Ribs 'n' Kabobs has been HFSAA-certified since the restaurant opened in Artesia in 2014. HFSAA, the Halal Food Standards Alliance of America, certifies to a traditional Zabiha standard: hand slaughter by a Muslim, never by machine. This post explains what that means for the food on your plate, where to read the standard for yourself, and why we think a certifier matters more than the word halal on a sign.
Ribs 'n' Kabobs is a family-owned, HFSAA-certified, 100% Zabiha Halal BBQ and grill restaurant at 18925 Norwalk Blvd, Artesia, CA 90701, serving Los Angeles County, Orange County and the rest of Southern California since 2014.
What is HFSAA?
HFSAA is a halal certification body based in the United States. Its standard is the traditional Zabiha one, which means hand slaughter by a Muslim with the name of God recited over each animal, and it publishes that standard openly at hfsaa.org. The same site lists the businesses it certifies, so you never have to take a restaurant's word for it.
We are describing the standard in general terms here on purpose. HFSAA writes the rules, and HFSAA is the right source for how its certification works, including how it approves suppliers and inspects the places it certifies. If you eat halal anywhere in Southern California, ten minutes on their website is time well spent.
What does HFSAA certification mean for the meat?
In plain language, the meat at a restaurant under this standard meets the traditional zabiha conditions.
- Hand slaughter by a Muslim. Every animal is slaughtered individually, by hand, by a Muslim who recites the name of God over it.
- No mechanical slaughter. A rotating blade on an automated line does not qualify, even with a recorded blessing.
- A healthy, living animal. The animal must be alive and well at the moment of the cut.
- Blood fully drained. Consuming blood is forbidden, so the carcass must bleed out completely.
If you want those rules explained one at a time, with the reasons behind them, read what zabiha halal means. For how this compares with ordinary supermarket meat, see halal vs regular meat.
What does certification look like at Ribs 'n' Kabobs?
Here is what we can tell you plainly. Every item we serve is 100% Zabiha Halal and hand-slaughtered. There is no pork and no alcohol on site, so there is nothing in the building that needs to be kept apart from the halal meat. The hickory smoker, the lava rock grill and the fryer all cook the same certified meat, which is why the hickory smoked back ribs, the Chicken Tandoori Boti in the cover photo and the samosas are all covered by one certificate.
That is the part a guest sees. The checking that sits behind it is HFSAA's job, done to HFSAA's published rules, and we would rather send you to the source than describe it in our own words and get a detail wrong.
Why does certification matter when a restaurant already says halal?
Because in the United States there is no single legal definition of halal. A restaurant can call a dish halal while the chicken was machine-slaughtered with a recorded blessing, while the beef shares a grill with pork, or while only some dishes use halal meat and the rest do not. None of that is illegal, and plenty of places do it in good faith. It just means the word alone tells you very little.
A certifier removes the guesswork. When you see HFSAA on our door you know who certified the meat and what standard they certified it against, and you can look both up yourself.
There is a practical side too. A family planning an Eid dinner or a wedding in Orange County does not have time to interview every supplier a restaurant uses. A certification they already recognize lets them book the caterer and move on to the next problem. If you would like to run that check on any restaurant, not just ours, our guide on how to check if a restaurant is really zabiha halal lists the questions to ask.
What does it mean for you when you order?
You can order anything. Back ribs in five sauces, Brisket Burnt Ends, Dino Ribs, Beef Seekh Kabob, Chicken Koobideh, the Nihari Burger, tacos, wings, biryani, samosas: one kitchen, one standard. There is no halal section on the menu because the whole menu is halal.
The same is true for catering. When we cook for a wedding in Cerritos, an office lunch in Buena Park or an iftar in Lakewood, the food on the trays is the same 100% Zabiha Halal meat we serve in the restaurant, and the live grilling station cooks it the same way.
Where can you find us in Artesia?
The certification has been part of the restaurant since day one. We are a short drive from the Pioneer Boulevard Little India district, near the 91 and 605 freeways, and guests come from Long Beach, Orange County and across Southern California.
Ribs 'n' Kabobs, 18925 Norwalk Blvd, Artesia, CA 90701. Directions are on the contact page.