The Abridged version:
Opened on Feb. 10, Mati Modern Greek Cuisine fully redesigned its restaurant space with blue, white and gold touches.
Chef Cuneyt Karacam’s menu prioritizes dishes such as arnisia plevrakia, braised lamb riblets, over the gyros and shawarma seen at most area Greek restaurants.
Mati’s cocktail program includes Greek liqueurs as well as housemade bitters and syrups.
A central stretch of Douglas Boulevard in Roseville yields one office park after another, interrupted by a blue-and-white oasis seemingly transported from a Mediterranean coastline. Mati Modern Greek Cuisine is nothing if not eye-catching, from its exterior to the food and decor inside.
Opened on Feb. 10 by Bulent Ozel, a partner in Fiori Italian Bistro (Folsom) and former partner in Rose Park Bistro (Roseville), Mati has transformed the former Pete’s Restaurant & Brewhouse space it occupies. Decorative tiles line the floors under marble tabletops from North Carolina, while illuminated Greek busts and pottery fill indents in the white walls.
A bust at Mati. (Martin Christian)
The owners redid the 6,300-square foot restaurant space with Greece’s three primary colors, adding white (walls, plates and beer taps), blue (napkins, door frames and booths) and gold (silverware, bread baskets and tabletop lamps) in all corners. The name is fitting, then: “Mati” translates to “eye” in Greek.
“Wherever you come from — you come from Douglas, you come from Granite Bay, you come from the freeway — only one building catches your eye,” Ozel said. “This corner — always, you look at it.”
Business partners grew up in Istanbul
Ozel and business partners Sio Ozdogan and Gizem Aka, both assistant managers at his former Bay Area restaurants, grew up in Turkey across the Aegean Sea from Greece. As such, they became more familiar with Greek food than traditional Turkish dishes, Aka said.
“I’m excited (that) people will try some real Greek food I’m very proud of,” Aka said. “We are trying to do our best. We know about it, and we will be trying to make it nice every day.”
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Chef Cuneyt Karacam was born in Istanbul and cooked at luxury hotels in London, Dubai and the Maldives before coming to California three years ago. His lunch menu aims to entice nearby office workers with familiar, expedited items such as chicken souvlaki wraps ($18), hand-wrapped dolmades ($12) and the lemony soup avgolemono ($10).
Karacam also fires housemade pita and flatbreads in the pizza oven Pete’s left behind. There’s a separate entrance for takeout orders, and two patios covered in blue-and-white wicker chairs for worker bees seeking midday sunlight.
Garides tou fournou, a shrimp dish covered with melted cheese. (Martin Christian)
‘Introducing the real Greek food’
Dinner leans into sit-and-savor dishes such as arnisia plevrakia ($18), lamb riblets braised for six hours, grilled briefly and finished with a lemon oregano sauce, or garides tou fournou ($17), shrimp and peppers under a layer of tongue-fanning mozzarella cheese.
Hearty mains include lavraki ($36), whole branzino with lemon sauce, and beef tenderloin skewers ($38) marinated for 24 hours in a mix of cumin, heavy cream, soy sauce and Greek oregano (more intense than the Italian stuff).
Noticeably absent: some of the Greek dishes best known here in the U.S.
“Everybody says, ‘oh, you’re opening a Greek restaurant. Are you going to have a jye-ro? You going to have a sharma?’” Ozel said, intentionally mispronouncing gyro and shawarma. “No. Now my job is introducing the real Greek food … which is all about lemony, citrusy, oregano, more herbs.”
Beef tenderloin skewers. (Martin Christian)
A bar program spearheaded by industry veteran Teresa Loughner includes cocktails with names like “turquoise waters,” a mix of Fords Gin, the sweet Greek liqueur Mastika, cucumber water, mint, lime and sparkling water. Several ancillary products are made in-house, from the grenadine that reddens Shirley Temples to the barrel-aged bitters and clove-peppercorn syrup that soften bourbon in The Pillar cocktail.
There are mocktails as well as 10 beer taps, plus imported Greek bottles. About half the wine list comes from Greece, and most of the rest is Californian.
The common thread, Ozel said, is that most things at Mati would be difficult to replicate at home — or find at other regional restaurants. With Americans dining out less frequently year-to-year, Ozel hopes customers will see Mati as a one-of-a-kind expenditure worth their money.
“We’re trying to open up, be successful and just serve the authentic Greek cuisine that our guests never experience anywhere else,” Ozel said. “That’s the goal.”
“We’re try to open up, be successful and just serve the authentic Greek cuisine that our guests never experience anywhere else,” Ozel said. “That’s the goal.”
Mati owner Bulent Ozel. (Martin Christian)
Mati Modern Greek Cuisine
Address: 3003 Douglas Blvd., Roseville
Phone: 916-540-7184
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with happy hour from 3-6 p.m.
Website: matiroseville.com, but it’s still under construction. Use @matiroseville on Instagram for now.
Vegetarian/vegan options: Appetizers, salads, and one vegetarian entree: pastitsio, a baked pasta similar to lasagna.
Drinks: Full bar with housemade syrups and bitters.
Reservations: Available on OpenTable.
Benjy Egel is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged’s weekly food and drink newsletter, City of Treats.
Dining and Cooking