Upcoming Whittier Mediterranean Restaurant Will Be (Almost) 24/7

By 2025, the Whittier neighborhood will have a new place to grab a quick bite — just about any time of the day or night. Mediterranean concept Shiish Shawarma is opening at 2600 High Street, a space that has been vacant for more than a decade after the closing of Jammin' Joes BBQ in 2014.

Owner Mohamad Elsayad says he plans to open the restaurant from 5 a.m. until 4 a.m. daily, closing for just one hour a day for cleaning. However, he adds, if the city or neighbors have issues with the restaurant fully operating nearly 24/7, it may stick with doing just delivery in the late-night and early-morning hours.

Originally from Egypt, Elsayad, has lived in Denver for more than two decades and worked in the car industry for years. Opening Shiish has been a long time in the making. "It's my dream to be opening my own restaurant with this kind of food," he notes. "This food is so healthy, and I wanted to make it authentically, the way it's made back home."

His wife, Nirmeen, is also from Egypt and is developing the menu and recipes. Shiish will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a rotating daily special such as a lamb shank platter or stuffed chicken. Breakfast will focus on the savory with omelets, warm fava bean bowls and falafel sandwiches. At lunch and dinner, there will be kabobs, shawarma, falafel sandwiches and hummus plates.

The sign on the newly painted red, yellow and green building shouts "vegan" and "vegetarian" — Elsayad has set the restaurant up with a separate vegetarian fryer and preparation area and plans to have an extensive vegetarian menu.

The building is exceptionally small, with room for only the kitchen and a few two-top tables, so Elsayad anticipates most business will be via delivery and takeout. Eventually, he plans to build a patio in the parking lot, which he hopes will be covered and enclosed with heaters during the winter months.

Elsayad is currently working to get the Shiish website live and to set up online ordering via Toast. While the restaurant will work with delivery apps, he notes, it will also have its own delivery staff and will offer specials for customers who order from the restaurant directly.

While he's still in the process of finalizing the space for inspections, Elsayad hopes to open by late November or early December.