Historic KC restaurant space reopening as Mexican-Lebanese concept
The restaurant space at 3904 Bell St. is still known by many as the old d’Bronx location.
The pizza restaurant and deli of 32 years closed in 2022. It reopened in May 2025 as Zhoug, a Mediterranean concept from Ethnic Food Concepts, then closed again in November.
Now, it’ll become a Mexican and Lebanese intersectional concept by restaurateurs and brothers Marwan and Maher Chebaro.
Their restaurant, called Beirut Taco, aims to open in d’Bronx’s old digs in March.
If Marwan’s name sounds familiar, it might be from his previous concepts on 39th Street: Cafe Rumi and Tribal Grill. In June, he opened Nour’s at 3855 Warwick Blvd., naming it after his late daughter.
Maher, on the other hand, also has a Mexican-Lebanese restaurant in Brooklyn called El Cedro. That concept’s menu will be similar to Beirut Taco’s, serving fish tacos and lamb burritos, a variety of tortas and more.
Maher said he’ll travel back and forth between Brooklyn and Kansas City to operate the two, though he’s spending much of this time in the KC metro this year to get his new restaurant up and running.
He doesn’t like to call it “fusion” food. He hopes to honor each respective food genre with plenty of care.
“We do things the right way,” Maher said. “Really it’s all done with love and research. … I respect both cultures.
Plus, he pointed out, Hispanic and Middle Eastern cuisine have intersectional history with Moorish influences. It helps that he just likes Mexican food.
Nour’s and Beirut Taco will be operating under the same restaurant group, one recently created by the brothers. Maher teased more expansion in Nour’s future — more information to come.
“Deciding to be a hospitality group in town, you have to do that structure so we can expand,” Maher said. “There’s a lot of other ideas we have.”
Zhoug, meanwhile, is still operating its Lenexa location at 16728 City Center Drive, serving Chipotle-style Mediterranean bowls, falafel and more.