Zhoug Mediterranean

Zhoug Mediterranean is an independent Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant at 16728 City Center Dr in Lenexa City Center (opened 2024/2025), founded by Hanif Lakhani — whose origin story tracks from Lawrence, KS, where he launched the predecessor concept The Fresh Mediterranean Company inside a gas station or convenience store roughly a decade before the Lenexa expansion. Parent company: Ethnic Food Concepts LLC. Menu: falafel, shawarma, long-grain rice bowls.

Description

Zhoug Mediterranean is Hanif Lakhani’s Mediterranean fast-casual concept at Lenexa City Center, a destination retail and dining district. Lakhani’s origin story has the hallmarks of the best KC immigrant entrepreneur narratives: he launched The Fresh Mediterranean Company inside a Lawrence, KS gas station roughly a decade before opening Zhoug in Lenexa. The concept rebranded and expanded under the Ethnic Food Concepts LLC umbrella, with the Lenexa City Center location representing its most prominent market position. Menu centers on falafel, shawarma, and long-grain rice bowls.

Tier classification

Tier 2. Hanif Lakhani is a Kansas-rooted independent operator with a compelling gas-station-to-restaurant-row origin story — a decade of building a Mediterranean fast-casual concept in Lawrence before landing at Lenexa City Center. Not confirmed KC-metro-native. If Lakhani’s Kansas roots include KC-metro birth or long-term KC residency, Tier 1 consideration is warranted.

Related locations & history

Zhoug’s second storefront — a Kansas City, Missouri location at 3904 Bell St in the Volker/West 39th Street area — opened in May 2025 and closed in November 2025, after roughly six months.¹ The space carries local weight: it was the longtime home of d’Bronx, the New York-style deli-and-pizza institution that operated there for 32 years before closing in 2022.¹ Ethnic Food Concepts director of operations Jeremy Saunders said the company is “thinking through what could replace Zhoug” at the Bell Street address; no successor concept has been announced.¹

The closure was confined to the Bell Street unit. The Lenexa City Center location (this page) remains open, as does the sister/original The Fresh Mediterranean Co. in Lawrence, KS.¹ (The former d’Bronx tenancy at 3904 Bell St now has its own In-Memoriam Registry record: d’Bronx.)

Menu

Last verified: 2026-07-14 · Source: Zhoug Mediterranean official website menu, plus official online-ordering prices · URL(s): https://www.zhoug.com/menu; https://zhougmediterranean.getbento.com/online-ordering/zhoug-mediterranean/menu · Confidence: Medium (item lineup verified from official site; bowl prices confirmed via official online ordering, pita-wrap and platter prices not fully captured)

Zhoug is a build-your-own Mediterranean fast-casual concept: choose a protein (chicken shawarma, gyro, falafel, or kabob) as a bowl, pita wrap, or platter, then add a base, toppings, and house sauces.²

Bowls

• Chicken Shawarma Bowl — chicken marinated with aromatic herbs and spices, slow-roasted on a vertical spit ($12.99)²
• Gyro Bowl — seasoned beef-and-lamb gyro ($12.99)²
• Falafel Bowl — crispy, tender golden-brown spheres of ground chickpeas; vegetarian ($11.99)²
• Chicken Kabob Bowl — grilled chicken kabob ($13.99)²
• Kafta Beef Kabob Bowl — grilled kafta beef kabob ($13.99)²

Pita Wraps

• Chicken Shawarma Pita Wrap — spiced chicken carved to order in fresh pita²
• Gyro Pita Wrap — seasoned beef-and-lamb gyro in fresh pita²
• Falafel Pita Wrap — chickpea falafel in pita; vegetarian/vegan²

Platters

Served with rice and two sides (hummus, salad, or falafels).²

• Chicken Shawarma Platter²
• Gyro Platter²
• Falafel Platter²

Bases

• Basmati Rice²
• Hummus²
• Salad²

House Sauces

• Zhoug — fresh cilantro, jalapeño and a hint of garlic²
• Harissa — North African chili paste; spicy²
• Toum — creamy garlic sauce; vegan²
• Tzatziki — yogurt, mint and cucumber²
• Tahini — nutty, lemony sesame sauce²

Sides

• French Fries²
• Salad²
• Hummus²
• Pita Bread²
• Basmati Rice²
• Chips²

Dessert

• Baklava — pistachio or cashew²

Drinks

• Iced Tea²
• Lemonade²
• Fruit Drinks²
• Pepsi Products²

Note: build-your-own concept; bowl prices confirmed via official online ordering ($11.99–$13.99); pita-wrap and platter prices are not published on the captured official menu page and are omitted rather than guessed.

Links

• Website: https://www.zhoug.com

Sources

Footnotes

1. Kansas City Star via Yahoo — “KC restaurant closes in historic location. Owners hope to change concepts” (Nov 2025). https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/kc-restaurant-closes-historic-location-183323320.html — asserts: Zhoug’s 3904 Bell St, KCMO location opened May 2025 and closed November 2025; the building was d’Bronx’s home for 32 years before d’Bronx closed in 2022; Ethnic Food Concepts director of operations Jeremy Saunders said the company is “thinking through what could replace Zhoug”; the Lenexa Zhoug and the Lawrence Fresh Mediterranean Co. remain open. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Zhoug Mediterranean — official menu, https://www.zhoug.com/menu (accessed 2026-07-14). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³²