New Business: Newlywed restaurateurs bring Mediterranean cuisine to area
When Connellsville native Desirae Leonard went to a cruise-ship wedding three years ago, she met a French-trained Turkish chef named Suat Keskin, who would eventually become not only her husband but also her partner in a Hopwood restaurant called International Mediterranean Cuisine (IMC).
The recently opened restaurant is located at 1190 National Pike in an early-1800s building that formerly housed Rick’s 50s Cafe and, later, the Hopwood Diner. The restaurant’s main entrance is at the front of the stately red-brick colonial-era house, which has parking and another accessible entrance at the rear.
Overlooking the Pike, the dining room has about 20 tables lining each side of the room, separated by a center aisle. The kitchen is in the back, and it is not hard to catch a glimpse of the chef preparing meals as you walk to the rear exit, where there is also a table and chairs for outside dining.
IMC really is two very different eating establishments, depending on the time of day one stops in to dine. At breakfast and lunch, patrons can choose from traditional American foods, while Mediterranean cuisine is featured for dinner.
This was not the couple’s original plan, which was to operate only as a fine dining Mediterranean restaurant between noon and 11 p.m., according to Leonard. But she explained that things changed after Keskin worked in the Hopwood Diner for a month before opening IMC, and found that he could not ignore the diner’s loyal customers who came for the American breakfast and lunch.
“Suat worked for free the entire month for the previous owner because he wanted to get to know the kitchen and the customers and the community,” said Leonard. “But after he got here and met the community, they were like, ‘We hope you don’t take away our breakfast.'”
“I don’t want to change what they like,” said Keskin.
So, the couple hired a breakfast cook and expanded the hours, opening at 7 a.m. IMC employs eight people, plus the owners, and is open until 9 p.m. every day but Wednesday, which is when Keskin does his prep work and ventures to Pittsburgh for supplies in the Strip District.
Leonard, who has owned Playland day care center in Dunbar since 1991, said both she and her husband are first-time restaurateurs, although he has cooked in restaurants in France and elsewhere, including Alihan’s in Pittsburgh. She said the Uniontown area is an ideal location for a Mediterranean restaurant because there is a large Lebanese population here who enjoys Mediterranean cuisine.
Keskin says, “I love the people here. The customers are really good. They know what they like to eat. I like this kind of customer.”
He said that everything he makes is homemade — except for french fries. IMC’s menu is large and varied, with traditional American breakfast items, such as eggs, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, etc. The most expensive breakfast item is the Meat-Lover’s Omelette, at $7.50. There is also a kids’ menu, as well as free refills on coffee and tea. Breakfast is served daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., while lunch runs from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. At lunch, there is also traditional moderately priced American cuisine ($8.50 for a cheeseburger and fries). There are also subs, gyros, lamb and chicken on skewers or in pitas, and another kids’ menu.
For dinner, which is from 4-9 p.m. daily, the restaurant changes from an American diner to a Mediterranean fine-dining establishment. Four kinds of salad, which can be enhanced with meats, are available, as are a soup of the day and $5 cold appetizers featuring the familiar hummus and baba ghanoush. There are traditional hot $8 appetizers including muever (zucchini pancakes), falafel (deep-fried ground chickpea patties), Arnavut cigeri (veal liver and onions) and sigaro borek (fried filo dough and feta).
Lamb is featured both at lunch and dinner. The chef char-grills the meat as chops ($22) and also uses it for shish kebabs ($17) and kofte, which are meatballs ($15), or he sautees with onions and peppers and mushrooms and rice ($17) or rotisseries it for a gyro ($15) with marinara and grilled tomato and pepper.
Char-grilled seafood is available, too, with grilled salmon ($19), shrimp skewers ($19) and sea bass filet ($20) platters.
Keskin is especially proud of the charcoal grill in his clean and narrow, galley-style kitchen, showing it off to a visitor as he explained how it imparts a unique, smoky taste to the eggplant for his babba ganoush, which he was placing on a platter alongside other tasty-looking appetizers.
Another specialty of the house is home-made bread, and the chef took a hot loaf out of the oven and put it in a basket with a dip, setting it next to a dessert platter featuring freshly made baklava, rice pudding and a custard with chopped walnuts that was drizzled with chocolate sauce.
According to Leonard, the community’s reaction to the restaurant and this cuisine has been positive. “It’s new to many people,” she said. “People that are familiar with Mediterranean cuisine just love it,” adding that there is a large local Lebanese community who enjoy Mediterranean food.
Judging from patrons’ reviews, she is not exaggerating. IMC’s Facebook page (suatskitchen) has 882 followers, and all 57 reviews give the restaurant five out of five stars.
What is their most popular dish? Leonard said gyros seem to be number one “because it is familiar. It is a fair food. It is something that people hear about, and it’s not something they get all the time — unless you’re at a festival or something,” she said.
IMC, which does not sell alcoholic beverages, is BYOB and has wine buckets, but no cork fee. They can accommodate private parties up to 30, and currently offer a takeout menu, though Leonard says they are starting to consider local delivery.
She said, “We find a lot of our customers are from the courthouse, doctors’ offices and the hospital. They can’t come here and order sit down and go back to work, so our next step is to start delivery and also catering.”