Sahara Taste of the Middle East: El Cajon's $3.95 Handmade Menu, Open Until 1 a.m.

Overview

Sahara Taste of the Middle East has been on Jamacha Road in El Cajon since 2011, opened by Joe Salem after years working in food and catering. His stated goal was to serve a version of Middle Eastern cooking "that isn't often experienced in the states," and the shawarma — beef and chicken both — is prepared in house from all-natural, hormone-free meat.

Two things to understand before you go, and both of them are easy to miss on the website.

First: Sahara is open from 10 a.m. until 1 a.m., seven days a week. Not reduced hours on Sunday, not a shorter Monday — fifteen hours a day, every day. That makes it one of the very few genuine late-night kitchens in East County, and the single most useful fact about it. Nothing on their homepage mentions it.

Second, and this is the part that matters if you care about the food: skip past the shawarma plates to the Handmade Specialties. It's a short section near the middle of the menu, everything on it costs $3.95, and it's where the actual cooking is. Potato chop, kubba halab, bureg, beef and cheese pies — these are Iraqi and Levantine home-cooking dishes, the kind of thing made in a kitchen rather than assembled on a line, and they're the reason to come here rather than to any of the dozen generic Mediterranean places between here and the coast.

El Cajon is home to one of the largest Iraqi and Chaldean communities in the United States. A menu with kuba and bureg on it, at four dollars apiece, in this city, is not an accident.

What to Order at Sahara

Start with the Handmade Specialties — $3.95 each. Order four or five and share them:

• Potato Chop. Mashed potato stuffed with ground beef, parsley, onions and spices, then fried. If you order one thing from this section, make it this.
• Kuba Halb. A spiced ground beef and yellow rice croquette. The dish that tells you whether a Middle Eastern kitchen is serious.
• Bureg — beef, chicken or vegetable. The menu calls them "Middle Eastern eggrolls," which undersells them: thin pastry stuffed with parsley, onion and spices.
• Beef Pie and Cheese Pie. Oven-baked, the cheese version with feta and mozzarella. Four dollars for something that eats like a meal.

The sandwiches come with lettuce, tomato, pickles and special sauce, on your choice of French roll, pita or wrap:

• Falafel ($11.55) — with tahini sauce, and the cheapest full meal on the menu.
• Chicken Shawarma ($12.95) — with garlic aioli.
• Beef Shawarma ($14.95) — with tahini.
• Beef Kufta Kabob ($12.95) — with sumac.
• Filet Mignon Tikka ($19.95) or Salmon Tikka ($19.95) — if you're going big.

The plates all come with rice, pita bread and a choice of side, and you can swap a second side for the rice:

• Lamb Over Rice ($24.95). Slow-cooked, seasoned lamb over spicy rice. The splurge and the best of them.
• Chicken Shawarma or Chicken Tikka ($19.95).
• Beef Shawarma ($22.55) or Filet Mignon Tikka ($23.55).

The salads are $12.55 and better than they need to be — the house Sahara Salad comes with pita chips, sumac and pomegranate dressing.

How to Visit Sahara in El Cajon

• Address: 2990 Jamacha Rd, Suite 116, El Cajon, CA 92019
• Phone: (619) 660-9990
• Hours: 10 a.m.–1 a.m., every day
• Ordering: Online ordering and delivery available
• Second location: Inside Heights Market, 3355 Adams Ave, San Diego (Normal Heights)
• Catering: A substantial part of the business — events, offices, weddings
• Online: saharasd.com

The 1 a.m. close is the headline. East County empties out early. If you're coming off a late shift, a show, or a long drive on the 8, this is one of the few real kitchens still cooking.

Order the handmade items first, before you commit to a plate. They come out fast and they're four dollars — there's no reason not to try three.

It's in a shopping center on Jamacha. Suite 116, so look for the unit number rather than a standalone building. Parking is easy, which is more than El Cajon's Main Street corridor can offer.

There's a second Sahara inside Heights Market on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, if East County is a reach. It's a counter inside a market rather than a full restaurant, so the experience isn't identical.

If you're exploring the area, our El Cajon neighborhood guide covers the broader picture.

The Takeaway

Go late, order a potato chop, a kuba halb and a couple of bureg before you look at anything else, then add a lamb over rice for the table.

What makes Sahara worth writing about isn't that El Cajon has Middle Eastern food — El Cajon has a great deal of Middle Eastern food, and that's exactly why it's one of the best eating cities in the county. It's that this particular kitchen keeps a handmade section on the menu at $3.95 a piece and keeps the lights on until one in the morning. Those two decisions tell you who it's actually for: people who live here, eating the way they eat at home, at whatever hour they finish work.

For more spots worth the drive, browse our Local Picks — including Grand Ole BBQ out on Olde Highway 80 and the free Olaf Wieghorst Museum downtown. If you're weighing East County as a place to live, La Mesa vs. El Cajon runs the numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Sahara Taste of the Middle East? At 2990 Jamacha Rd, Suite 116, El Cajon, CA 92019. There's a second location inside Heights Market at 3355 Adams Ave in San Diego.

What are Sahara's hours? 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week — one of the latest kitchens in East County.

What should I order at Sahara? The Handmade Specialties section, where everything is $3.95: potato chop, kuba halb, bureg, and the beef and cheese pies. For a full plate, the lamb over rice at $24.95.

What is kuba halb? A spiced ground beef and yellow rice croquette, a staple of Iraqi home cooking. Sahara makes it in house for $3.95.

What is a potato chop? Mashed potato stuffed with seasoned ground beef, parsley and onions, then fried — another Iraqi home-kitchen dish and the standout of Sahara's handmade section.

Does Sahara cater? Yes, and it's a significant part of the business — birthdays, holiday and corporate events, and weddings.

Is Sahara's shawarma made in house? Yes. The restaurant states its beef and chicken shawarma are prepared in house using all-natural, hormone-free meat.

Who owns Sahara? Joe Salem, who opened it in 2011 after years working in the food and catering industry.