LOGAN SQUARE — Even as restaurant after restaurant opens in Logan Square, the neighborhood still has a gaping hole in its cuisine options: Middle Eastern.
That will finally change as Mimosa Mediterranean Cafe prepares to open near the heart of Logan Square on Milwaukee Avenue beneath Suite 25.
Nadiya Bocheva and her husband, Mounir Zekkari, who also own El Souk, had hoped to be open by now but discovered a South Side Middle Eastern restaurant had too similar a name to their original choice, Zaytoon Mediterranean Grill.
Zaytune Mediterranean Grill has been open for four years in Bridgeport, and Bocheva said both restaurants wanted to avoid confusion.
"We were ready to open, but it's better to change now than to have to change down the road," said Bocheva, who noted their new restaurant should open in late July or early August.
Though that hitch set them back a bit — they had already printed up menus, ads and posters with the old name — Bocheva said they're excited to be opening in Logan Square, the neighborhood they've called home for the last three years.
"We've been looking for a place [to open another restaurant] for quite some time, and Logan Square is the new happening, Wicker Park I would say," she said. "It's a really cool place — I love it."
She said Mimosa's offerings will be similar to El Souk's — falafel, shawarma, kabobs, etc. — but with an expanded menu that includes seafood entrees, breakfast choices consisting of croissants, eggs, lox and the like, as well as weekend brunch.
The restaurant itself is much larger than El Souk — 5,000 square feet to El Souk's 600.
Still, Bocheva said it will be "low key" and hopes to cater to the younger Logan Square crowd.
"It will be a more laid-back alternative for the young professionals," she said. "It'll be a little less pricey than the places around here."
