Samir Mogannam

The Climb

Early on, the line started in his father's chain of burger restaurants in San Francisco, California, where Samir Mogannam worked as a team member. That first room linked food to family from the start. From there, he moved through Mr. Pollo as a team member, then Prebechu as a team member from 2014, and later Aziza as garde manger. Each stop sharpened a different part of the craft: speed, precision, discipline, and the discipline of the cold station. What ties those rooms together is the way they point toward Beit Rima. Since 2019, Samir Mogannam has been chef-owner there, and the restaurant reads as the place where those years of kitchen labor, inherited memory, and personal intent were brought into one operation.

Today

Since 2019, Mogannam has been chef-owner of Beit Rima in San Francisco. The restaurant sits at the intersection of his Palestinian-American identity and the kitchen language he built over time, with both made legible in one address. It is not a departure from the earlier work so much as a consolidation of it. He described the move in plain terms in a conversation with his father: "I convinced my dad that I had this concept that would share our culture with the community." The line says what the restaurant is doing: carrying family history into service, and turning that history into something regular, public, and repeatable.

Signature

Samir's signature dishes include Gazan braised lamb shank and Chicken Shish Tawook Plate. The pair signals the restaurant’s register: direct names, familiar forms, and food meant to land plainly rather than perform.

In Their Words “I was pushed to the point where I considered quitting cooking, but it made me reflect on what I wanted out of my own restaurant one day.” “I convinced my dad that I had this concept that would share our culture with the community.”

Recognition

Mogannam’s recognition is tied to the terms he chose for the work. He has said, "The biggest power move was having the heart to label us as Arab." In a San Francisco restaurant led by a Palestinian-American chef-owner, that naming carries weight: family, identity, and community made public without hedging. The line of work is clear. A chef moved through San Francisco kitchens, including Aziza, then opened a restaurant of his own. By 2019, that progression had a name, a city, and a menu rooted in family.