Byblos in Norwood a True Example of the American Dream

Maurice Daaboul, owner of Byblos, never thought he’d open an award-winning restaurant in Norwood when he was growing up. Actually, he didn’t even know where Norwood was when he was growing up in Lebanon.

Daaboul said he and his sister were working in a different business in the country when in 1995 war had broken out.

“I came with only my shirt and my pants,” he said. “I had lost everything in the old country.”

Daaboul said he found out his brother-in-law was living in Norwood and he stayed with him. He said he was thinking about what he would like to do to start his new life in the U.S.

“I’m not an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer,” he said. “I was just a simple person who had a life and lost my business. What could I do to start my life again?”

Daaboul said he noticed something off about the Lebanese and Middle Eastern restaurants he visited, and started canvasing the area to find out what was wrong.

“I started exploring the restaurants,” he said. “I realized most of the places had good food, but it was mostly Americanized, they changed the tastes a little to accommodate certain tastes. I said to myself, why? I truly believe if you have an authentic thing, you bring it to the table and you give it to people. It’s about being proud of what you’re presenting from your background.”

It was the traditional style that really hit it off for his Lebanese customers. He said he had had experience with cooking growing up, but nothing really formal.

“I loved food and my family has one of the best tastes in cooking for Lebanese food,” he said. “I have people 80 or 90 years old and they said they had this dish when their grandmother was alive. They’re 85 years old and they tell me oh my god it reminds me of sito, my grandma. This is how she used to cook; it tastes exactly the same. It gives me goose bumps and it makes me so happy that we are making people happy.”

Daaboul said it wasn’t a meteoric rise when they first opened in their original location in South Norwood. He said it was definitely a family effort on the part of his wife Rogette and his sister-in-law Nelly Matta.

“There were days when I could not sell more than $50 worth of food,” he said. “My sister-in-law and my wife are the reason for our success. They gave their heart and soul in preparing the food and cooking.”

Daaboul said he first knew they had hit on something when one day, literally out of the blue, he came to the store to see a line going from the door.

“One person told us they saw us on the Phantom Gourmet,” he said. “They rated us 89 percent, which is one of the highest grades. From that moment on our lives changed. We worked ten times harder and ten times more and it was a long way.”

You wouldn’t know it stepping into the upscale restaurant they have now, but they did start at a much smaller place. Daaboul said they put everything into their current location, and when it opened, he said it was definitely nerve racking.

“When we opened the first day I still remember my legs were shaking,” he said. “They were literally shaking. I was thinking what if we do not succeed here? All that work would go down the drain. But our vision was in the right direction and we’re still here ten years later.”

Daaboul said his children were his motivation for working so hard to make Byblos a success.

“They hated the place at the beginning,” he said. “But when they went to high school and their friends are like oh you are the owners of Byblos? My parents go there. Then they started realizing what we have done through all these and they helped us by being with us and being straight with us. Everything we did we did for them. They have finished college now and we’re very very proud of them.”

Byblos is located at 678 Washington St. and is open Tue - Thu, 11:30am - 10pm; Fri - Sat, 11:30am - 11pm; Sun, 1pm - 8pm.