Shouk, a fast-casual restaurant that serves Middle Eastern plant-based food, is opening its first Montgomery County location at 5568 Randolph Road in Rockville on Tuesday, next to Mom’s Organic Market.
Shouk serves a variety of pitas and bowls for $11 to $13. Items include the Shouk Burger (veggie burger, tomato, turnip, charred onion, arugula, tahina), falafel, “fried Shouk’n” (crispy mushroom, green cabbage, pickles, harissa mayonnaise) and mushroom shawarma.
The menus are the same at all the locations.
Shouk, which opened in 2016 in Washington, D.C., will have three locations when its Rockville restaurant opens.
Founder Ran Nussbacher told Bethesda Beat on Friday that a fourth location is scheduled to open at 5436 Westbard Ave. in Bethesda in the winter, but he doesn’t have an exact date yet.
The Rockville restaurant seats about 20 and will offer takeout, Nussbacher said.
Nussbacher said Shouk “has a lot of fans” in Montgomery County and plant-based foods are growing in popularity throughout the region.
“The reason we’re expanding is proof of that,” he said. “We’re seeing demand for the kind of food that we do. People are looking to eat less meat and more vegetables because they care about the environment, because they care about their health. So, we’re seeing a very dramatic and accelerated shift across demographics and across age groups.”
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media