Allison Montroy
amontroy@mustangdaily.net
Cal Poly alumnus Samir Aburashed is taking his “Learn By Doing” roots to a whole new level.
He’s the new owner of the closest restaurant to campus — Fattoush, a Mediterranean eatery on Santa Rosa Boulevard.
While Aburashed grew up in San Luis Obispo, owning a local restaurant was not always his plan.
Aburashed graduated from Cal Poly in 2008 with a master’s degree in Middle Eastern history. With an undergraduate background in communications, Aburashed moved to Washington D.C. where he worked in diplomatic and entrepreneurial internships.
It was in D.C. that Aburashed fueled his interest in Middle Eastern culture. He helped build a Palestinian family restaurant and made a point to visit every Mediterranean restaurant he could get his hands on.
“I always try four things on the menu: garlic sauce, chicken shawarma, falafel and gyros,” Aburashed said. “I hit every Mediterranean restaurant I can to learn the taste.”
Aburashed, the original creator of his family’s restaurant, Petra Mediterranean Pizza and Grill, came back to San Luis Obispo after living in D.C. and Santa Barbara with the hopes of finding a job in his native town. When there were no jobs to be found, Aburashed bought Fattoush.
“After helping create so many other restaurants, I wanted to create one myself,” Aburashed said. “I wanted to put my fingerprints on one.”
The place is small, but Aburashed transformed and modernized the restaurant, adding heaters and a decorated outdoor patio seating that accommodates up to 150 people.
The Cal Poly alumnus also brought in chefs from Los Angeles to train his employees and improve the restaurant’s menu.
He did, however, keep the original restaurant name.
“The name is very Arabic,” Aburashed said. “We need diversity, so let’s embrace the culture.”
One way Fattoush embraces Mediterranean culture is by inviting belly dancers to perform a few times a month.
Leslie Thompson, a belly dance teacher and owner of Tribe Elation, said she brings two to four belly dancers and accompanying drummers to Fattoush during weekdays and occasionally on weekends.
“His restaurant doesn’t have room for a lot of dancers,” Thompson said. “But people dine, and drink and dance.”
Thompson said she had been eating at Fattoush for a while before Aburashed bought the restaurant and thinks Aburashed’s work on the restaurant “is great.”
“He’s always so energetic,” Thompson said of Aburashed, “and has such enthusiasm and graciousness in hosting us.”
Thompson said the only thing missing at Fattoush is a covered eating area — which Aburashed said he is currently working on installing.
Fattoush now has a beer and liquor license, making it the closest bar to Cal Poly. The restaurant offers 49-cent beer specials and boasts 30 different types of beer, Aburashed said.
Aburashed said he hopes to attract students with the close location to campus and inexpensive food and drinks. He also wants to give back to the school.
“I want to help school spirit and play an active role as an alumni,” Aburashed said. “We preach “Learn By Doing,” but we actually have to do it.”
Aburashed said his degrees from Cal Poly, especially in communications, helped him in the restaurant business.
Right now, six of Aburashed’s employees are Cal Poly students, and he always tries to create jobs for students.
Aburashed’s admiration and enthusiasm for Cal Poly is nothing new to his former Cal Poly history professor Dan Krieger.
“He was a superb, enthusiastic, apt learner,” Krieger said. “He was one of the dearest students I’ve had.”
Krieger said Aburashed took his holocaust course and was one of his best students. However, that Aburashed became a restaurant owner was no surprise to Krieger.
“Many of my history students have become restaurant owners,” Krieger said. “And (Aburashed) loves people, and has a natural hospitality that comes with middle eastern culture. He wants to get to know you, and wants you to get to know him and his culture of food.”
Aburashed said his passion and motivation with Fattoush “comes from within.”
“When people come in here, it’s like coming into my house,” Aburashed said. “It’s not about the money.”
While business at Fattoush is slow, Aburashed said he does not feel like he is in competition with the other Mediterranean restaurants in San Luis Obispo and has a positive outlook on Fattoush’s success.
“Business is dead — but I keep trying,” Aburashed said. “It’s starting to buzz, and the buzz is going to get louder.
“I put in 18 hours a day. If it does good, you get credit. If it does bad, you take the consequences.”
Aburashed said food and customer service are what makes a restaurant — and he has both of them.
“Customer service is huge,” he said. “You never know what people are going to say … there were 10 or 15 businesses here before me but I’m here to stay. I feel like I bought a piece of history.”