By Hank Russell
Staff members at Mazza Mediterranean Cuisine celebrated a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening of its new restaurant on February 9 at its new location at 58D South Ocean Avenue in Patchogue.
Owner Sam Omar bought the property on October 2, 2023 and soon thereafter, he started work on the restaurant. “Once we took over that first week, we just wanted to make sure we really didn’t stop,” he said. “We didn’t want to stop production, so … we were up and running.”
During the COVID pandemic, Omar was searching for a property and he “had an eye on this place” for the new restaurant.
Before it became Mazza Mediterranean, it was a Greek bistro, Omar said. “Being the only Greek place in town, we didn’t want to strip that away,” he said, “so we came up with — and you don’t see this very often — was to incorporate Afghan with Greek [cuisine] as well.”
The food that Mazza Mediterranean Cuisine prepares is exactly what its name implies. Some of the traditional appetizers they serve include mantu (steamed dumplings filled with sauteed ground beef topped with yogurt and tomato sauce garnished with chick peas), borani banjan (pan-fried then baked eggplant seasoned with spices and served with yogurt and tomato sauce) falafel, dolmades (marinated grape leaves stuffed with rice and dill) and keftedes (Greek meatballs with red onion and garnish).
“The mantu is our home run,” Omar said. “I’d say it’s our fan favorite.”
In addition, Mazza Mediterranean offers soups, salads, gyros, kebabs, pastitso (layers of pasta, seasoned beef, topped with Bechamel Cream sauce) and mousaka (layers of eggplant, potato, seasoned beef with Bechamel Cream sauce).
Omar says that his foray into the restaurant industry came from his father, Wais, who emigrated to this country from Afghanistan in 1988. “He was a pioneer,” Sam said of his father. “He had a pushcart [serving] chicken, phyllo, lamb — the whole nine yards. It was my father and his brothers.”
Wais attended high school in Tarrytown, New York, but after three years of school, he dropped out. He soon exhibited an entrepreneurial spirit. In addition to operating his own pushcart business, “I started [working at] a 7-Eleven,” he said. “In 1991, I had my pushcart business and, in 1995, I had my own limousine company.”
When asked about the Mediterranean diet being one of the healthiest diets and how this shapes the menu, Omar replied, “We have a lot of salad options. We have a Greek salad, pantzaria [beet] salad [with arugula, walnuts, feta and dried cranberries], Caesar salad, you name it. We also have the Mediterranean salad with falafel. For our sides, we have gigantes, which are large lima beans, so there’s a lot of healthy options, but if you want to pig out, you can do that as well,” he said with a laugh.
Omar urged everyone to visit the restaurant and come “with an open mind,” adding, “You look from the outside in, … it might not be something that’s everyone’s favorite. You come in here and not judge a book by its cover. … I’m just asking everyone to give us a shot.”
For reservations, orders or more information, call (631) 569-2020 or visit https://www.mazzamediterranean.getsauce.com.