Despite the harsh realities of owning a food business, there are countless energetic entrepreneurs eager to find an audience for their food. Smorgasburg LA, the Sunday food market at the Row DTLA, has become ground zero for incubating new talent.
Bridgetown Roti, Poncho's Tlayudas, Evil Cooks, and Nicole Rucker of Fat + Flour, which were named James Beard semifinalists this week, have all made appearances at Smorgasburg LA.
Basket Taco Co. is one of 2024's new Smorgasburg LA vendors. Photo by Elina Shatkin/KCRW
Two weeks ago, at the first market of 2024, a dozen new vendors debuted including Basket Taco Co., Battambong BBQ, Softies Burger and Glad.
Yazeed Soudani, aka Chef Yaz, of Miya Miya Shawarma is among the new crop of vendors at Smorgasburg LA. During a trip to Jordan in his late teens, he found himself eating shawarma on a daily basis. He never lost his craving for the street snack. After his father passed, Soudani began reevaluating his career in wealth management. He ended up spending three months in Amman, Jordan, where he learned to perfect shawarma. Although Lebanon is most famous for its shawarma, Yaz trained with Syrians, who he says have the best reputation when it comes to preparing the stacked meat.
A chicken shawarma done the "Yaz Way" at Miya Miya. Photo by Elina Shatkin/KCRW
Born and raised in Woodland Hills, Soudani explains that miya means 100 in Arabic. So when someone says they are "miya miya," it means everything is perfect. He compares shawarma to everyday food, calling it the In-N-Out of Jordan.
Soudani uses whole chickens for his shawarma and imports his spices. In June 2023, he started doing tastings in his backyard, where he served up to 200 people the wraps, which are made with flame-kissed chicken, saj bread, creamy garlic sauce and lightly spicy pickles.