For the night, Hadidi transformed the restaurant’s back room, typically reserved for parties of 20 or more, into a theater-style viewing room. It became so packed that Huda regulars Hiba Awad and her friends Joanna and Mo ran home for a laptop and monitor, which they set up at the bar next to the martini glasses. “That way, we can live stream the results for the rest of the restaurant to see, too,” Awad explained.
Friends Sara and Hadear, who started their night with the restaurant’s popular shish barak and lamb kebabs, were seated nearby. “Zohran’s humanity has shown throughout his entire campaign,” Hadear said. “He’s meeting people where they are and touching every facet of New York life. It’s the first time we have had somebody who feels fresh, and it’s really hopeful.”
Huda’s crowd even spilled out onto the sidewalk, where people watched the results roll in through the window. That’s where David Teeghman, a self-described “2016 Bernie Bro,” was posted with his friend Jibran. “I’ve been looking for hope for a while, and finally felt it with Zohran’s campaign,” he said—and that, despite the fact that he lives in Chicago and couldn’t even vote in this week’s election. “I’m a political organizer around environmental issues, and seeing somebody who can link all these different issues of capitalism, colonization, anti-imperialism, and make this economic populous argument to the working class—that has us all really, really excited.” After flying in on Saturday, Teeghman had been canvassing for 12 hours a day to get Zohran’s message out.
The qawwali band at Barzakh Café.
Photographed by Anh Nguyen
