History

Our founder, Mama Ayesha Abraham, was born on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in the late 1800s. After running 24 farms by the age of 21, she came to the United States in the late 1940s and was hired as a cook for the Syrian Embassy. After toiling at the embassy and working at several D.C. restaurants, she opened her first restaurant in 1960, Calvert Cafe.