Restaurant Road Trip: Zhara’s

FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — If you’ve gone to New York City and wish you could bring back their street-style gyros and platters, you may be in luck thanks to Fairmont’s new food truck: Zhara’s.

Zhara’s has been in the making since October of 2023 when owner Muddasir Zhara officially opened up the New York-style street food truck featuring Mediterranean flavors.

“It’s not a Mediterranean food per se, it’s a concept of many different things come together and it’s more dominant in the Mediterranean arena because of the spices that are used,” Zhara said.

Zhara said that the specific style of cooking that he uses can trace its origins to New York City in the 1990s.

“So I wanted to always start something for the middle-class people, for…you know around lunchtime where they have fresh cooked food which is not that greasy or say it drains you, you know, gets you tired after the day, after you eat it,” said Zhara.

Zhara, who told 12 News that he’s always had a passion for cooking and feeding people, said his food stands out because of the fresh ingredients he uses and gets from Pittsburgh every Monday.

“The rice we use is extra long grain and it’s not very fattening, it’s part boiled and it’s low carb and then you got pita bread which is a flatbread, chicken is on the grill, you know stuff like that,” he said.

Currently, as a one-man show, Zhara makes around 50 meals a day, and right now there are only six menu items. “We don’t have a big menu and that’s—one of the reasons when I started this business I wanted to do something that I could do everything by myself,” he said. “I do six items and I do them right, that’s the plan, that’s the idea.”

The six items on the menu include halal dishes like lamb and chicken gyros and platters, but Zhara said he has plans to expand to falafels and fries in the future alongside catering options.

As far as delivery, Zhara said it really depends on the day but that people can find out by checking the truck’s Facebook page , which is updated weekly.

Zhara’s is a stationary food truck, meaning that it connects itself to a building in order to operate and features a commercial kitchen that Zhara built himself. He said once he brings together a good team, he would like to expand to a few food trucks in the future.

Zhara said he wanted to bring lamb to the area as a new option and to make it unique to his food truck alongside his special marinade and process.

“I can be the first person introducing lamb to Fairmont … There’s no lamb on anybody’s menu. I was very skeptical about it, whether how they’re going to accept it but it has been phenomenal,” he said.

First-time customers also agree, with one telling 12 News that they’ve never had lamb before but thought that the sample Zhara gave them was “delicious.”

To see the latest schedule for Zhara’s food truck you can visit its Facebook page here.

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