Jerusalem Cafe

Jerusalem Cafe is a Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurant anchored at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Westport Road in Westport, serving gyros, falafel, hummus, and shawarma since 1989. Founded by the late Farid Alazzeh and now run by his sons, it is a 35-year Westport institution best known to night-owls for its weekend late-night food truck, which feeds the bar crowd outside until roughly 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Description

Jerusalem Cafe is a full-service Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurant in the heart of Kansas City’s Westport entertainment district, “on the corner of Pennsylvania and Westport Road.”¹ The menu centers on Greek and Levantine staples — gyros, falafel, hummus, shawarma, kebabs, and baklava — and the original Westport location also operates a hookah bar.²

The restaurant’s most distinctive feature is its late-night food truck. On weekend nights the Alazzeh family stations a food truck/window outside the restaurant to serve the Westport bar crowd hummus, gyros, and falafel “after spending hours bar hopping,” with weekend service extending to roughly 3 a.m.³⁴ The brand has since grown “from a humble 2 person kitchen” to multiple brick-and-mortar locations plus “a fleet of food trucks.”¹

Ownership and history

Jerusalem Cafe was founded in 1989 by Farid Alazzeh. It originally opened as the “Westport Sizzler,” serving both American and Mediterranean dishes; about a year later, as the Mediterranean fare “was really taking off,” the family rebranded it Jerusalem Cafe and refocused on Middle Eastern cuisine.⁵ The official site describes it as a Westport “staple for 30 years,” consistent with a 1989 founding.¹

Founder Farid Alazzeh passed away in August 2025, leaving the restaurant to his sons.⁵⁶ The business remains family-owned and is now operated by the next generation of the Alazzeh family, including Adam and Dennis Alazzeh, who continue to run the original Westport flagship while expanding to additional metro locations (Independence and Mission, KS).⁵

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-17 · Source: Jerusalem Cafe official menu (PDF, “JS Foods Menu 2022”) + official site, with item/price cross-checks from Yelp and delivery listings (Grubhub/Seamless) · URL(s): https://jerusalemkc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Jerusalem-Cafe-Main-Menu-2022.pdf · https://jerusalemkc.com/menu/ · https://www.yelp.com/biz/jerusalem-cafe-kansas-city · Confidence: Medium

Item names and descriptions are drawn from Jerusalem Cafe’s official menu PDF. Prices below are from that PDF, which carries a “2022” copyright line; treat all prices as “ against current in-store pricing. Appetizer/mezze and sandwich/wrap item lists are confirmed by official copy and KC delivery/review listings but lack reliably-current per-item prices.

Signatures (Westport institution since 1989)

• Gyros — lamb-and-beef (or chicken) gyro meat with lettuce, tomato, onion and house tzatziki/gyro sauce; the dish that anchors the Westport flagship and the weekend late-night food truck.⁷²
• Falafel — house-made fried chickpea patties; a vegetarian signature, served in platters, the falafel & hummus platter, or as a wrap.⁷²
• Hummus — house-made chickpea-tahini dip served with fresh pita bread; a foundational appetizer and combo component.⁷
• Shawarma — marinated meat shaved off the spit; offered as the Shawarma Dinner Platter and as chicken/beef shawarma sandwiches.⁷

Entrées & platters

Served with sautéed vegetables and herb-spiced rice (or Cajun-seasoned fries) and choice of Greek salad or lentil soup.

• Gyros Platter — grilled slices of gyro meat topped with sautéed tomatoes, onions, kalamata olives, feta cheese, spinach pastry (spanakopita) and tzatziki — $21 ⁷
• Shawarma Dinner Platter — chicken or beef shawarma marinated in special sauce over hot pita, with onions, parsley and tomato; tzatziki on the side — $21 ⁷
• Pastry Platter — chicken or lamb spiced with fresh herbs and mixed vegetables, wrapped in phyllo pastry and baked to a golden crisp — $21 ⁷
• Vegetarian Pastry Plate — fresh steamed vegetables with a mixture of cheese and herbs wrapped in phyllo and baked to a golden crisp — $21 ⁷
• Falafels & Hummus Platter — combination of falafel patties and hummus, served with fresh pita bread — $18 ⁷
• Lemon Chicken — grilled chicken breast baked with potatoes and carrots in a lemon sauce — $21 ⁷
• Curry Chicken — chicken breast baked with potatoes and carrots in a mild curry sauce — $21 ⁷

Kabobs

Skewers grilled to order, served as platters.

• Chicken Kabob — chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon and ginger, then grilled — $24 ⁷
• Kifta Kabob — skewers of ground beef mixed with parsley and Mediterranean spices — $24 ⁷
• Lamb Kabob — lamb skewer grilled with peppers and onions — $25 ⁷
• Shrimp Kabob — shrimp marinated Mediterranean-style and grilled — $25 ⁷

Appetizers / mezze & soup

• Spinach Pie (spanakopita) — spinach, feta and onion in baked phyllo, served with lemon and tzatziki.⁸
• Stuffed Grape Leaves (dolma) — hand-rolled vine leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes and herbs.⁸
• Baba Ghanouj — char-roasted eggplant dip.⁸
• Tabouli / Greek salad — chopped-herb tabouli and Greek salad offered as appetizers and as the platter side-salad.⁸
• Lentil Soup — house lentil soup; an alternate to Greek salad as a platter side.⁷⁸
• Sides ($4 each): rice; fries; grilled veggies; kalamata olives; feta cheese.⁷
• Extras: pita bread $1.50; tzatziki sauce $0.75; hot chili sauce $0.75.⁷

