“Every corner in Germany has a döner kebap,” says Marcello Bisignani. And now Santa Barbara has one too.
Bisignani and his childhood friend Marco Coccia are the proud owners of Urkeb, the new fast-casual shop featuring this beloved German delicacy on lower State Street. “This product is the most popular German street food,” said Bisignani, who hails from the southern end of Germany, where 17,000 stores sell the döner kebap.
After one bite of the thinly shaved and vertically grilled beef and lamb meat, generously packed into freshly baked bread and drizzled with a variety of homemade sauces and vegetables, it’s easy to see why the delicacy is omnipresent. The kebap was originally served in Turkey on a plate with bread and vegetables. Turkish immigrants brought the dish to Germany in the 1970s, where the idea to nestle the meat between bread with garlic yogurt sauce and vegetables took flight.