Flatbread-based eatery new dining option coming to ‘The Street’ development
Markook Authentic Mediterranean Eats will be the second restaurant to open in Street at the Meadows.
President and founder Mustafa Dakroub will launch his first Markook Authentic Mediterranean Eats this month in Street at the Meadows.
Thomas A. Steele
Raelynn Jackson
It’s named after a flatbread that is, decidedly, not baked on a flat surface. But Markook Authentic Mediterranean Eats flat out intends to make a mark in a new market.
“There is nothing like this in the U.S.,” said Mustafa Dakroub, president and founder of the restaurant that is nearly ready for launch – and lunch and dinner – at the Street at the Meadows project in North Strabane Township. He hopes to be open by the second week of November, joining Primanti’s as the only operating enterprises in the complex rising up off Racetrack Road.
Markook is an unleavened flatbread baked on a convex metal griddle, called a Saj. Markook also is the name of restaurant concept that Dakroub has been planning for five years. This will be the first of what he hopes will be “a half-dozen (restaurants) in the Washington-Pittsburgh area.”
A Lebanese American, Dakroub is a 35-year restaurant veteran who has been an executive with Big Boy Restaurants. He most recently was CEO of a Mediterranean chain based in Detroit, where that cuisine is popular.
Rod Piatt is thrilled to provide the launching pad for Dakroub’s enterprise.
”Our goal for The Street at the Meadows is to create a restaurant destination, multi-use residential community,” said the CEO of Horizon Properties Group LLC, developer of the project. “Markook will be that Mediterranean style, fast-casual food offering that will be unique to the area.”
Markook Authentic will operate in a 2,000-square-foot space that will seat 64 and employ 10. All items are prepared within view of customers, including the markook and pita breads.
The ordering process is similar to what a Chipotle Mexican Grill patron would experience: approach the counter, select a wrap, salad or platter, and complete your order step by step.
The restaurant will be open daily, operating from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a,.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Markook also will offer catering. Its phone number is 724-249-2030. For more information, visit http://www.markook.com.
Dollar General appears to be money in the bank for South Franklin.
The township zoning hearing board Tuesday OK’d a variance request by Penntex Ventures LLC to construct a Dollar General variety store at the intersection of Park Avenue and Tree Haven Drive. The 4-1 vote allows the Greensburg firm to build on a flood plain with the condition that it gets permit approvals from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Washington Conservation Association.
If that happens, and the process could take a few months, Penntex “feels the building would be ready to go in 18 months,” said South Franklin Supervisor Kellie Orlosky.
That translates to a mid-2017 opening.
Orlosky said the location would be on the site of a former mobile home development, next to Michels Pipeline. She added that Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., is planning a 9,100-square-foot store that would have 21 coolers.
“This is definitely something that is much needed for the township,” Orlosky said.
Washington Health System’s Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center turned 15 years old Oct. 1, and marked the milestone with a reception Oct. 22 for its Leader’s Circle and charter members.
The charter members joined before the center opened in South Strabane Township.
Wellness and fitness were the themes of the celebration.
• Thomas A. Steele is a new associate with Peacock Keller law firm, headquartered in Washington. He is a 1988 Trinity High School graduate who served in the Army for four years; then earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania; became a construction safety manager in Columbus; started a construction company in Indiana, Pa. in 1998; and entered law school at the University of Pittsburgh in 2011.
• Ms. Raelynn Jackson, practice manager for Mon Valley Community Health Services Inc., was presented the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers “2015 APEX Innovation Award” for her approach to quality patient care. She also is an allied health instructor for Douglas Education Center in Monessen.