1 of 9
(From left) Memi’s owner Ramy Yacoub with mother Memi and sister Rania
2 of 9
The bar at Memi’s
3 of 9
Memi’s Sampler plate featuring gebna (feta blended with garlic, sour cream and mayo), hummus, baba ghanoush, falafel and pita
4 of 9
Tables inside Memi’s
5 of 9
Pictures of Yacoub’s family hang in the dining room at Memi’s.
6 of 9
Koshary, a mix of rice, lentils, pasta, chickpeas and crispy caramelized onions served with zesty tomato and garlicky vinegar sauces
7 of 9
Macarona bechamel, a creamy penne pasta dish baked with ground beef and tomato sauce
8 of 9
9 of 9
A mural in the forthcoming cocktail lounge
At 29, Ramy Yacoub may be one of the city’s youngest restaurateurs. While he’s not entirely new to the local dining scene, with his latest and first original concept, he has a story to tell.
Last week, he introduced Memi’s, an Egyptian and Middle Eastern establishment named after his mother at 2229 W. Main St. The restaurant is a family affair, with Memi helming the kitchen and Yacoub’s younger sister, Rania, helping with front-of-house operations.
Yacoub and his family immigrated from Egypt to the United States when he was 12, landing in Richmond. The J.R. Tucker High School and VCU business grad served in the Navy for eight years, followed by a brief stint in IT and then a switch in recent years to the food and beverage industry.
With a desire to own his own business, he opened a Charley’s Cheesesteaks franchise near VCU campus at 26. The following year, he purchased longstanding Fan eatery 3 Monkeys. While operating the Main Street bar, he took notice of another potential opportunity right down the block — Barrio Taqueria & Tequila. He bought the business last year from former owner-operators Richmond Restaurant Group.
“It felt right,” he says. “It felt like it would be the perfect spot to open what [I] wanted to do since ... I was like a little kid.”
A chef for nearly two decades, Memi Yacoub’s journey in the kitchen began when she first immigrated to the U.S. in 2007. Starting as a prep cook before climbing the culinary ranks, she previously worked at Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center, followed by an executive chef role at the Atlas 42 event space in Glen Allen and time as executive chef at 3 Monkeys after her son took over the business.
“I wanted to do something for to pay her back, do something to honor her for just working so hard all these years,” Ramy says, “and I thought this [restaurant] would be the best gift.”
Memi is the silent force behind the menu, offering renditions of traditional Egyptian dishes such as koshary, a mix of rice, lentils, pasta, chickpeas and crispy caramelized onions served with zesty tomato sauce and garlicky vinegar meant to be poured on top.
“Every time I go over to her house, she has some books filled with recipes,” Ramy says. “She talks about new ideas, new recipes, new food. It’s been good, she loves it. This is going to be real Egyptian traditional cuisine. Everything is from scratch, including the Egyptian bread.”
A sampler plate includes gebna, a creamy, tangy blend of feta, garlic, sour cream and mayo, along with housemade, tahini-heavy hummus and velvety, smoky baba ghanoush. Also among the starters are dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) and foul medames, a stewy mix of mashed fava beans blended with sour cream, cheese, diced tomatoes and onions.
Regarding the latter, Ramy explains, “We eat it almost every morning [for] breakfast in Egypt” along with Egyptian bread.
A unique offering at Memi’s is mulukhiyah, a comforting Egyptian soup made with jute leaves, also referred to as Egyptian spinach or West African sorrel. The leaves are steeped in chicken broth and flavored with tomato paste, garlic and spices, resulting in a fragrant, strikingly green soup. “I don’t know any other country that has this soup except Egypt, it’s very different,” Ramy says.
Other soups include lesan asfour, a rich bone-broth based soup made with orzo, lime and bay leaves, as well as red lentil soup cooked with carrots, onions, celery and spices. There is a heavy Mediterranean influence, with beef and chicken shawarma; falafel; and hawawshi, a hand-held, crispy-edged pita stuffed with spiced ground meat, onions and herbs.
From the grill are skewered meats including kofta, or grilled and spiced ground beef; chicken shish tawook; and lamb. Entrees include fiteer, an Egyptian pizza stuffed with vegetables; macarona bechamel, a creamy penne pasta dish baked with ground beef and tomato sauce; a whole stuffed fish; and tagine beef, slow roasted in the namesake ceramic dish with onions and potatoes and served with rice.
For dessert, chose from basbousa, a syrup-soaked semolina cake; zalabia, fluffy, fried Egyptian doughnuts dusted with powdered sugar; kanafa, a syrup-soaked spun pastry with cream; and baklava.
“We’ll have something for everybody because I know some people ... want to try the traditional stuff,” Ramy says, “but we’re also gonna have something like a slower mode, more approachable.”
He has big plans for the space, aiming to present a multifaceted experience at Memi’s. The restaurant is currently open for dinner service, with plans to launch breakfast and brunch in the future. In the back of the restaurant, the soon-to-open cafe, Noor, will offer coffee, pastries and traditional Egyptian coffee. Upstairs is Amar, a forthcoming cocktail lounge. The wine program includes selections from the Mediterranean region, Lebanon and South Africa.
“Everybody’s excited, I think … to have that type of cuisine here,” Ramy says. “That gets us even more excited to know that Richmond is more open minded to try this, too.”
While the anticipation is high, Ramy also recognizes the importance of introducing a cuisine fairly unfamiliar to diners in Richmond.
“There’s nothing like it around here, which is really cool,” he says. “It’s a big deal representing my family, my culture. It’s the first Egyptian restaurant, so I want to make sure people have a good first impression.”
Memi’s is open from 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 3 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday.
