I didn’t know a thing about the Kamal family when I stepped through the doors of Baba’s Pantry, a Palestinian American café in Kansas City, Missouri. And I didn’t know much more about them when I stepped out through those doors an hour later, deliriously full, blinking in the Midwestern sun. What I did know was that the hummus I had just eaten—rich and velvet-smooth, topped with a luscious mound of aromatic shaved beef and lamb— was perhaps the best I’d ever had. Everything else I learned later.
I came to know, for instance, that the ebullient moustached man who emerged from the kitchen to answer a question I had about the homemade preserved lemons being sold by the jar was Yahia Kamal— “Baba” to his children and just about anyone who knows him—the patriarch of the family. I learned that he has run a number of different food businesses since he immigrated to America from Palestine in 1979, but that this was the first restaurant he had ever called his own and the first time he had declared his business to be proudly Palestinian.
I also learned that the warm, softspoken person working the counter that day was Kamal Kamal, Baba’s oldest son, an interior designer who transformed the humble storefront into a deeply personal space that honored both his family’s Palestinian homeland and their life in the diaspora. And that he was in town from New York, covering shifts for his younger brother, Omar Kamal, who left his job at Apple to help his father realize his dream.
And while I didn’t know any of these things the day I first dined in that light-filled Kansas City café, I swear that I felt this deep familial consonance in some ineffable way—the whole place vibrated with it.
The story of Baba's Pantry is a story about family. Every aspect of the restaurant, from the signature sauces on the menu to the sun-faded photos on the walls, speaks to their connection and shared history. I spoke with Baba Kamal and his sons Kamal and Omar—on, most appropriately, Father’s Day—to learn more about the restaurant’s backstory.
Kamal Kamal: When I heard my dad wanted to start a restaurant, I was honestly concerned. Money was a big part of it—I was in New York and had lost my job, like so many people, because of COVID— but we started a GoFundMe [for the restaurant], and it was really successful. My dad has deep roots in the community in Kansas City, and I was amazed by how supportive my and Omar’s friends were too. But even before that, I remember telling my dad explicitly, “We have to stand out, be unique, and celebrate ourselves.” Once my dad agreed to that, my hesitation disappeared.
Baba Kamal: It was like a redemption for me. I have had a lot of food ventures, but I had partners, and when you have partners, you have different limitations. With family, we don’t have those same restrictions; we all have the same interests. That freedom gave us—Omar, Kamal, and me—the momentum to build this.
KK: Growing up in America as a Palestinian, [I saw that] there were so few places that owned their Palestinian identity—that includes food, atmosphere, everything. And it was really exciting to come together as a family to create a space that felt like a taste of home, and to be honest and sincere and unapologetic about that.
BK: I’m a Palestinian, but I’m also an American—I’ve lived longer in America than I have in Palestine. It feels important to represent Palestine because it’s such a small country. When people talk about the Middle East, they talk about Syria or Lebanon but rarely Palestine. And we have contributed a lot to food culture. It’s really important for us to present the uniqueness of where we come from and the ways in which the food and service are specific and represent a rich tradition. We want to present everything in the Palestinian way—we are here; we’re welcoming; we’re involved with the customers; and we’re serving them the best ingredients we can find.
OK: We wanted this place to really show who we are. We didn’t want to put dishes on the menu [written] in other cultures’ terms just so it would be easier to understand. We don’t want to call a sauce tzatziki that isn’t really tzatziki–at home we call it yogurt sauce, so we call it yogurt sauce on the menu. I want to be reminded of Palestine at work, and I want customers to experience that too.
KK: Our hummus and falafel and bread are exactly what you would get in Palestine—they’re such an important part of our cuisine and culture. But there are lots of other places on the menu where we’re able to play around while keeping certain things sacred. OK: Like the jackfruit shawarma, which you would never find in Palestine.
KK: Right, there’s a vegan culture here. I live in New York and I have a lot of Caribbean friends who cook with jackfruit, so we experimented with it and got my dad interested. Omar played around—under Baba’s watchful eye—until he achieved something that felt true to us. A lot of the inspiration [for the restaurant’s design] came from Baba and how he lives. He has tons of plants in his house, which I would argue is a very Palestinian thing—traditionally, we’re a farming people. And he has a lot of antiques, particularly radios, because my grandfather was blind and collected them. My dad does too, so we knew we wanted that to be represented. A good friend of mine from New York came in and we just started moving things from Baba’s house.
BK: They raided my house—that’s what happened!
KK: [Laughs] We didn’t ask permission; we just started moving things. The decoration reflects not only Palestine, and not only my father, but our family as well. OK: I think that was really therapeutic—we like going to work because it feels so familiar. I pushed my dad to put pictures of our family on the wall, to really take up space and carve out an extension of our home— an extension of Palestine—here