A Brazilian and Lebanese-inspired charcoal chicken shop is now open for business on Langston Blvd.
Tio Pelé celebrated its grand opening last week at 3110 Langston Blvd in Lyon Village, slinging whole and half chickens, sandwiches, bowls and fresh juice. Customers lined up around the property to get a taste of the family-owned spot, located at the former site of The Block Oven, a Mediterranean restaurant and hookah lounge.
“We had a line for like, about an hour to two hours to get a sandwich, to be honest,” owner and co-founder Ramzi Iskandar told ARLnow. “Very hyped up, good vibe. It was quite busy Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was so busy, we had to close Monday to restock.”
The restaurant’s chicken is spatchcocked, brined for a day and then marinated for an additional 24 hours before going on the charcoal grill. It’s available in sandwiches, served with steak fries and with a choice of garlic toum sauce, spicy herb sauce or orange signature Pelé’s sauce.
Tio Pelé is a family affair for Iskandar, a local restaurateur and owner of Iskandar Restaurant Group. The organization has operated restaurants in the building since 2006, including The Block Oven and Tarbouch.
Iskandar also leads the nearby Cloud Lounge at 2515 Langston Blvd and the Villa Yara in Georgetown.
Tio Pelé opened on Iskandar’s 20th anniversary at the Lyon Village property. He’s leading the new restaurant with his younger brother, Yehya Iskandar, alongside their chef and mother, Leila, and father, Adnan.
It’s a return to hospitality for the entire family, who worked together to open Tarbouch 20 years ago.
“My dad is juicing carrots since 8 a.m., my mom is in the kitchen since 7 a.m. and she’s been doing this every day,” Ramzi Iskandar said. “My brother goes shopping for the restaurant every day. I might have the brains of developing the concept … but they are the hard-working people.”
The shop is also finalizing a menu of fresh juices, smoothies and acai bowls. One highlight is the Lebanese-inspired “habibi bowl,” made with pureed avocado, honey, pistachios and almonds, and topped with a thick cream called ashta.
Sides pull inspiration from the brothers’ Brazilian and Lebanese lineage, with options like regular and spicy hummus, fattoush, feijoada and tannour flatbreads.
The name Tio Pelé comes from a memory from the brothers’ childhood, when legendary Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as “Pelé,” visited the hotel where their father worked in Saudi Arabia.
“You can imagine a 12-year-old kid trying to meet the legend of soccer. … That moment was a turning moment, especially because my mom speaks Portuguese, and she’s from Brazil,” Iskandar said. “Obviously, we spent some time with him. We invited him over to our place, and we had a good two, three hours of talking and having a meal. And it was very special, at that moment, in my heart.”
Afterward, Iskandar said a picture of himself with the sports legend circulated in a Saudi Arabian sports magazine, which made him “the most popular kid in a school.” It’s part of why he chose to lend Pelé the title of tio, or uncle, in the restaurant’s name.
The restaurateur says this new brand is “100% from the heart.”
“Look, you live always trying to make the money by offering what people want,” Iskandar said. “And then you reach a point in life, where you are so comfortable bringing in some of your life and introducing that to people. You don’t usually share these things in business, because you’re always trying to create a business and somewhat be distant from it … [Tio Pelé] is exactly what I had in mind, in heart.”
Across a dining room and covered patio, Tio Pelé has space for about 50 guests. Current hours are 5-9 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.
Hours could eventually extend to 11 a.m.-9 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Iskandar said.
