Shortly after arriving, Chaim landed a respectable position managing a tile manufacturing plant until the company was forced to shut its doors. With the weight of his family on his shoulders, Chaim struggled with the challenges brought about by unemployment.

One day, Noami was taught by her neighbor the recipe for Egyptian falafel. She modified it to her taste, making the falafel from garbanzo beans instead of fava beans, and added her own combination of spices to the mix.

As times grew tougher, she proposed the idea of selling falafel at the local marketplace to her husband. Embarrassed to sell such a product, Chaim dismissed the idea, but Noami insisted. She prepared the falafel at home, filling the pita bread with nothing but tahina, hot sauce, and pickles, and sent him to the market. Within hours, he sold all the falafel sandwiches. The following day she doubled his inventory and, yet again, he returned faster than expected, without any leftovers. This continued until one day contractors began to construct a building where Chaim used to sell his sandwiches. Noami, who by that time had saved some money from the falafel sales, contacted the landlord and purchased space in the building. By the time Chaim and his wife opened their falafel restaurant, it was not only the first in the region, but also the most successful.

Together, using Naomi’s recipe, they open a brick and mortar restaurant where their children helped sell their signature falafel sandwich, making it the first and most popular falafel restaurant in the region.

A year prior, Noami gave birth to her fifth child, Yehuda. Yehuda began working at the restaurant at the age of six, standing on a stool to take orders. Once Yehuda would finish school, he would rush to the restaurant to lend a hand to his father and siblings. Yehuda continued to work there as he grew older, learning more about the food service industry with every passing day.

Yehuda sets off on his own and opens a falafel restaurant in the center of Be’er Sheva.

By the end of 1973, Yehuda opens a second store in Dimona, a city not too far from Be’er Sheva.

In 1978, Yehuda and his wife, Frida, visited Los Angeles and immediately fell in love with the city. Seeing the opportunity in the untapped market, him and his family moved to Los Angeles to introduce the years-old family recipe to America.

In June of 1982, Yehuda and Frida move with their children to Los Angeles. By August, they open a restaurant on the corner of Ventura Place and Ventura Boulevard.

Nobody knew what falafel was at that time, so they sold burgers and fries and introduced falafel to patrons along the way. Slowly but surely, customers began falling in love with this foreign dish, eventually coming for the falafel instead of the burgers. They operated in that location until the property they were renting was sold. By the end of that same year, they open another location in Studio City.

The restaurant is moved to the Sherman Oaks Galleria when the property they rented was sold off.

To satisfy popular demand, they opened a second location on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Colfax Avenue. During the course of his life, Yehuda transformed the restaurant from a mere fast-casual eatery to a place where customers call home.

By coupling Yehuda’s unwavering dedication to customer service, with delicious Middle Eastern recipes, Amir’s Falafel proudly serves Studio City in the same location to this day.

Our unwavering dedication to our customers, and their continual loyalty is what keeps us going today. We are blessed to be part of this wonderful community and supported over these many years.

In 2022 we completed a rebrand and remodel of our original location. We're so happy to continue serving the same fresh flavors and recipes you've come to love.