IF YOU GO
WHAT: Haci Grill, offering authentic Turkish cuisine
WHERE: 7334 Tylers Corner Drive, West Chester Twp.
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
GRAND OPENING PARTY: 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 27. Includes three bellydancers.
MORE INFO: 513-438-0008
Two area entrepreneurs are bringing the flavors of Mediterranean cuisine to this Butler County community.
Haci Grill opened June 1 at 7334 Tylers Corner Drive and aims to offer a fine Turkish dining experience via a large and diverse menu, according to co-owner and administrator Naile Panayirci.
The decision to open the white-tablecloth restaurant stemmed from the recent and increasing popularity of Mediterranean food in U.S. restaurants, Panayirci said.
“If you go to The Cheesecake Factory, they’ve got white bean hummus on the menu,” she said. “It wouldn’t have been like that 10 years ago.”
Panayirci said dining in Turkish culture is accentuated by its lightheartedness and is a break from the fast-food mentality.
“It’s very family-based,” she said, describing a typical meal. “Everybody will take their time and eat. You sit down, you relax … order tea, order dessert. It’s a good time to catch up with your family.”
Haci Grill includes a wide array of cold and hot appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, seafood dishes and kebabs with yogurt.
Entrees range in price from $9 for a mixed vegetable grill to $56 for a grill sampler that feeds five.
“We have a pretty good range of high and low,” Panayirci said.
The 3,100-square-foot restaurant seats nearly 100 guests, with room for 24 more at its bar, which also offers food service.
Once the restaurant gets its liquor license later this month it plans to offer wine, beer and a selection of specialty drinks, including the Poppy Patch, a cocktail with poppy liquor, white whiskey, lemon juice and lavender bitters.
Panayirci, who is vice president of merchandising for Dayton-based women’s apparel company Aegean Apparel, said opening a restaurant was “kind of a passion” of hers, one that she hopes to expand upon with locations in Dayton and Columbus.
Co-owner and executive head chef Comert Ardic of West Chester Twp., grew up in a small village in Turkey and has been cooking for more than 20 years.
He’s served as chef in New York, Chicago and Atlanta, but Haci Grill allows him to fulfill a lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant.
“I love to make food and people love my food,” Ardic said.
“And he likes to make people happy,” added his wife, Amber. “Even when he wasn’t working in a restaurant, he would love to have people over for dinner every week just so he could show off his cooking and have them enjoy it
.”
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