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The James Beard-nominated brothers behind Mazra are soon opening a Levantine cafe just a three-minute walk from their Mediterranean restaurant in San Bruno.
Zörek, expected to open soon (a recent Instagram post says “by April”) in the former Pita Hub, will offer specialty Levantine-inspired coffee drinks, as well as Turkish pastries such as börek, baklava and gözleme. The ambiance will be “very on par with Mazra,” according to co-owner Saif Makableh, and will feature Mazra’s signature green tile, wood textures, ample natural lighting, and a front patio filled with plants and string lighting.
“We’ve always wanted a cafe in San Bruno,” Makableh said. “It’s always been home for us.”
Zörek’s coffee drinks will feature ingredients like orange blossom, cardamom and rose water and will be made with beans from Grand Coffee, a San Francisco-based roastery founded in 2010 by Nabeel Silmi, the cousin of Makableh’s wife.
“They make such amazing coffee,” Makableh said. “They care about where the coffee comes from, how it’s being roasted. They’re really hands-on with everything.”
Originally, the brothers didn’t intend on serving börek at their cafe, but after Makableh began telling his staff about how much he loved börek, he was surprised to learn one of his prep cooks had made börek in Turkey for 13 years. So the Makablehs decided to amend their concept and name their cafe after börek – taking the “z” from Mazra and creating the word Zörek.
“It takes skill, like serious skill, to make börek,” Makbleh said. “You’re stretching like 250 grams of dough, about eight feet long. So it’s like paper, paper thin, very fragile dough.”
Ibrahim Yildirim, formerly a prep cook at Mazra, as well as his friend Noor Allah will be in charge of Zörek’s pastry program. Börek is a flaky dough pastry stuffed with fillings like mushrooms, potatoes, spinach or feta and commonly eaten during breakfast. Zörek will import its flour and vegetable oil from Turkey to make its börek.
“Because the dough is so thin, you don’t feel like – no shade to breakfast burritos either, because, unfortunately, I eat them like two, three times a week – but it’s a lot lighter,” Makableh said. “You feel full, but you don’t feel so lethargic after.”
In addition to börek, expect different variations of baklava not currently offered at Mazra.
“We’re gonna throw a lot of things at the wall and see what sticks,” Makableh said.
In addition to opening Zörek, the Makablehs are busy with renovations to Mazra San Bruno, which is expected to open in May. Mazra San Bruno’s ambiance will “be so much nicer than Redwood City’s,” according to Makableh, who said he and his brother “were able to recreate every single aspect of the restaurant.” The menu will be similar to that of Mazra Redwood City, but there will be a few new items and a focus on flatbread.
Zörek, 799 El Camino Real, San Bruno; Instagram: @cafe_zorek. Opening date TBD, with plans to be open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This story has been updated with information regarding the business’ opening, as per an Instagram post.
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