At just 21 years old, chef Amr Hammad has already opened his own food truck and has his sights set on becoming a legendary chef with dreams of opening Austin's first Palestinian fine dining restaurant.
Hammad runs Salam's Grill, a food truck that opened outside of Vacancy Brewing in South Austin in October 2025. The menu is packed with fresh ingredients and rich flavors, from juicy chicken and beef shawarma with spicy coriander fries to crisp falafel, creamy hummus, and a sharp garlic sauce.
"Right now, people associate Palestine with war and rubble," Hammad says. "You wouldn't hear 'Palestine' and think of white tablecloths and formal place settings. That's what I want to do."
Restaurants are in his heritage. His parents, Nuha and Jihad Hammad, are the duo behind the beloved Middle Eastern eatery Peace Bakery in North Austin, which has been operating since 2014. The name "Salam's" — "salam" means "peace" in Arabic — is a nod to the family bakery.
Hammad grew up watching his mother cook in their family kitchen. "My mom would give me a spoon, and I would just start tasting and trying things," he recalls. A Zoom call with a chef from the Culinary Institute of America during his junior year of high school changed everything. He enrolled in the CIA in San Antonio and graduated in 2024.
After graduation, he returned to Peace Bakery but felt something was missing. "My dad always says that the family restaurant is ours, but it's not really mine. It's not my dishes, my techniques, my staff. I wanted to make something that was mine."
He and his brother Ali pooled their resources and spent five months building out the truck, developing a menu, and customizing it to their needs. Previous experience at acclaimed Austin restaurants Uchiko and Odd Duck helped prepare him for the venture.
The specials are where Hammad gets to experiment, introducing customers to fusion flavors like spicy fried corn ribs dusted with sumac and Turkish coffee-infused hot chocolate.
When asked about his ultimate dream, Hammad plans to open a restaurant named after his grandmother, Fatoum. "I want to hear someone say, 'Let's go to Fatoum's,' and I want them to go and see a Palestinian restaurant with white tablecloths, where everyone is welcome. That would be my favorite thing in the world."