In Kurdish, Gulistan means the Land of Roses. It is also a name for Kurdistan, the homeland envisioned for centuries by the Kurds. Cafe Gulistan, in Harbert, Michigan, is a restaurant established in 1994 by Ibrahim Parlak, a Kurd from Turkey.

Ibrahim learned to cook in his mother's kitchen, as one of ten children growing up on a farm in southeast Turkey. His family grew watermelons, wheat and garbanzo beans, and tended herds of sheep, cows, goats and chickens. After coming to the United States, Ibrahim held a series of restaurant jobs, including a two year stint as manager of a 24 hour truck stop. Word spread quickly that the food was improving, and truckers would radio each other to stop and try the soup. Customers urged him to open his own restaurant.

Ibrahim opened Cafe Gulistan in 1994 and bought the building in 1995. This past year he celebrated his tenth year of business. In 2004, his restaurant was voted "Best Ethnic Restaurant" by readers of the Lake Magazine of Harbor Country.

On a quiet stretch of Red Arrow Highway, Café Gulistan occupies a low-lying building that used to be the tasting room for the Molly Pitcher winery. Ibrahim took this modest space and transformed it into a cozy and inviting establishment where he and his staff know many of the customers as friends. People go there to be welcomed as family and spend a relaxed evening eating fabulous food.

A friend and former employee remembers how the restaurant looked in the old days, and what Ibrahim did to transform it. "In the beginning Ibrahim was everything - cook, waiter, busboy and dishwasher. He would come out and take peoples’ orders, cook them and then clean up. He couldn’t afford anything more. Eventually he hired a dishwasher and when he could afford to, he hired a waitress."

Talk to his former employees and you hear things like, "He’s the best boss I’ve ever had," and "This is my second family." His employees traveled to Detroit to support him during his hearing and stood out in a foggy cold rain to draw attention to his cause.

We invite you to visit the restaurant, meet the family and try the food many are calling the best Middle Eastern cuisine anywhere.

Cafe Gulistan also does catering.