Pasadena & the greater San Gabriel Valley Zabihah halal Open flame, on site

Smoke, spice, and a driveway full of people.

Imran cooks whole cuts on a pellet smoker and a post-oak offset, then finishes them over live coals. American steaks and smoke are cooked the American way. Karahi, tikka and katakat are cooked the way his mother taught him in Karachi. The two traditions share a fire — not a spice rack.

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Imran standing by the open coal fire, smiling, gloves on

Imran at the fire

Plate-cut beef ribs, bark set

Karahi mutton, finished in the pan

What he cooks on

One fire, two menus, cooked the right way for each.

He does not run a forty-item catering list. Every dish on either menu has been cooked for a paying table more than a dozen times.

11 hrson the offset for plate ribs

4 a.m.the fire gets lit on event day

212guests at the largest cook so far

35 mitravel included from Pasadena

Western Fire

American technique, American seasoning.

Ribeye, plate ribs, brisket, lamb chops, shrimp, crab and whole fish — dry rubs, hardwood smoke, and a hard sear over coals. No cardamom, no chaat masala. This side of the menu is built the way it's built in Texas, full stop.

Pakistani Spice

Karachi seasoning, cooked over the same coals.

Karahi mutton and chicken, bone-in and boneless tikka, and katakat — brain, kidney and lamb chop cooked hard and fast at full flame. This is the food Imran grew up on, unchanged for a smoker.

Live event cooking

He does not drop off trays.

The whole point is the cook happening in front of the people you invited — skewers turning, the karahi going, coals doing their work while your guests watch. Chafing dishes are what happens after the show, not instead of it.

Coals lit before sunrise

Karahi at full flame, tableside

We had forty-one people in the backyard and Imran cracked that salt-baked seabass open right in front of my mother-in-law. She has not stopped talking about it.
Sana Qureshi — Engagement dinner, San Marino

I booked him for my father's sixtieth expecting good barbecue. What showed up was a ribeye better than the steakhouse on Lake Avenue, and karahi that tasted like my grandmother's.
Waleed Bhatti — Milestone birthday, Arcadia

Tell him the date and how many are coming.

Every enquiry gets a reply within a day, usually with a phone call. No deposit is taken until the menu is settled and you have tasted it.

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