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BROWNSVILLE — Evening spreads across the city, and a breeze cool and fresh carries tastes and aromas with invitations for something unique and beautiful.

The smells of seasonings and spices flow out of the Kabab Karavan Mediterranean food truck where visitors hungry for something new and delicious can purchase shawarmas and kabab plates and falafel and …

It is a fine cuisine and a good cuisine brought to the Rio Grande Valley by a Palestinian family from Jerusalem.

I came across the jewel at the intersection of Ruben Torres Boulevard and Intersection 69 in the early afternoon of a recent Tuesday, and I was delighted to find shawarmas on its menu painted on the side of the truck. I recalled then my days some years back when I used to get shawarmas at a place called Phoenicia Bakery and Deli in Austin. Phoenicia was one of my main stops every time I visited Austin, and I felt much aggrieved once I left Central Texas that I could no longer have shawarmas.

But now that is no longer a problem, thanks to Khader Rafiti and his family.

On this Tuesday afternoon, I find Khader Rafiti’s daughter Amanda tending the food truck with him. She says her family’s food truck has been here almost a year and business is good. In this early afternoon, a small but steady trickle of people step up to the window and place an order, or they pick up an order, a box in a white bag.

“I’ll have the rice plate,” says a man in jeans and a red T-shirt.

Amanda sits outside with a friend. The friend leaves, and Amanda speaks to me for just a few minutes. She must soon return to the kitchen in the food truck and help her father. She says her brothers will arrive here at 5 p.m. I order my shawarma with delicious tahini sauce and continue on my way.

I think I will return later that day to speak with her brothers, but I do not return until Friday. It is a fine Friday evening, and I think the Rafiti family has selected a good location for this truck.

The address says it is at 2275 Frontage Road #77, but that address says really very little about the location. This truck is parked next to a convenience store and there is continuous traffic of cars and people in and out of the store and along the expressway and in the intersection with Ruben Torres Boulevard. Nearby stands a Motel 6 and a Lowe’s and a Wells Fargo.

It is a fine place for fine homemade Arabic food.

Khader Rafiti and his family can provide such authentic Arabic dishes because he already owns restaurants in Jerusalem, says Amanda’s brother Maxeem Rafiti the following Friday evening. Now that the family resides in the Valley, Maxeem’s uncle manages those Jerusalem restaurants.

The Kabab Karavan had its growing pains when it first opened, Maxeem said. On this evening Maxeem, 21, sat outside with his friend Jaime Matamoros. There was a slow but steady movement of people approaching the window and leaving with their others.

In the beginning, the parking lot was full of cars and long lines of people waiting to place their orders. The Rafitis were delighted to see that people liked Arabic food, but the turnout was quite overwhelming. They were not prepared for such a response. They kept running out of ingredients and had to get orders out quickly which meant customers didn’t get the real experience.

Business of course dropped off after that, but after that initial hiccup, they’ve smoothed out their operations and have been able to serve the real Arabic cuisine. Now they’re building a loyal clientele of people who return regularly.

They come for the homemade hummus and the homemade pita bread and the shish tawook and …

Baklava. Homemade baklava.

Now that brings back a fine memory of my time in Turkey in 1985 when a man who was returning home from the Turkish army invited me to have dinner with his family and stay the night. His lovely mother served her own homemade baklava and it was delicious and since that time I have always sought baklava at every opportunity.

I’m so glad Kabab Karavan Mediterranean is here. And just a few minutes away in Brownsville.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

The post Kabab Karavan Mediterranean food truck a delightful surprise in Brownsville appeared first on MyRGV.com.