,” Odeh says, recalling the businesses who sent new customers their way in the beginning. “We started as just a small family-owned business. Without this community, it would have been very difficult to make it through the pandemic.”
Despite the uncertain start, Odeh’s became a High Point hit. With the constraints of the pandemic, Odeh’s focused on the takeout side of their restaurant, building buzz and gaining community support. As time went on, Odeh’s began to earn repeat customers and culinary acclaim.
Since the pandemic, Odeh’s has garnered over two hundred five-star reviews on Yelp. The restaurant was even named the number one place to eat in the Triad by the site, along with the honor of being voted best Mediterranean and best vegetarian restaurant in Triad’s Best.
“We have a lot of customers who are veterans or that travel overseas and they will say, ‘This is identical, if not even better than what I had overseas,’” says Odeh.
The high praise is far from hyperbole. All of Odeh’s recipes are his family’s personal spin on various Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes and all of his food is made from scratch.
But flavors this authentic don’t happen without a little real spice. That’s the secret to the best of everything that Odeh’s offers. The spices in his dishes are sent to Odeh every month by his family from the markets in Palestine.
“The spices there are so fresh. When I was a kid growing up in Nazareth, in Palestine, my parents used to send me to go and buy spices, and as you walk by, you can smell the spices from a mile away,” Odeh remembers. “It's a big expense for the shipment, but I think this is one of the best decisions that we make.”
While Odeh’s offers Mediterranean and Middle Eastern staples like shawarma, falafel, and hummus, the restaurant also features daily specials that have made quite an impression amongst their customers. Allowing Odeh to showcase his creativity and put his own spin on different dishes, Odeh’s specials have included everything from Middle Eastern baked chicken to filet mignon.
And her husband masterminds the dinner menu, but Brandi is the craftswoman behind Odeh’s decadent desserts. Featuring a variety of beautiful cakes and mouth-watering baklavas, her work is a sight to behold and a treat to enjoy, deserves to be seen and tasted.
Between Odeh, Brandi, and now five children in tow, operating the restaurant is truly a family endeavor. With their kids ranging from 6-months-old to nineteen-years-old, Brandi and Odeh are grateful to be able to share their restaurant with the next generation of their family.
“We pretty much live here so I love having them here with us,” Brandi laughs.
“We tell our kids, ‘You don’t have to go into the restaurant business, but at the end of the day, this is for you guys,’” says Odeh. “Most of the customers love it when they see our kids. Our little one, he’ll even sleep on my shoulder while I'm cooking.”
Between working with and for his family and expressing his passion for cooking, Odeh’s restaurant is truly an expression of love – love for the Palestinian dishes from his childhood, for the children he’s now raising, and for the found family Odeh’s has created out of the restaurant’s loyal customer base.
"When you walk to a table and the customer tells you that this is the best Mediterranean food they’ve ever had, that’s kind of like my paycheck."
Mahmoud Odeh, Owner of Odeh's Mediterranean Kitchen
“At the end of the day we have to pay our bills, but when you walk to a table and the customer tells you that this is the best Mediterranean food they’ve ever had, that’s kind of like my paycheck,” Odeh says.
While Odeh continues to cook up amazing meals, he remains deeply thankful for all the support that he has been given – both from his customer and his family.
“I did every job and those were the dots that connected me in my journey to where I am today,” Odeh recalls. “And meeting Brandi was the last piece of the puzzle because you don't always get support in life from everyone, but when you do, it’s the one dot that connects everything and completes that dream.”
As Odeh continues to make his dream a reality, he and his family are constantly looking forward to what is ahead of them. With large plans for the future, Odeh hopes to expand to new locations along with food trucks for festivals and more catering for events.
“The journey for Odeh’s is not over yet,” Odeh proudly proclaims. “This is just the beginning; this is the top of the smallest mountain and the bottom of the biggest one!”
Discover our High Points,
The HPD Team
Photography by Aura Marzouk Photography
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