DEARBORN HEIGHTS – In today’s market, owning a Middle Eastern restaurant in the Dearborn and Dearborn Heights area is much more difficult than it used to be.

Co-owners (from left) Hassan Hachem and his brother Mike pose with their waitstaff inside Beirut by Night restaurant in Dearborn Heights. PHOTOS: Nick Meyer/TAAN

There is so much competition that many places get lost in the shuffle.
Beirut by Night owner Hassan Hachem knew that, and that’s what led to a complete revamping of the popular Dearborn Heights restaurant’s design.

“People have always told us we have good food, but nowadays you have to spend money in order to bring the customers in,” said Hachem.

“It used to be that a guy could open a small place and paint the walls himself and people would come in. That’s not the case anymore.”

The new Beirut by Night restaurant on Ford Road on the border of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights is anything but an inconspicuous mom-and-pop restaurant, especially after the new renovations.

The exterior is now noticeably brighter with new signs and a completely re-done brick façade with exquisite archways on the outside, and customers have taken notice.

Business has doubled since the restaurant re-opened last Monday, and co-owner Mike Hachem is happy that he and his brother Hassan Hachem decided to take the risk.

“It was scary to think about, that you might lose all of your customers during renovation,” he said.

“But at the same time, sometimes you’ve got to just take a chance and leap right into it.”

With its easy entry points from Ford Road and the brilliant new exterior, drawing customers to Beirut by Night is no longer a problem.

Once inside, many of them marvel at the new dining room with its authentic Arab designs, including antique copper chandeliers imported from Syria and archways leading to a spacious dining room with stone floors.

“Our design is like a fusion of the new styles mixed with the old style,” said Mike Hachem. “It took seven months to do when we thought it was going to only take three or four months, but it was worth it in the end.”

The new design is appreciated by customers, but they come back for the food, which features fresh, never-frozen ingredients and a wide roster of traditional Middle Eastern favorites, as well as some Italian dishes like chicken & alfredo sauce and shrimp fettuccini and appetizers like cheese sticks and chicken wings.

The most popular dishes for dinner according to Hassan Hachem include chicken kabobs, shish tawook dinners, and chicken gallaba, a stir-fry style dish. Fresh-baked bread, meat and cheese pies and smoothies are popular with customers and a separate argileh room and catering (with special prices) are also available.

Hassan Hachem talked about his most popular lunch dish.

“People always come in and get the fattoush for lunch, especially with grilled chicken on top, they just love it.”

The menu is ever-expanding, thanks to Hassan Hachem’s love of experimenting with new flavors. Hachem is a trained chef from Lebanon who has passed down his skills to his staff.

But he always makes sure that customers get to taste his own creative vision at each visit.

“I always put the finishing touches on every dish,” he said.

That special culinary touch is just one of the reasons why customers keep coming back according to Mike Hachem.

“We always give out good-sized portions, we like the customers to leave happy and full so they’ll come back.”

Beirut by Night is located at 22700 Ford Road in Dearborn Heights. The phone number is 313.278.0300 and the fax number is 313.278.0301.