Lisa's Mediterranean Kitchen in Ridgewood

After seven years doing business as Lisa's Turkish Kitchen on Chestnut Street in Ridgewood, Lisa Mayisoglu closed that location in July and reopened in December on Oak Street with a new name: Lisa's Mediterranean Cuisine.The days of belly dancing events are over (although Mayisoglu will provide them for private events if requested), with a new focus on an expanded menu and making her customers feel like they are in her own home.A new pizza oven added to the kitchen lets Mayisoglu bake Turkish breads daily. She has several new dishes on the menu, including beef kebabs to supplement the many lamb and chicken specialties.
"Some people don't like lamb," she says. "I wanted to bring everyone in here — and so my kids will eat here more. My daughter doesn't like lamb!"Specialties include the popular homemade manti – tiny handmade dumplings stuffed with seasoned lamb and onions; beyti kebab – a spicy adana (minced) kebab wrapped in lavash bread; and Turkish staples such as gyros, stuffed cabbage and etli bamya (baby okra with lamb.)Mayisoglu is proud of specialties such as the pacanga boregi appetizer — triangles of phyllo filled with Turkish pastrami, kashar cheese and fresh tomatoes, or coban kavurma — chunks of lamb sautéed with shallots, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes and special Turkish spices.
Customers are especially happy with new lunch specials designed for quick dining, and with the larger selection of fresh fish, including bronzini and tilapia, says Mayisoglu, who learned to cook in her native Turkey from her mother and aunt. Her father, brothers and sisters own Turkish restaurants in New York. Her brother-in-law provides her with fresh fish and meat, which is halal.Free Press Test Kitchen recipe: One Pot Beef Stew is perfect.Good, fresh Mediterranean-style food is the attraction, but Mayisoglu says the personal touch is what brings people back."I get ready for them each day like they are guests coming to my house," she says.Mayisoglu operates the restaurant with her sister, Selma Sozen, who runs the dining room while Mayisoglu mainly supervises the kitchen, coming out frequently to visit customers.Lisa's new location on Oak Street may have intimidated some potential restaurant tenants with its troubled history — most recently 5 Seasons Bistro, which closed last April after less than a year in business. The bad layout stymied even celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay on his "Kitchen Nightmares" show when he tried to help owners of the previous restaurant, Bazzini."I knew that. The minute I walked in for the first time, that's how I felt too," Mayisoglu says. "But I had a vision that I could fix the place up. Nothing has ever come easy for me. I always have to go for the hard thing."