KINGSTON, N.Y. — Turkish native Ozlem Oguzcan-Cranston is a champion of gatherings at the table.
So much so that the 47-year-old chef, who has lived in Kingston since 2019, gave the name Masa Midtown, to her and husband, Bill Cranston’s restaurant at 666 Broadway in Kingston.
Masa, she points out, means table in Turkish.
“We chose the name because at the “table” is where people gather over food for so many different occasions,” said Oguzcan-Cranston, commonly known as Chef Oz. “Food is what brings people together around a table. ‘Midtown’ is a nod to where we are located and an homage to the last restaurant that was here, ‘The Midtown Chophouse.'”
Oguzcan-Cranston was born in Turkiye (Turkey) and raised in Brooklyn by very traditional parents. “Food and hospitality are a couple of core values growing up,” she said.
Oguzcan-Cranston described the eatery’s atmosphere as “very warm and welcoming.”
“We wanted to create a space where all would feel comfortable and experience the sense of Turkish hospitality, culture and cuisine,” said Oguzcan-Cranston, who added the restaurant opened in March 2020.
The largest renovation to the space was changing out old windows to larger ones to get maximum natural light.
“We love the sunshine that comes in and so do the many plants we have thriving here,” she said.
Seating is available for 46 people.
The menu is made up of many “meze,” which are small appetizer-style dishes meant for sharing.
“We also have a number of entrees that have our own twist on traditional Turkish dishes like The Kofte Burger, Falafel platter and Chicken Shawarma Hummus bowl,” Oguzcan-Cranston said.
In addition, the menu offers Turkish flatbreads called “pide” (Pea-deh) that have various fillings like classic spinach and feta and seasonal ones like “all the greens” which has Brussels sprouts, spring greens and spinach.
“We also have our version of ‘lahmajun,’ which is a very thin crust pizza with spiced beef that comes with fresh greens, tomato and lemon for garnishing,” Oguzcan-Cranston said.
Her sister, Dee, is a self-taught pastry chef and makes all of Masa Midtown’s very popular desserts in-house and are featured in the cold dessert case.
“Rather than have a printed dessert menu we encourage guests to take a look at the daily sweet offerings and decide from there,” Oguzcan-Cranston said. “It’s common in Turkiye to have it this way—gives diners a chance to stretch out after the meal and we always believe we eat with our eyes first so to see the food and not just read off a menu.”
On Wednesday, from 5 to 9 p.m., the restaurant features a light bar menu with meze, pide and home-style classic Turkish dish specials.
Masa Midtown employs five kitchen employees, a rotating bar and a front-of-house staff of five.
When it first opened, the owners were bent on using the space for catering services.
“Within weeks we switched to doing takeout and after about 1.5 years we slowly opened with limited dine-in hours,” Oguzcan-Cranston said. “We still do catering and due to Covid, we ended up with a restaurant as well. There were some major blows like Covid, the Broadway corridor construction where we were without a sidewalk for close to a year but we’re still here and thrilled to be a part of a growing and thriving part of Kingston.”
Masa Midtown is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays for a light bar menu and a full bar and takeout; Thursdays from11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch, 5 to 9 p.m., dine-in and takeout, and the same on Friday and Saturday with brunch served during the earlier hours.
