Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the March 1, 2022 flipbook.

The highly frequented restaurant Halal Bros on Guadalupe Street reopened Feb. 25, after a fire last April caused damage to the building. 

Restaurant co-owner Saleem Attal said poor electrical wiring likely caused the fire. The newly rebuilt restaurant has a larger dining area for students to eat in comfortably, he said. The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and will offer a limited menu under a soft-opening status.

“The positive that came out of (the fire) was we were able to rebuild this place even better than before,” said Mohamad Attal, co-owner of the restaurant. 

The Attal family, originally from New York, moved to Austin in 2010 to offer authentic cart food to the community, Saleem said. Over the years, what started out as a small downtown truck has grown into three brick-and-mortar stores located in various parts of the city.

“We’re a small business … run by brothers … who took the idea of New York style street food and brought it to Austin, Texas,” Mohamad said. “We always wanted to stand out as the pioneers for Austin.” 

Following the fire, the Attal family hopes they are able to provide food for students on the Drag again, Saleem said.

When computer science sophomore Danny Bernal moved to Austin, he had trouble finding food he liked compared to his hometown of Houston, which he said has more diverse food options. After some searching, Bernal fell in love with Halal Bros. 

“It’s definitely in my list of go-tos since I got here to Austin a few months ago,” Bernal said. “It’s the only place that I’ve liked so far, and it’s super reliable for their quality and taste.”

The Attal family said Halal Bros wants to be able to provide enough food in one portion to last students with enough leftovers for the next day. Due to the pandemic, the restaurant has increased the price of some of their menu items to maintain their large serving sizes, Saleem said.

“We’ve just been doing it like that for the past 10 years,” Saleem said.