Noosh is a cohesive Eastern Mediterranean concept from Chefs Sayat and Laura Ozyilmaz that elevates the simplest foods from the region into a story that basically resonates with the California culture. The restaurant is named after my grandmother, says Chef Sayat. We care about cultural anchors, something that sort of rests in history and culture, and the logical place and Noosh is not just an Armenian and Greek words, but it also as a meaning. In Farsi that is part of an expression, that means cheers. 

I think for the people that want to try Eastern Mediterranean food or want to start cooking, the right angle is to go and explore spices, to begin with. The spices play a huge role with this cuisine. When you understand the spices and how they interact with each other you can create something amazing. I think they’ll be the right angle. The other thing, if you want to create like a special dish, of course, exploring the pantry of the eastern Mediterranean or the Ottoman Empire using them in a way that fits in with your city or your area where you live in. 

You will always buy stuff, vegetables. So this is something that you can miss. As well using the grilling  techniques, grilling kebab and grilling fish with burnt oregano.

Note from the host: have a look at Chef Laura Ozyilmaz book recommendations in the link section below.

Our crisis management tool box is ever expanding. De-escalation in any situation is our best tool, and therefore we know better not to escalate situations.

One of the mottos has always been “we want to serve food, that we want to eat ourselves.”

With that idea of borderless cuisine and the value we bring by expanding it to not just food has been the biggest way we’ve elevated casual Middle Eastern foods to a higher level.

When creating a pantry of key flavors you build the fundamental building blocks of your cuisine by identifying those key ingredients that are so important to you, not only by finding the common denominators, but also by identifying what differentiates you.

Chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz

Restaurant Noosh

Restaurant Noosh

Istanbul and Beyond: Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey

Essential Turkish Cuisine

Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes, Through Darkness and Light