our Story
(SHORT VERSION)
Khalil’s is a seed planted in the earth of this great city, Pittsburgh.
Like so many immigrants who’s hard work and determination laid the groundwork which built this city, its DNA runs right through it’s veins. Like the city itself, made of hardened steel, but full of heart, Khalil's has its roots solidly planted in a firm foundation - able to withstand the challenges life may throw its way.
In 1972, Mikhail and Agnes Khalil started with humble beginnings, and through hard work, perseverance, and good old-fashioned grit to get through the worst of times - created an institution that has sustained change for over 47 years.
Like Pittsburgh, no matter how drastic the changes, our restaurant has not only maintained its core values of strong character, integrity and honesty, but has evolved into a more magnificent and thriving establishment.
From the heart of founders Agnes & Mikhail Khalil, we welcome you to our humble establishment, Khalil's - those who have been with us for 47 years, as well as those who are just discovering us for the first time - we say with a hearty welcome...
On June 17, 1972, at 8PM Agnes and Mikhail opened Khalil's restaurant on 414 Semple Street in South Oakland. That night, a neighbor came to collect $20 that Agnes borrowed. Unable to pay it back, she opened her doors, served a table that night, paid her neighbor back... and the rest is history!
Khalil's opened our doors just 3 years after the first moon landing, and we are still here today because of you! Our deepest gratitude goes out to our all our guests for making us a legacy in Pittsburgh --including those who have been coming here since 1972, and who still do (this time with their children & grandchildren) -- as well as those who are discovering us for the very first time. Thank you! Read more about our unique family history in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Odessey’s Profile, by Steve Mellon.
Be sure to check out this video of Mikhail Khalil ... It will melt your heart!
Our grandmother, Sito Helani holding court with the finest chef’s in Pittsburgh in the 1970s. She sat with the best of them. No doubt who was the boss around here. She could’ve taught them a lesson or 2.
Photo collage created by The Heinz History Center
OUR STORY
(LONG VERSION)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN A LAND FAR AWAY…
6 Generations ago, sometime in the 1800's Sito (Grandmother) Nejume went to a wedding in a tiny nearby Syrian village. Oh, what a ball she had! She ate, drank, danced and had fun! Then, when it was time to go home, she got into her carriage, because she was oh-so sleepy. But her family kept pulling her out, several times. She couldn't understand why, and what all the fuss was about. She later learned, it was her wedding she just attended. She was 12.
And that's where it all began...
Sito Nejume ended up crossing the Atlantic Ocean 3 times, smoked Cuban cigars with the men, bore 3 strong sons (and a female, but, really, who's counting)... and peddled fruit & vegetables with other immigrants in Pittsburgh's iconic Hill District. It was alongside her fellow immigrants, through their hard work and countless contributions, which helped lay the foundation of this great city of ours. Her son, Jabour worked in Pittsburgh's Steel Mills, and many of her grandsons and great grandchildren, served honorably in the Army, Navy & Marines. Her 3 sons had a pop factory in Pittsburgh, (K-lil Bottling Co.) that actually made money during the depression.
Meanwhile... back in the village....
Mikhail Khalil, son of Mikhaber & Helani Khalil was a hard working honest and honorable farmer, peddling olive oil on a donkey with his brother, Elias, up and down the mountain to nearby villages. And in 1956, when Agnes, his soon to be wife arrived, his life - and countless others -would change forever.
Here is a brief timeline our story... (brief...ya know...by Arab Standards)
Late 1800's - Early 1900's...
The fierce strong willed Sito Nejume comes to America, settles in the Hill District and wakes up every day, like everyone else, and peddles fruits and vegetables alongside other immigrants. Her son, Jabour, worked in the Steel Mills before eventually marrying Sito Zareefee, a Syrian immigrant (with another really great story of her own) from Braddock/ Rankin, who's family were prominent figures in the Democratic Party in Allegheny County.
1920's - 1950's...
In the 1920's, Jabour and his brother, Elias opened up K-lil Pop Factory. They were the first ones to bottle "Squirt" pop and were among the few, rare businesses to actually make money during the depression. The factory was eventually moved to Philadelphia, but was forced to close down after a terrible fire burned it down, because there was no insurance. (Ya know...15 minutes could've saved a lot more than just car insurance!)
