Mohamad Kharboutli had an established restaurant chain overseas before he opened Levant BBQ, in the Galleria area of Houston, late last year. Born in Syria, he owned several locations of Saltenas restaurant in Moscow, Russia, and Amman, Jordan. After moving to Texas in 2009, he brought three locations of Sult’an Pepper, serving a halal Mediterranean menu, to various Houston food courts. Despite the punny name perfectly suited to reference the typical smoked meat rub, Sult’an Pepper doesn’t serve Texas barbecue. Kharboutli chose the moniker Levant BBQ for his first restaurant serving fully halal Texas barbecue.“We put everything for the service in front of the people,” Kharboutli told me when I asked about the lineup of smokers directly behind the serving line. Customers can watch as…