If you ever find yourself passing Pine Glenn Apartments sometime after dark, you may see a rare sight in Slippery Rock. Lines of college kids flood the parking lot, talking and laughing with friends and making plans for other late night activities while the mouthwatering smell of chicken and beef sizzling on a hot grill. As the hours go on, the line only gets longer, as students who came to grab a bite are coming back for seconds.
Simply put, Zeeno’s Firehouse BBQ and Grill is the place to be.
The man behind the food truck is Zeeno Khalil, who is known by the Slippery Rock community as Zeeno. Zeeno says the story behind his name is that, while growing up, his family would always come to him for advice, telling each other: “If you want to know, go ask Z, because Z knows.” Over time, the name morphed into what we all know today.
It all started with a sizzle
Before Zeeno was serving the students of Slippery Rock University delicious late night food, he had a long history of working in the food industry.
Zeeno comes from a long line of restaurateurs. At one point, Zeeno’s family owned 11 restaurants in the city of Pittsburgh.
One of his family members had a pizza shop located on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus. After noticing a struggling local Vietnamese restaurant turn its luck around after selling grilled chicken on a stick, Zeeno was intrigued. The Vietnamese shop was so successful in their venture, that they had the ability to open another restaurant and leave the campus.
The departure of the Vietnamese restaurant created a void for the students who kept coming back craving the chicken on a stick. Noticing the popularity of the chicken, Zeeno’s cousin had an idea.
“One day we looked at each other, and he said to me, ‘hey, we should probably do chicken on a stick,’ and he laughed and I said, ‘yeah, we probably could.’ He says, ‘you want to?’ I was like, ‘sure,’’” Zeeno recalls. “And so that’s how it started.”
Zeeno continued to man the grill underneath the tent outside of his cousin’s pizza shop, balancing working as a construction remodeler with grilling up chicken for students. Eventually, students from other campuses got word of Zeeno’s, so Zeeno’s decided to branch away from his cousin’s pizza shop and venture out to other campuses. While he sparingly visited other campuses in the greater Pittsburgh area, he made eight trips to Slippery Rock.
“I did a lot of research, and I mean a lot of research. I went to several campuses, in and around the Pittsburgh area,” Zeeno said. “I ended up leaning towards Slippery Rock because it kind of was close enough right outside of Pittsburgh, had enough student body, and it seemed like it had limited late night food for kids.”
Zeeno started his research on food trucks, finding a company in Florida that custom builds food trucks.
Now we’re cooking with gas
When first arriving in Slippery Rock, Zeeno needed to find a place to park his truck. He reached out to students to ask where they’d like to see a new late night food place to hang out at. After hearing multiple locations, a student referred him to Pine Glenn Apartments, where a struggling food truck had served food before leaving. After getting approval from Pine Glenn, Zeeno was in business.
Just like his clientele, Zeeno is no stranger to late nights, and while Zeeno’s truck is only open Fridays and Saturdays, those days are as packed with action, just as his burgers are packed with flavor. Days before he even gets to Slippery Rock, he starts to prepare his ingredients.
“The chicken is cut and prepared, marinated, and then some of it is skewered three days prior to it being cooked. It actually marinates for three days: the chicken.” Zeeno says this is needed, as it “leaves the chicken so flavorful, and tenderizes it to the point when it’s grilled correctly, it stays juicy and stays flavorful.”
Arriving at campus around 1 p.m., Zeeno starts preparing the ingredients, cutting vegetables, making sauce and getting ready to grill. The whole process takes a solid four hours, according to Zeeno. Of the sauces he serves, Zeeno is most proud of his homemade signature Yum Yum sauce, which he says is one of the big reasons for students coming back.
“The kids seem to love it on just about everything. It started off where normally we just would recommend it on, you know, chicken on a stick. But then it got to a point where people wanted Yum Yum on everything.” Zeeno shares.
Zeeno is proud to have mastered his grilling to the point where people are not waiting long for their hot food, a fact he prides himself on among his local competitors.
“I know that when you go to Sheetz, you’re there for 40 minutes, sometimes, an hour waiting,” he said. “I can tell you on a heavy, heavy, busy night, with the three of us, it’s a fine–oiled machine.”
And it’s this well–oiled machine that keeps the line long. Zeeno notices that orders will trickle in from 5.pm. until around 10.p.m. By 11.pm., he sees an uptick in orders, and by midnight a line forms.
“By one o’clock, it’s 30 to 40 [customers] deep, and it’s not stopped for two hours.” Zeeno said.
While the chicken on a stick may have been what put Zeeno’s on the map, he notices that its popularity rivals his burgers and chicken wraps, as customers regularly order one of the three. As for Zeeno, he prefers his burgers.
“The burgers are phenomenal. If I had to pick one personally, even though they’re all pretty much neck at neck, our burgers are phenomenal.”
Rooted in flavor, Grounded by community
Zeeno’s has become a staple of the Slippery Rock community ever since he started business in 2017. Over the years, Zeeno has seen freshmen grow up into graduating seniors who come back to relive old memories and have some good food. While students will always remember the great food and memories, some will remember a lot more. Zeeno reminisced about a young man who had paid for the orders of the two women behind him, and after they got their food, they started talking.
“Ironically, three years later, they ended up getting married. And so, their story is they met at Zeeno’s and got married because they had met at Zeeno’s.” Zeeno laughed about it.
Ask any student on campus who’s had the pleasure of eating Zeeno’s, and a negative opinion will be hard to find.
“I love Zeeno’s—When you’re partying outside, nothing to eat, Zeeno’s is the place to hit up. And, it’s affordable!” Milourie Paul, a sophomore health chemistry major said.
The fire keeps burning
As the smoke clears after a late night of grilling and the students start to go back to their dorms, Zeeno closes up shop for the night, ready for the next day.
While the work is tiring and the days are long, students and community members can rest assured knowing that Zeeno doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon, despite trials and tribulations. Zeeno acknowledges that it has been challenging with working his full time job and trying to find the time to come up to campus.
“To leave it simply, I’m not saying that we’re going anywhere, but I’m not sure what the future holds,” the owner said.
Zeeno’s Firehouse BBQ and Grill is located at Pine Glenn Apartments on 101 Cameron Dr. and is open Fridays and Saturdays from 5.p.m. to 2.a.m.
