On a Friday afternoon, Coskun Abik was inspecting the work underway at the site of his new venture in Los Gatos.
The Kurdish chef from Cyprus behind such Bay Area eateries as Blind Butcher SF, Dunya Bistro and Moka Coffee SF is opening a Greek-Anatolian restaurant at 25 E. Main St., which was most recently home to Sidecar Modern Tavern.
“It’s a great opportunity to bring a couple of my touches,” he said.
It will be the second Mediterranean-focused dining spot to spring up on the picturesque downtown strip this year, after brothers Milad and Chef Esam Shaqir, who grew up in the Middle East, opened Dar Restaurant and Bar this spring.
“This might be similar, but the flavors (are) totally different,” Abik said, explaining the back-of-house in each business will be influenced by ingredients from the different geographical regions. “Whatever they grow in their area they use as their sources.”
Abik began his kitchen career in 1994.
Last June, he received a Certificate of Honor from San Francisco Mayor London Breed for the Blind Butcher, which opened in the Castro in 2019.
That was preceded by Lark, a Mediterranean-American restaurant next door established in 2015, and Dunya, a “Mediterranean casual” wine bar and grill, in the upscale Nob Hill neighborhood of the city, started in 2010.
His Los Gatos lease kicked in at the beginning of August.
“Ours is more a lighter version,” he said, contrasting the menu he’s dreamed up with Dar’s. “We use marsh pepper, oregano, olive oil…If you go down to the Arabic culture, they have more stronger flavors.”
Diners will get to see the complexity of the region for themselves, much like sampling cuisine from northern and southern regions of Italy, or Greece, Abik continues.
“If you go to eastern Turkey, it’s more, like, the Kurdish touch,” he said. “What is that? It’s more like grilled kebabs, lahmajoun—it’s like the flavors are a little bit stronger.”
He promises to bring some of that Kurdish flare to the Greek-Anatolian experience he’s creating.
“I’m not just chef-and-owner, at the same time I’m operating the construction and everything with my contractors,” he said, emphasizing that the interior must match with his dishes. “I have to create the right ambiance to represent my food.”
The whir of machines provided a near-continuous backdrop to the interview, as a crew made progress on the epoxy floor.
“My customers, they are going to feel they’re like in the Mediterranean Sea,” he said. “We’ll get some good wines from Greece, Turkey—maybe Lebanon.”
Abik is pretty thrilled to move into a storefront along a corridor that includes Sara’s Southern Kitchen, Purple Onion Cafe, Namaste Indian Cuisine, and others a jaunt away.
“It’s good to have good restaurants around you, good flavors,” he said. “Our menu’s totally different for this beautiful neighborhood.”
