Hollywood starlet Isabela Merced is taking to new heights as Hawkgirl in DC’s newest Superman but also exploring old ones – like her childhood love for Aladdin’s Eatery.
The Cleveland native returned to her hometown last summer to film the superhero smash-hit and recently talked about her family’s affinity for “hole-in-the wall” restaurants in the city. Growing up in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood, Merced said that her father had a special love for Aladdin’s.
“Oh my God, we loved Aladdin’s growing up,” Merced told Cleveland Magazine this year. “That’s like, great Mediterranean food, just so yummy. We love the hummus there.”
Our hummus, made fresh daily from blending extra virgin oil, high-fiber chickpeas, lemon juice and tahini, is a staple family recipe here at Aladdin’s and a rich part of our restaurant’s Lebanese heritage.
For Merced, her heritage as a Peruvian-American is a central part of who she is.
“I’m so blessed to have a mother who saw value in sharing her culture with me. She implemented it into my life as much as possible,” Merced told The Newsette in 2024.
Her multicultural identity gave her an appreciation for anything Peru had to offer, and she especially loved sharing Peruvian cuisine with her friends and getting to see their reactions, she told The Newsette.
Similar to Merced, our story at Aladdin’s began with a desire to share culture. When founders Fady Chamoun and his wife Sally first opened Aladdin’s in 1994, educating guests about the unique Mediterranean cuisine was of utmost importance.
Over the past thirty years, Aladdin’s has expanded to more than thirty different locations across four states, providing family-rooted Lebanese American dishes to guests all over the country.
“Now that the world is a mix of cultures, these histories are more common. It’s something that always happens with the children of immigrants: they have to assimilate into the culture where they live but without losing their roots,” Merced told Al Dìa News in 2021.