The native of Turkey worked under chef Stephan Pyles, who had a show on PBS, when he arrived to the United States. Then, Ozcan took his culinary trades to various hotels in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and met Jeremy Berlin. The latter was a general manager of a hotel chain, and the friendship formed turned into a business partnership.
Ferah Tex-Med opened in Garland in 2019 with Ozcan and his wife, Stephanie Ozcan, and Berlin and his wife, Heidi Berlin, joining together in the venture. A second location opened in Southlake in 2022, and they celebrated its first anniversary in July.
All four are involved in the day-to-day operations. Berlin is the general manager, while Heidi is the community relations director. Stephanie manages the marketing, while Ozcan is the chef.
The backstory
Ozcan worked with Southwestern cuisines when he moved to Dallas. Mixing traditional Mediterranean food with a Texas twist, he created what he called “Tex-Med.”
Berlin became a fan of the cuisine that Ozcan created in the kitchen.
The business grew, and with catering opportunities in Fort Worth, the group started to look for another centrally located location. They landed on Southlake because of its “strong sense of community,” and they looked at nearly a dozen locations, Stephanie said.
The details
There are staples such as hummus and shish kebabs, and falafel, gyro tacos and charred salsa with pita bread are also on the menu.
“One thing that I think is really great is we have a variety of American food, and we have more traditional Mediterranean dishes,” Stephanie said. “We have the fusion, and I think it's nice because we get a lot of customers that come in, and they maybe never tried Mediterranean food before. It's just a way to get their feet wet with a new cuisine that doesn't feel as scary as maybe going somewhere that's super traditional where you don't recognize anything on the menu.”
She said the flamed-grilled classic burger—with cheddar cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion—is one her favorites. She said the chef’s sampler is a good way to try a little bit of everything as it provides fried goat cheese, crab cakes, bacon-wrapped stuffed dates, falafel, hummus and pita bread.
“I think the uniqueness sets us apart, but we definitely have to work a little bit harder to capture people's attention,” She said. “We have a huge percentage of return customers. We call them our ‘Ferah foodies,’ and they're very loyal to us. And so once we get new people in the door, the chance of them coming back is very high, and it's really fun.”
- Ferah Tex-Med, 355 N. Carroll Ave., Southlake
- www.ferahtexmed.com
