Johnson County Mediterranean restaurant opens. You may have tried its sister restaurant

Summer Salem wanted to open a restaurant in Olathe, specifically, because there are so few Mediterranean options.

Actually, there aren’t any in that Kansas City suburb.

“Zero,” Summer said emphatically. (There are some in Overland Park.)

She and her husband, Abraham Salem, opened Darna Mediterranean earlier this week at 15962 S. Mur-Len Road, serving shawarma plates, falafel wraps, gyro sandwiches and other Mediterranean favorites.

Abraham owns Zaina Mediterranean Cuisine & Catering in Crown Center at 2450 Grand Blvd., Suite 124. That restaurant has been open since 2010, but it was purchased by Abraham and two other owners three years later.

Summer said she’s always loved to cook and wanted to share her favorite recipes with others.

“We always have a passion about food,” she said. “I like art, and food is art.”

Darna — which roughly translates to “our house” in Arabic — is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. It is closed Mondays.

Meanwhile, Sido’s Cuisine opened weeks ago in the old Sahara Mediterranean Food spot at 10150 W. 119th St. in Overland Park.