An Abundant Table

KAZI MANNAN SITS AT HIS USUAL table in the Sakina Halal Grill, the Pakistani-Indian restaurant he owns in Washington, D.C., a few blocks from the White House. He is just this side of 50, tall and wearing a dark suit. He calls out to a man in a baseball cap headed to the buffet table. “Hey, Derek, how’s it going?”

“The chicken vindaloo is dynamite today,” Derek says. “Going back for some rice pudding. Thanks again, man.”

Kazi smiles and says, “We know all our regulars’ orders by heart.”

Derek is one of a dozen nonpaying customers who’ve come for lunch, most of them homeless. “Family”