Mo Kamal tells it himself: "My busiest time at Open Sesame is weekdays. A Lebanese doctor friend told me he'd love to come here for dinner on the weekends, but his wife won't let him. You know why? It's because it's not fancy enough."
Open Sesame was his first restaurant, opened in 2017 after twelve years in the industry: a tiny strip mall on Oak Lawn, good Lebanese food under $10, his brother-in-law - from a Lebanese butcher-shop family - at the stove. Weeks in, the Dallas Observer called it the friendly Lebanese spot Oak Lawn needs, its lamb kebab platter requiring a to-go box. Regulars took the patio.
The answer arrived November 28, 2025 - Black Friday. Babel Mediterranean, a few blocks away on Welborn Street, in a room that held Steel, a sushi restaurant and lounge, for nearly 25 years. The entrance is an 18th-century door; inside, limewash walls, cove booths with brass, a hand-painted celestial mural. The chef: Kamal's sister, Zeina, cooking family recipes. "We focus on technique - from peeling every chickpea for the smoothest hummus to sourcing olive oil directly from Lebanon - because those details matter."
In April 2026, Brian Reinhart - the critic who reviewed Open Sesame in its first weeks - wrote that the hummus was classically excellent, the dips the best Lebanese dips he'd had in Texas. "Between Babel and Open Sesame, the Kamals have cornered the Lebanese dining market in Dallas' city limits." That month, CultureMap named Zeina a rising-star chef of the Dallas scene.
Book a Saturday. Take a cove booth and order the chicken tawook; a server slices open its bread dome at the table. Stay for dessert - Kamal insists. Around 10 the music comes up; dinner turns into drinks. Open Sesame keeps the weekdays. Saturday has its room now - fancy enough for anybody.