When Fady Chamoun opened his first Aladdin's Eatery in 1994, diners were still very much in the dark when it came to the ins and outs of Middle Eastern cuisine. Sure, Nate's Deli in Ohio City opened its doors six years earlier, but a full two-thirds of its customers regularly passed over exotic-sounding items like fattoush, tabouli and baba ganoush in favor of Greek salads, corned beef sandwiches and hamburgers with french fries. In the 23 years since that pioneering Lakewood restaurant opened, Chamoun and his wife, Sally, have grown the operation to a remarkable 40 locations in four states. In those early years, Chamoun had to make weekly trips to Detroit or Canada to procure ingredients like tahini, garbanzo beans, Lebanese olive oil and fresh pita that they needed…
