By Jamin Buttafarro
This week I had the pleasure of having lunch at the new Bishop’s Mediterranean Grill located on Staniford Street, just down the road from Donahue. I arrived around 2:30 p.m., right at the end of a busy lunch rush. The restaurant is very sleek and clean with booths around the perimeter and tables filling in the center. There is also a large patio with plenty of outdoor seating and an open kitchen area with a large glass deli case and counter where you place your order.
The friendly staff greeted me right away and after pausing to read the menu displayed over the counter on huge LED monitors, I asked for recommendations on popular items. The staff recommended the chicken shawarma pita wrap and the house cut French fries. (I admit that I’ve been dying to try shawarma since the quip at the end of the “Avengers” movie).
The sandwich is excellent: a warm pita stuffed full with marinated, juicy rotisserie chicken (slow roasted on a vertical spit in true Middle Eastern style), lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and a robust garlic sauce – very intense – complements the chicken splendidly. The house French fries were far ahead of your average fries, fresh and piping hot without that stale oil flavor that plagues the fast food variety.
After my meal, I had the opportunity to sit down with Bassam Geha, the owner and chef, to hear his amazing story of how he came to open Bishop’s Mediterranean Grill just two months prior. Geha came to America with his family from Lebanon in 1989 in an effort to escape civil war in his home country. They immigrated and found a home in Lawrence, Mass., and all took jobs working in a restaurant called Bishop’s. Geha was 15 and worked bussing tables while his parents worked in the kitchen.
He continued to work at Bishop’s through high school and college, waiting tables and tending the bar until he graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1998. Then in 2002, after 50 years of business, Bishop’s closed. Not to be ousted from what had become a family business, Geha’s family pooled together and opened their own restaurant in nearby Salem, N.H.: The Phoenician. By 2009, they had to relocate to accommodate for the tremendous success their business had earned, moving to a much larger facility in Haverhill, Mass.
“That’s the dream; that’s how great this country is, if you work hard,” Geha said reverently as he discussed his family’s journey from the war to their successful business here in Massachusetts. Their joint provides classic family restaurant staples such as prime rib and pasta along with a selection of authentic Lebanese and Middle Eastern food. It was the latter that drew people in and made The Phoenician successful.
Last year, Geha decided to bring the traditional food of his family and home to the Boston metropolitan area. He purchased the old Staniford Cafe location and, after eight months of renovations, opened Bishop’s Mediterranean as homage to the place that welcomed his family into America and set him off on his culinary career. Geha is very grateful for the opportunity to share his food culture with Boston.
Gesturing to the Lebanese menu that Bishop’s Mediterranean Grill offers, Geha said, “… That’s almost like pizza up where we live, that’s how familiar people are with it.”
Bishop’s Mediterranean Grill is a must-try for lunch or dinner. Just a short walk from campus, (continue down Temple Street which turns into Staniford Street, and it is located in the plaza on the left), they offer authentic Middle Eastern food options prepared from scratch daily.
Free Wi-Fi allows you to get some extra work done while taking a lunch break; and keep an eye out for student discounts coming soon for Suffolk students along with a catering menu for functions on campus. Bishop’s Mediterranean Grill is truly a gem in the Beacon Hill area.
