Palm Heights' Habibi Night Comes to Brooklyn
Palm Heights Founder and Creative Director Gabriella Khalil celebrates and supports Lebanese culture with an evening of food and entertainment.
Palm Heights brought a touch of Lebanese culture to Brooklyn this past weekend, hosting a Habibi Night celebration to raise funds for the Lebanese Food Bank. The hotel first launched Habibi Night—named after an Arabic term of endearment—as an event for the diverse population of its home in Grand Cayman to come together and enjoy an evening of food, music, and dance, highlighting regional Middle Eastern cultures.
The evening series was inspired by Palm Heights Founder and Creative Director Gabriella Khalil’s own family—amidst the pandemic last year, Khalil’s mother-in-law visited Palm Heights, bringing her superior knack for cooking Lebanese and Egyptian cuisine with her. Khalil saw the opportunity to unite her community over food and entertainment while benefitting an organization close to her roots.
Palm Heights has been supporting the Lebanese Food Bank since the Beirut bomb incident of August 2020. The organization has helped over 420,000 people across Lebanon, provided 20,000 meals for families during the holiday season, and gave emergency relief after the tragic explosions in the country’s capital on August 4, 2020.
At this weekend’s event, the first time Habibi night was hosted outside of Palm Heights, a silent auction was held to benefit the Lebanese Food Bank. Meanwhile, guests including Khalil, Ghetto Gastro’s Pierre Serrao and Jon Gray, designer Susan Alexandra, and many more enjoyed a Moroccan tea service, dinner, and live music by Sudanese artist Alsarah, of Alsarah and The Nubatones. Rounding out the night, pioneer of the Lebanese drag scene Anya Kneez.