De Babel

De Babel is a fast-casual Middle Eastern restaurant in north Scottsdale, Arizona, near the Loop 101 and Raintree Drive. Its kitchen is halal, and its menu follows the street food and home cooking of the Levant.

Founder Marwan Kandeel, known as M.K., grew up in Jordan and spent many years running brands such as Cinnabon and Five Guys across the Middle East before he opened De Babel in 2021. Chef Suliman Saleem built the first menu around hummus, falafel, gyros and shawarma. The idea was to bring Middle Eastern food to the area in a quick, counter-service form without giving up the dishes of home. Years later the original restaurant had reached the limit of what it could serve, and the second one opened at The Edge, a mixed-use development, in early September.

Mezze open the meal: hummus, baba ghanoush and stuffed grape leaves, with salads and sandwiches beside them. Main plates bring shawarma and kofte or falafel over rice. Warm pita and pickles come with them, and the sauces include tzatziki and tahini as well as the chili sauce skhug. Baklava closes the meal, or a tahini ice cream made without dairy. The menu reads like a map of the eastern Mediterranean, held together by the same halal kitchen.

Drinks come from fountain taps of organic Tractor beverages, with iced tea and lemonade from bubblers. The second restaurant has about twice as many seats with its large patio, and a small market sells kosher-certified products alongside the halal menu. A commissary kitchen now prepares food for both sites. Kandeel has said that Scottsdale and the Phoenix area have room for more Middle Eastern restaurants of quality, and De Babel is his bet on that idea.