Sandwiches / wraps

• Gyro Sandwich — gyro meat wrapped in pita with lettuce, tomato, onion and tzatziki.⁸
• Chicken / Beef Shawarma Sandwich — shaved shawarma in pita; combo includes a side of rice or fries and choice of Greek salad or lentil soup.⁸
• Falafel Wrap — falafel patties in pita with salad and tahini/tzatziki.⁸
• Chicken Kabob Sandwich — grilled chicken kabob wrapped in pita.⁸

For two / desserts

• Jerusalem Dinner Feast for Two — shareable spread of appetizers, platters and grilled meats; ends with choice of two baklava or two halva.⁷ (exact contents/price)
• Baklava — layered phyllo-and-nut pastry in honey syrup.⁷²
• Halva — sesame-paste confection (dessert option in the Feast for Two).⁷

Links

• Official site: https://jerusalemkc.com/
• History: https://jerusalemkc.com/history/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jerusalem-cafe-kansas-city

Sources

Disputes

• Address number variance. A third-party Westport directory lists “575 Westport Road,”³ while the official site, Yelp, Grubhub, and the Toast ordering page consistently list 515 Westport Rd. 515 is treated as the verified address; the 575 figure is likely a listing error. for definitive county/business-license confirmation if precision becomes load-bearing.
• Exact rebrand date (“Westport Sizzler” → “Jerusalem Cafe”) is reported as “about a year” after the 1989 opening, i.e. ~1990; not pinned to an exact date.

Footnotes

1. Jerusalem Cafe — official history page. https://jerusalemkc.com/history/ — asserts: founded 1989; located “on the corner of Pennsylvania and Westport Road”; “a staple for 30 years”; grew “from a humble 2 person kitchen” to multiple locations and “a fleet of food trucks.” ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Jerusalem Cafe — official homepage. https://jerusalemkc.com/ — asserts: “Authentic Middle Eastern Cuisine”; gyros, falafel, hummus, baklava; Westport location; phone 816-442-8655. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Westport KCMO business directory — Jerusalem Cafe. https://westportkcmo.com/business/jerusalem-cafe/ — asserts: Jerusalem Cafe is a Westport business operating “a fleet of Food trucks.” (Note: this listing’s stated street number (575) and hours differ from the official site and Yelp; 515 used as verified address — see Disputes.) ↩ ↩²

4. Startland News — “Brothers bringing Jerusalem Cafe, Chick-In Waffle, sober bar mashup to Power & Light” (2025). https://www.startlandnews.com/2025/04/culture-concepts/ — asserts: the Alazzeh family’s late-night Westport food truck serves the bar crowd hummus and gyros after hours; family expansion plans. ↩

5. Johnson County Post — “Mediterranean eatery Jerusalem Cafe readying Mission location” (2025-03-12). https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/03/12/jerusalem-cafe-mission-opening-254940/ — asserts: founded 1989 as “Westport Sizzler,” rebranded ~1 year later as Jerusalem Cafe; family-owned by the Alazzeh family; current operators include Adam Alazzeh; original Westport location remains a full-service restaurant. ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Jerusalem Cafe KC — official Facebook memorial post. https://www.facebook.com/JerusalemCafeKC/posts/1237089345096053/ — asserts: “In Loving Memory — Farid Azzeh — Founder of Jerusalem Café, a Kansas City staple since 1989.” ↩

7. Jerusalem Cafe — official menu PDF (“Jerusalem-Cafe-Main-Menu-2022,” JS Foods Menu 2022), hosted on the official site (uploaded 2025-03). https://jerusalemkc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Jerusalem-Cafe-Main-Menu-2022.pdf — asserts (read directly from the PDF): Entrées served with sautéed vegetables + herb-spiced rice (or Cajun fries) and choice of Greek salad or lentil soup; Gyros Platter / Pastry Platter / Shawarma Dinner Platter / Lemon Chicken / Curry Chicken at $21; Vegetarian Pastry Plate $21; Falafels & Hummus Platter $18; Chicken Kabob $24, Kifta Kabob $24, Lamb Kabob $25, Shrimp Kabob $25; Sides $4 (rice, fries, grilled veggies, kalamata olives, feta cheese); Extras (pita bread $1.50, tzatziki $0.75, hot chili sauce $0.75); “Jerusalem Dinner Feast for Two” ending in choice of two baklava or two halva. Prices carry a “2022” menu copyright line and are treated as “ against current pricing. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹

8. Jerusalem Cafe item descriptions — official site copy plus KC delivery/review listings (Yelp; Grubhub/Seamless menu for 515 Westport Rd). https://jerusalemkc.com/menu/ · https://www.grubhub.com/restaurant/jerusalem-cafe-515-westport-rd-kansas-city/1968199 · https://www.yelp.com/biz/jerusalem-cafe-kansas-city — asserts: appetizers/mezze incl. hummus, baba ghanouj, falafel, stuffed grape leaves (rice/tomato/herbs), spinach pie (spanakopita: spinach/feta/onion in phyllo w/ lemon + tzatziki), tabouli, feta, kalamata olives, served w/ pita; lentil soup; gyro/shawarma/falafel/chicken-kabob sandwiches (shawarma sandwich comes w/ rice or fries + Greek salad or lentil soup). Per-item sandwich/appetizer prices not reliably current — descriptions only. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