Jabour and Zareefee raised their children to love both America and Syria, equally. Their three sons, Harry, Danny & Joey all proudly served. Harry in the Navy, Danny in the Marines & Joey in the Army, while her daughters helped the WWII effort in various ways, including volunteering as junior cadets. Aggie, a young vibrant woman worked as a supervisor at Nabisco Biscuit Company, in the building of what is now, East Liberty’s Bakery Square
1956 - 1972…
Agnes Khalil, married Mikhail Khalil in the tiny Christian village of Miklos, Syria - located at the foothills of the majestic Krak Des Chevalier French Crusader Castle. From this union was born the foundation of a true Pittsburgh legacy.
A poor farmer, with a pure and white heart, Mikhail Khalil arrived armed with only a 5th grade education, determination, a fierce work ethic, and most of all, an extraordinary humble love for God - and God alone. God was the center of his life and he lived that way. For him, there was God, church, family, and work. Nothing else mattered.
A devout Antiochian Orthodox Christian, he lived like this, chanting in the church for over 40 years, never missing a day, even when his exhausting work kept him until the wee hours of the morning, which it often did. "Mike" was there. And later on in his life, when he was confined to a wheelchair, after suffering a massive stroke, nothing could keep him from church, even in the snow, the ice, the heat - in his wheelchair - he was there. Nothing was more important.
His humility - matched only by his wife Agnes' - to feed the hungry, take care of the poor, lonely and forgotten, has stories upon stories, deserving of another website - entirely. And all done in rare quiet humility - to serve and please God, without seeking even just the slightest bit of attention or glory for it. Khalil's customers would often find him, after the dinner rush hour, quietly reading his Bible at the restaurant, on the family table - sometimes talking with them of a parable Jesus spoke of and relating it to the great lessons in life.
Mikhail, speaking no English, worked as a laborer in any job he could find, including in Pittsburgh’s tunnels, under our rivers, cleaning cement trucks and even at the iconic Islays, before landing a job as a butcher/chef at the famed Lebanese restaurant, Omar Kayyam - one of the last elegant supper club style restaurants of it's day. He worked faithfully at Omar Kayyam for 12 years, under owner Eddie Khoury - who loved him & treated him like a son - as a cook and butcher, while Agnes worked in Nabisco as a head supervisor. Mikhail was known to have cut, on average, 30 legs of lamb each weekend. So great was his mastery, that later in life, he cut an entire leg of lamb... blindfolded. Yes, blindfolded.
The Krak des Chevaliers sits atop Wadi al Nasara (The Valley of the Christians, Syria) overlooking roughly 30 Antiochian Orthodox Christian villages, including Miklos & I'mabara, where Mikhail & Agnes are from
It is one of the most well preserved medieval castles in the world & a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Omar Kayyam. The last of the Super Supper Night Clubs of that long begotten era
June 17, 1972...
On June 17, 1972, at 8:00 at night, Mikhail & Agnes opened their very first restaurant, on 414 Semple Street in South Oakland, and together they began a legacy. Aggie was in the front of the house, welcoming guests with her exceptional warmth and beautiful personality, while Mikhail made the most mouthwatering food that sustained his reputation for over 46 years. For years, customers lined the streets to get a seat in the door, and on a few rare occasions, that line extended around the block to Bates Street.
Before the Strip District became what it is today, Mikhail used to go down to the "produce yards" at 2 o'clock in the morning when the trucks just pulled in, to buy his produce from the other old timers.
In the dead of winter, he and other restauranteurs of the day would go to the platforms, and go, up and down, one by one, to each "produce man" - mostly cigar smoking, coffee drinking, old timers from the old country - The Italians, The Jews, The Greeks - and haggle the price of a box of tomatoes or lettuce, all the while "threatening" each other that their competitor had the better price - and the fresher produce! And, eventually all making deals.
(Haggling...its an ethnic thing... even if the price is right...it just wouldn't feel right, unless you haggled...Why? ... Well... because just being normal, and actually paying the asking price...would be way too simple and much too smooth a transaction...and really...where's the fun in that?)
Another testament to Aggie’s amazing and rare personality was in 1973. On the eve of the Yom Kippur war, when Middle East tensions were extremely high, Aggie, on a very busy night with no open tables and lines outside the door, deliberately sat an Arab couple together with a Jewish couple.
Any other restauranteur, in the interest of avoiding a possible scene, would be sure to keep them as far apart as possible, especially in this climate, but not Aggie. This was her way of being. This is how she lived her life and conducted her business. She knew above all that our common humanity far outweighed our differences. This is what made her so unique ... and so beautiful!
