Istanbul Mediterranean Express to open in Marana

Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine and Bar is expanding to Northwest Tucson. The Turkish restaurant will open a second location, named Istanbul Mediterranean Express, at 5660 W. Cortaro Farms Rd. Suite 100, bringing its family-run menu to the growing Marana dining scene.

Owner Kamran Esar said the Cortaro corridor stood out because of its steady growth and strong community ties.

"Cortaro Road felt like the perfect fit because it's a busy, growing area with a great community," Esar said. "We're excited to bring Istanbul Mediterranean to Northwest Tucson."

The restaurant is currently working through permits and remodeling. Esar expects to announce a grand opening date within a couple of weeks.

A fast-casual space with its own look

The Cortaro Farms Road space sits close in size to the original Speedway Boulevard restaurant, though slightly larger. Esar said the new location will carry its own design identity rather than mirror the first restaurant exactly.

"It will have its own look, more modern and casual, designed around the fast-casual concept while still keeping the Istanbul Mediterranean feel," Esar said. The team plans to bring the same custom lighting and painting found at the original restaurant to the new build-out.

New dishes join familiar favorites

About 75% of the Cortaro Farms Road menu will match the original restaurant. Esar said the new location will build its concept around speed.

"The menu will match almost 75%," he said. "The new location will be based on pace. Get the dish fresh and fast."

Two items will debut exclusively at the second location. Customers can build their own Kumpir, a Turkish stuffed baked potato, and try a new ground doner made fresh in-house instead of the traditional sliced version. Esar expects both dishes to draw strong interest from the Marana and northwest-side crowd.

The bar program will largely carry over from the original restaurant, though Esar said the team may roll out a few limited-time offerings during the opening weeks.

A family operation across two kitchens

Esar and his family will run both locations. The team plans to split its experienced chefs between the two restaurants while hiring new staff for Cortaro Farms Road, adding an estimated 12 to 15 jobs. Both restaurants will draw from many of the same suppliers to keep quality and consistency consistent across locations.

Meanwhile, customer demand played a direct role in the decision to expand.

"A lot of our customers love our food and have asked us to open a location closer to them on the northwest side," Esar said. "Their support helped us make the decision to expand."

Growth has come with its own hurdles.

"The biggest challenge has been making sure we can grow without changing the quality that made our first location successful," Esar said. Having family involved throughout the process, he added, has made those details easier to manage.

What comes next

The Cortaro Farms Road restaurant will keep the same hours of operation as the original location. Esar said the first restaurant taught the family what customers love most, and that lesson shaped the new menu and layout.

"The first restaurant taught us what our customers love most, so at Cortaro we're focusing the menu around our most popular dishes while making the experience a little more casual and convenient," Esar said. "Most importantly, we've learned that no matter how much we grow, the quality of our food has to stay high every single day."

Esar is considering an additional concept centered on Turkish food, though that idea remains a few years out. For now, the focus stays on opening the doors on Cortaro Farms Road.

Follow Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine and Bar on Instagram for updates on the grand opening date. For more new restaurant news across the northwest side, check out Tucson Foodie's guide to dining in Marana.