Several new eateries hoping to defy the unfavorable success odds that tend to plague newcomers to the College Park market have recently opened their doors downtown. Ollie’s Grill and Cherry Street Teriyaki Grill debuted this past week, while Krazi Kebob opened at the end of last month.

The restaurants each serve an individualized variation of an ethnic cuisine that is largely missing from existing establishments, and they don’t break the bank: all menu items are less than $10.

Owners of all three hope to cash in on College Park’s late-night crowds, with extended weekend hours already in place or set to begin soon.

Ollie’s Grill — an American and Lebanese hybrid restaurant — opened Wednesday between Vito’s Pizzeria and Steet Tacos Mexican Grill in the storefront briefly occupied by an Ethiopian restaurant over the summer. For Ollie Khalek, the grill’s namesake, helping to open a restaurant here is a sort of homecoming.

Thirty years ago, Khalek owned a restaurant called Hollywood Pizzeria in North College Park. He then spent 22 years on L Street in Washington, manning the restaurant Ollie’s Trolley, which offered a similar menu to Ollie’s Grill.

Now, the 66-year-old said he is ready to retire from the restaurant business but not before ensuring the Ollie’s name lives on by overseeing his brother-in-law, Mounib Halabi, set up shop in College Park.

“Customers’ satisfaction is guaranteed 200 percent,” Khalek said. “Or their money back, as they say in America.”

The restaurant serves traditional American cuisine such as burgers (including veggie), crab cake sandwiches and cheese steaks, plus Lebanese menu items such as falafel and baba ghanouj. Khalek and Halabi were both born in Lebanon and worked in restaurants there before emigrating to the United States.

“Students can try the fries anytime, on the house,” Khalek said.

Khalek said his brother-in-law opened a second restaurant in College Park because the area seemed to have higher foot traffic than Richmond, Va., where Halabi also owns a pizzeria. And Khalek said he hopes the quality of the food makes the restaurant stand out from the other, more predictable food chains dotted along Route 1.

“I had the same thing downtown [in Washington], and the line used to be all the way to the sidewalk,” Khalek said.

Cherry Street Teriyaki Grill, which opened for business Monday, isn’t a typical walk-in restaurant. Instead, it operates out of a stainless steel trailer, serving up Asian cuisine such as shrimp or chicken teriyaki and dumplings. It is the first food truck to arrive in College Park in three years, city officials estimated.

The trailer is stationed in the lot between Subway and a historic tavern building that has been vacant for nearly three years. City officials said food trucks are a rarity in College Park and only pop up every few years.

The owner of this one has a lease on the property and all of the necessary permits to operate in a fixed location, said Bob Ryan, the city’s director of public services, but he added they will eventually be moving into the tavern next door.

But for now, the old green and white building appears to be in a state of disrepair. Problems with the roof and other structural elements will prevent it from being a legitimate space for business for quite some time, said Teriyaki Grill employee Wai Lo.

“We started fixing up the shop next door about two months ago,” Lo said.

For now, the smell of teriyaki wafts onto the open street as Lo deep-fries Asian favorites from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m. to capitalize on night-owl customers.

Lo said the restaurant’s owner used to operate in Silver Spring but thought College Park would be a better fit. The owner also owns a take-out business in Washington.

Krazi Kebob, a Pakistani-Indian-Mexican fusion restaurant, is nearing its one-month anniversary in the space previously occupied by Pita Plus. Store manager Farhad Dumasia said that so far, patrons seem to be enjoying the unique combination, scarfing down signature items such as stuffed naan and naan burritos.

Dumasia said the owner plans to extend the shop’s weekend hours soon, and Ollie’s also plans to remain open later on weekends. Ollie’s will also open earlier for breakfast, adding Belgian waffles and pancakes to the menu.

apino at umdbk dot com