Popular West Phila. restaurateur dies

Samer Albarouki, a Syrian-Lebanese entrepreneur who ran three restaurants in West Philadelphia, died Tuesday, Dec. 10 of cardiac arrest, according to the Facebook page of Aloosh.

Albarouki, 44, who lived in Mullica Hill, N.J., with his wife and four children, first opened Ed's Buffalo Wings & Pizza and then Rana, a Middle Eastern restaurant, both in Powelton Village.

This summer, he converted Zocalo - one time a hot Mexican destination at 36th Street and Lancaster Avenue - into Aloosh, a Middle Eastern restaurant specializing in hookah.

Funeral was Friday morning.