Owners have seen a positive change in downtown
November is proving to be a big month at the Jerusalem Café.
On the first of the month, the owners of the downtown Vancouver staple, the Farran family, toasted its 10th birthday with champagne and homemade desserts. And by the last of the month, the restaurant’s founding father, Sliman Farran will have filed for retirement.
But that doesn’t mean the Mediterranean eatery that’s become a favorite of downtown business people and public officials is going anywhere. The family recently renewed the lease on the space at 106 E. Evergreen Boulevard for another 10 years, said Sliman’s son Aiman Farran, who manages the restaurant’s day-to-day operations and cooks during the dinner hour. Sliman oversees the business, signs paperwork, cooks lunch then "goes home," Aiman said.
The restaurant’s first year was rough, Aiman said, but once that milestone was behind it, the business flourished. So much so that Aiman’s older brothers have been able to open two branches, one on Chkalov Drive in Vancouver and the other on Main Street in Battle Ground, which opened in 2001 and 2002 respectively.
"We really have confidence in the food," Aiman said. "As soon as this one made it, we had confidence in the area. And people really like the food."
The times, they are a-changin’
Downtown is awash in change, and the Jerusalem Café has had a front-row seat to watch it over the last decade.
The Farran family is native to Galilee, a large region of Isreal. Aiman’s older brother Fadul had been living in Portland since 1989, where he attended Portland State University. In 1994, Aiman joined him and also studied at the university. Sliman and his wife Rozet, who do not speak English, followed two years later to escape Isreal’s lackluster economy.
When Sliman and Rozet arrived and decided to open the restaurant, they didn’t have green cards or papers and had very little money, Aiman said.
But because the downtown climate was less than desirable 10 years ago, Sliman and Rozet were able to make a dirt-cheap offer on the space and set up shop. Sliman and Rozet’s other son Anton also joined the family in the U.S. and helped to run the restaurant.
Settling on a name was easy.
"It’s a well-known city, and we thought it has a little ring to it," Aiman said. Plus, it has special significance to the Christian family, he added.
On the first day the restaurant was open for business, the family put up a sign that said "free buffet," but customers left money on the unimposing tables anyway.
Downtown didn’t attract much business and many buildings around the café sat empty.
But during that first year, the restaurant developed regulars, and Aiman credits them for much of the business’s success.
"They’re what got us going and pretty soon things improved," he said. "The income we made went high. There’s more traffic down here now, there are more people, more action on the street. The spaces are filled up."
And the food itself doesn’t hurt.
"There’s something different about our food," Aiman said. "Maybe it’s the presentation, I don’t know."
Aiman said the café has its bad days, but that’s part of the restaurant business. He’s working on bringing more customers in during dinner hours during the week, which he said are inconsistent.
"Without lunch we wouldn’t make it," he said.
While the Farrans and the restaurant were well received in Vancouver, business did come with some misconceptions – many people thought the cafe served Jewish food.
"People still come in and ask if our food is kosher," he said. "We’re Christian; it’s Middle Eastern food."
And with the current climate in the Middle East, Aiman has to remind people that the restaurant is about having a place to share a good meal, not politics.
"When people come asking why so-and-so blew up this or why someone got killed, we tell them to pray for peace. That’s all we want."
