In the last three years, 52 East Palisade Avenue has been a vegan Chinese restaurant and then a kosher smokehouse. Its neighbor at 53 has been an éclair shop and was later announced as a bakery that never opened. This November, both doors open onto counters serving meat in wraps and bowls. Mamush Shawarma Bar is at 52 and El Doner is at 53.
Neither new tenant is a first restaurant. Mamush comes from a couple who already run Mami, a Mediterranean restaurant on East Madison Avenue, and who are also behind two restaurants in Brooklyn. El Doner is a second location for a halal Turkish counter whose first shop is on Bergenline Avenue in West New York. After three years of turnover, both storefronts now belong to operators who already have a restaurant somewhere else.
The Two Addresses, Tenant by Tenant
The table below draws on reporting from NorthJersey.com on Fat Choy's arrival, New Jersey Monthly on its reopening, YeahThatsKosher on The Wandering Que, and Boozy Burbs on Eclairland, Patis Bakery, El Doner and Mamush.
Address | Tenant | What the coverage recorded |
|---|---|---|
52 E Palisade | Fat Choy | Vegan Chinese, announced for Englewood in June 2023; reported reopened after a break in October 2024 |
52 E Palisade | The Wandering Que | Kosher barbecue, opened May 2025; last regular service July 14, 2026 |
52 E Palisade | Mamush Shawarma Bar | Reported open November 4, 2026 |
53 E Palisade | Eclairland | Reported open April 2024 |
53 E Palisade | Patis Bakery | Announced December 2024; never opened |
53 E Palisade | El Doner | Halal Turkish street food; open with posted hours and online ordering |
The table leaves out some of 53's history. When Boozy Burbs reported El Doner's arrival in June, it said the Patis plan never materialized and that a string of short-lived café and coffee concepts followed at that storefront.
The Wandering Que matters more to 52's story than its 14 months suggest. According to YeahThatsKosher's account of the closing, the Englewood shop was the brand's first permanent brick-and-mortar location and the first kosher barbecue restaurant in the community. It ran as a Glatt kosher establishment under STAR-K and the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County. Its menu covered brisket, ribs, pulled beef, housemade sausages and Korean corn dogs, and the storefront also served as a pickup hub for the brand's catering across the tri-state area. Before Englewood, the operation had spent years as a traveling smokehouse at events, so the storefront was its first fixed address.
Mamush Arrives With a Track Record
Mamush is the newest of the two counters. In September, Boozy Burbs described it as the "little sister" of Mami, a Mediterranean restaurant on East Madison Avenue that opened in summer 2025 in the former Farmhouse space. The same outlet reported Mamush open on November 4.
The owners are restaurateurs Inna and Elad Mashiach, whose earlier restaurants include Reunion and Moabet in Brooklyn. Mamush is built around shawarma, which comes in a pita, a wrap or a bowl. Before opening, the restaurant collected sign-ups for kitchen previews and a friends-and-family night, so it had a list of interested diners before its first public day.
El Doner Brings a Bergenline Menu to Palisade
El Doner started on Bergenline Avenue at 5406, in West New York, and Boozy Burbs described the Englewood shop as the halal doner concept's move into Bergen County. Signage went up at 53 in late spring. By publication, the restaurant's own Englewood page lists the location with hours, a phone number, (201) 608-5660, and online ordering.
Beyond doner wraps, the June report lists beef and chicken doner tacos, falafel wraps, doner burgers, rice bowls, salads and Turkish-inspired drinks, with baklava and tres leches cake for dessert. Plates come with rice or fries and pita. Sandwiches and wraps come on Turkish bread with house sauces. The restaurant's site also lists gozleme.
One Block, Two Ways to Order the Same Lunch
With wraps and bowls at both addresses, a weeknight takeout order on this block now comes down to a few specific choices:
- Mamush, 52 East Palisade. Shawarma is the whole focus, served in a pita, a wrap or a bowl. It comes from the team behind Mami.
- El Doner, 53 East Palisade. Halal Turkish street food with doner as the anchor, plus tacos, burgers, gozleme, plates with rice or fries, baklava and tres leches.
- Parking. El Doner's page points to street parking on East Palisade Avenue and municipal lots a short walk away.
El Doner's location page also describes itself as steps from bergenPAC, near Flat Rock Brook Nature Center and the Englewood Public Library.
Turkish and Mediterranean Food Across Englewood's 2026 Openings
The two East Palisade counters fit a larger pattern in Englewood's 2026 openings. Kebabé Mediterranean Cuisine, at 548 Grand Avenue, was announced in late July and reported open on September 15. Its menu is halal Mediterranean and Turkish food built around grilled meats and kebabs. So in about two months, Englewood picked up three halal or Mediterranean counters: Kebabé on Grand Avenue in September, then El Doner and Mamush on neighboring East Palisade addresses.
The year's other notable downtown opening is something else entirely. Velvet Crush, a dessert-and-coffee café at 14 Engle Street from the team behind Sweet Kneads by Ridhima, opened in June with warm cookies and specialty coffee at the center of the menu. Engle Street is a short walk from the Palisade blocks, so you can get dinner on East Palisade and dessert on Engle without moving the car.
Our Englewood fall calendar mapped the downtown as a walkable half-mile. The East Palisade openings add two quick-dinner options inside that half-mile, ahead of bergenPAC's December run.
Dinner Before bergenPAC
Quick wrap-and-bowl counters are most useful on show nights, when dinner has to fit before curtain. The bergenPAC schedule through mid-December includes several of those nights:
- Anthony Rodia: Insanely Funny Tour, Friday, November 27, at 8 p.m.
- Zebra, Saturday, November 28, at 8 p.m.
- A Very Jenn and Mel Christmas Show, Sunday, November 29, at 3 p.m.
- New Jersey Ballet's Nutcracker, December 5 and 6.
- Darlene Love, Love for the Holidays, Friday, December 11, at 8 p.m.
- Holiday Doo Wop, Saturday, December 12, at 7 p.m.
On the 8 p.m. nights, there's time for shawarma at 52 or doner at 53 before the show. For the Sunday matinee on November 29, the timing points to a late lunch. For the Nutcracker weekend, the schedule lists dates rather than one curtain time, so check bergenPAC before you plan dinner around it.
For more on the city's streets, parks and downtown, see our Englewood neighborhood guide.
The Kolsky Team follows Englewood's downtown storefront by storefront, including the leases changing hands on East Palisade Avenue. If you own property near these blocks or are considering one, we're glad to talk through how downtown changes like these affect it.
