Eat Halal Milwaukee invites popular Greater Milwaukee restaurants to offer halal dining options during Halal Restaurant Week, a week-long event promoting dining options for the area’s growing Muslim population.

Eat Halal Milwaukee holds its fourth Halal Restaurant Week in June 5 – 14, featuring 10 Milwaukee-area restaurants.

“It’s more than a week because we like to include two weekends,” said Bushra Zaibak of Brookfield, Eat Halal Milwaukee’s fun and feisty founder. Zaibak dreamed up this project five years ago, when thinking of ways to expand restaurant options for Greater Milwaukee’s growing Muslim community. Her tenacity in cold-calling restaurants and selling her idea launched Halal Restaurant Week in 2022 and, with it, Eat Halal Milwaukee, an ongoing platform to create connections between local restaurants and Milwaukee’s Muslim community.

Halal is an Arabic word that means permissible in Islamic law. Regarding food, it means it meets Islamic dietary restrictions, including the treatment of animals and how they are slaughtered. 

Throughout Halal Restaurant Week, participating restaurants swap their chicken and beef selection to halal-certified alternatives while implementing halal cooking practices, including the exclusion of pork products and alcohol, as well as measures to prevent cross-contamination. 

In exchange, Eat Halal Milwaukee promotes the participating restaurants in its social media and on its website.

Zaibak recruited an energetic support team, “mostly people I can boss around,” she quipped, noting the team includes friends and relatives, like her “right hand,” her daughter-in-law Sarah Arabiyat. They help her sell the idea to Greater Milwaukee restaurants, maintain the website and promote Halal Restaurant Week and other events on Eat Halal Milwaukee’s social media.

Halal Restaurant Week is sponsored by Hayat Pharmacy and True Dental.

Eat Halal Milwaukee founder Bushra Zaibak of Brookfield

The Eat Halal MKE website’s dining database lists more than 70 popular Milwaukee restaurants and food vendors—from food trucks to fine dining—that serve halal dishes year-round. 

Restaurants find serving halal food is good business, Zaibak noted in a recent interview with the Wisconsin Muslim Journal. Current estimates of the population of Greater Milwaukee’s Muslim community ranges from 20,000 – 30,000. And other diners, in addition to Muslims, appreciate halal-certification because it ensures animals were well treated and slaughtered with minimal suffering. 

“Halal Restaurant Week continues to serve as a celebration of inclusion, accessibility and community engagement through food, while encouraging local restaurants to connect with Milwaukee’s growing Muslim population,” a press release from Eat Halal Milwaukee says.

Halal Restaurant Week 2026’s featured restaurants

This year’s participating restaurants include a mix of new and returning establishments, including two of Milwaukee’s acclaimed fine-dining restaurants Odd Duck, 939 S. 2nd St., and Amilinda, 315 E. Wisconsin Avenue, both James Beard Award nominees and widely considered Michelin Star contenders.

New Participating Restaurants: 

Returning Participating Restaurants: 

“We have a solid list of well-known restaurants,” Zaibak said. “We want to make sure to feature restaurants that are popular and to have everything from high-end to casual.”

Halal Restaurant Week features a respite night for caregivers

Eat Halal Milwaukee partners with MUHSEN (Muslims Understanding and Helping Special Education Needs) to offer a Respite Care Night, Friday, June 5, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee Community Center, 815 W. Layton Ave. 

Care services for individuals with special needs are provided, allowing parents, family members and caretakers the opportunity to enjoy an evening of halal dining during the opening night of Halal Restaurant Week. Registration for Respite Care Night opens today at 4 p.m. at MUHSEN.org/eathalalmke.

“We usually have about five families take advantage of this opportunity,” said Arabiyat. “It has been in Brookfield. We’ll see if that changes when it is offered in the south.”

Hanan Kaloti, a special education teacher and case manager, and MUHSEN’s Wisconsin facilitator, manages the respite night. “Anybody who has someone with special needs that needs constant care is welcomed to register,” Arabiyat explained. “Trained volunteers will be with them so the caregivers can enjoy a night of dining.

“I want to give a shout out to one other person we work with, Sahar Ahmad,” a Salam High School science teacher, Arabiyat added. “She’s been our contact person for coordinating with ISM and has helped with many things.”

Momo Mee‘s Asian Dumplings and Noodles

Sweet Basil‘s Thai and Lao Street Food

Bridgewater Modern Grill‘s Classic American

Halal Restaurant Week catches on
“When we started, restaurants would only do beef or chicken and only on certain days of the week,” Zaibak recalled. “We kept telling them we had customers for them who wanted more. Then they’d see the turn out. Now many offer all their meats halal and even create new halal marinades. Smoke Shack, for example, has its signature barbeque sauce. They labeled it as “not halal but then went further, making a new marinade for the week. Restaurants are really putting a lot of effort into making it a success.”

The Eat Halal Milwaukee team created detailed guidelines for participating restaurants, with step-by-step instructions on everything from how to make sure the meat they purchase is halal to how to avoid cross-contamination in cooking and serving. “Going halal was confusing for some at first but the user-friendly chart and guidelines made it simple,” Zaibak said. “Things like red wine vinegar is ok; dairy is ok but lard is not.

“I wish everyone understood the effort these restaurants put in to make sure not only that it’s done but that it’s done well; it’s done with heart,” Zaibak said. “They really go all out.”

On Eat Halal Milwaukee’s social media, behind-the-scenes videos show just how the participating vendors ensure everything is halal. Viewers can see how they have separate cooking areas for halal meats, how they train cooking staff not to cross-contaminate and wait staff to confirm what options are halal. “We want people to have confidence to visit the different restaurants, relax and enjoy their meals,” Zaibak explained.

“There’s definitely a buzz about it now,” she added. “Restaurants are already telling us they want to be in next year.”