Serving the cuisine of Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul is a unique gem Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. As owner Wali Khairzada explains it, the ancient city of Kabul lay at the crossroads of trade between India and Central Asia, where for centuries, merchants, conquerors and explorers passed through, leaving their cultural influences behind, along with the finest delicacies from across the Asian continent.
The son of Afghan bankers, Khairzada originally came to the United States in 1972 to study at New York University. In 1978, Afghanistan’s communist parties joined together to orchestrate a coup d’etat against the Afghan king. Khairzada says at the time, he was in India for medical care. His father feared that if his son came back to Kabul, he would not be allowed to return to the United States, as that country was recalling its embassy staff. Khairzada’s father quickly arranged for Khairzada to return to the U.S.
Then the new socialist Afghan government nationalized the country’s industry and financial institutions, freezing the assets of Khairzada’s family. Khairzada could no longer afford NYU, so he got a job and took classes part time at a New Jersey community college. In 1975, his student visa expired. He knew that to return to his country meant joining the army and fighting his own people. His father worked with colleagues in New York to arrange for Khairzada and his sister to receive political asylum in the United States. In 1976, Khairzada got his first restaurant job at an upscale Continental restaurant in Hackensack, NJ., where he worked until he moved to Seattle. Then, on Christmas Eve 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.
Khairzada came to Seattle in 1981 and fell in love with the city, which was surrounded by snow-covered mountains that reminded him of home. He jokes that he started out in Seattle the typical immigrant way, by franchising a 7-11 store.
Kabul was opened in 1992 by Slawomir Pytlasinski, a Polish immigrant. He recruited Afghan native Sultan Malikyar to create the restaurant for him, and Malikyar in turn brought in his fellow countryman, Khairzada, to run the business. Malikyar came from a family that had operated restaurants in Afghanistan. In 1994, the pair bought out the original owner, and in June 2000, Khairzada bought out Malikyar’s share of the restaurant.
Kabul Afghan Cuisine is located in the Wallingford neighborhood.
(206) 545-9000
