When Nidal Hajomar and his wife, Suher, moved their three young boys from the U.S. to Syria in 2005 to be closer to their families, they never thought they would leave again.
Then in 2011, with the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the family had to flee their homeland as refugees, traveling through Turkey, before coming back to the States.
As the family resettled in Orange County (originally in Cypress before moving to Huntington Beach), Hajomar planned to open a small business. His wife had a talent for cooking authentic, high quality food which she learned growing up from her mother in Aleppo. The northern city in Syrian is known for its cuisine and blend of cultures with its proximity to the Turkish border.
Friends partnered with the family and encouraged them to open a restaurant where Suher would be the head chef. They opened Aleppo’s Kitchen, an homage to Suher’s hometown, in 2012 at the restaurant’s original location on Orange Avenue and Brookhurst Street.
In March 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hajomar family caught the illness. Hajomar was hospitalized for more than 40 days and given a 15 percent chance to live — his family started looking to make funeral arrangements. But when he was taken off a ventilato, he was inexplicably able to breath on his own.
“God saved my life, he made the business succeed, and he gave me a gift,” Hajomar said. The gift was the restaurant’s new location near Angel Stadium.
The move to the new location on East Katella Avenue is so new (it opened in January) that customers are still taken to the old location by their GPS. And with the move came a brand new menu and a passing of the torch to one of Hajomar’s sons, Hadi, who is 22.
“This is my dream for my family, my son is older now and I trust him 100 percent,” said Hajomar, 64.
The foundation of the restaurant was built by Hajomar and his wife, but now it’s time for the next generation to take over.
“We struggled in the…
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