If you ask chef Amr Hammad about what makes Palestinian food so special, he is quick to respond. “We take pride in feeding people and showing our heritage,” he says. “That’s how we show our love and compassion.” Now South Austin can get a taste of Palestinian cuisine at Hammad’s food truck Salam’s Grill, located right outside Vacancy Brewing at 415 East St. Elmo Road.
The son of Jihad and Nuha Hammad, Amr was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas. He and his parents moved to Austin more than a decade ago and soon after that they started Peace Bakery and Deli, a beloved local restaurant near Braker and Lamar. The younger Hammad grew up in the food business, laughing as he recalls his typical first-generation immigrant story: “I was like 10 or 11 and already working. Child labor laws? No! We’d leave school, go straight to the restaurant, and stay there until 1 or 2am.” It was there that he developed his work ethic as a youth, with stints at other places around town such as Uchiko and Odd Duck igniting the fire to have his own restaurant.
After he decided to start his own offshoot of the family business (Salam means “peace” in Arabic), Hammad ended up purchasing a trailer that he and his brother Ali customized and moved into Vacancy Brewing. “I want to get my own name out there, but I still want to use the restaurant name because that’s our heritage. My family was supportive, especially my mom,” he says – she worked long nights developing the sauces for Salam with him. He has praise for his father, too: “My dad raised us to be a man, stick to your own, and do what you gotta do. He’s the most hardworking man I know,” Hammad says.
However, his menu differs from that of the family business – mostly in its spices and sauces. Though Salam’s Grill’s fries are based on Peace Bakery’s coriander potatoes, “What’s different is we really go heavy on the spices. If you see our french fries, they’re absolutely coated,” Hammad says. And indeed, although the fries are hot red, the blend the owner uses to season them isn’t as spicy as it is outright addicting – especially coupled with his garlic sauce. Hammad brags that he gets his spices specially blended in Jordan and shipped into Houston, where he also goes every week to pick up his bread.
“I swear to God, I pay more for spices than the meat,” he says. “I get it flown in every couple months, and it’s expensive, man. It’s expensive, but nobody does that here.”
The star of the food truck’s show is the shawarma and falafel, which you can get either as a wrap or as part of the Fat Man’s Plate, a bigger portion that comes with fries or rice. As with any good child of Muslim upbringing, I took my mom to see if the cooking got her approval. As we took down some shawarma boxes and Hammad’s mango lemon mint refresher, she said the beef shawarma was her favorite. Given that Hammad says his dream is to own “an Arab steakhouse focused on live fire,” it checks out that he and his mother put extra care into the dish. As Hammad says, “Taste is key. The eyes eat first, but taste is always important.”
Being an Austinite of Palestinian origin, Hammad places a high priority on providing a great experience for his guests, saying he wishes to bring “compassion, love, olive oil, and spices” to folks.
“I want people to enjoy the food,” he declares. “I swear to God, when we cook, we look at the people. I want to see the reaction. We take pride in it. I want to see them. That’s what it is.”