Telli Gozubuyuk is in the kitchen at Maya Bistro making falafel. She has cleaned and soaked the chickpeas for 24 hours and will add chopped white onions and garlic, parsley, black pepper and cumin and a little flour to hold it together. Four deep-fried falafel patties will be served on a plate with house made hummus and ezme (gluten-free chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, onions) and with slices of fresh cucumber. “This is a family recipe from Turkey.” She says, “I make it the same way every time.”

Telli and her husband Imam are the chefs in the small family business owned by their son Murat Gozubuyuk. 

“Working with family is the best part,” Murat explains. “I run the management side and do whatever else needs to be done to fill in. I am always here. They are always here.” And he explains he has a 4-month-old son, the first grandchild, “so they are over at our house every night, too. He is spoiled.”

Murat says they opened Maya Bistro a year before Covid hit. “We had a very busy restaurant but we lost 65 percent of our business during that time, and we’re still recovering from Covid.” He says it can be hectic because there are months with ups and months with downs, and it is difficult to find waiters who have experience and can do the job.

A customer walks in to order a carry out chicken shish which Murat says is the most popular dish with customers. Telli says she marinates the large chunks of chicken with salt and pepper, saffron and fresh garlic and grills the kabobs for about 15 minutes. “We serve it with rice, bulgur, fries or seasoned vegetables.” 

Murat says his favorite dish is the beyti, Turkish flatbread stuffed with ground beef and lamb topped with tomato and yogurt garlic sauce. Telli adds that the Turkish pizza (Lahmacun) is very popular, too. It is a crispy flatbread with ground beef and lamb, garlic, onions and bell peppers.

Murat says his father came to the U.S. from Turkey in 1998, first to New York City, then New Jersey and finally Washington in 2002. Murat and his mother and sister came in 2007, and he attended high school in Fairfax. “My father has many years of experience in the restaurant business and co-owned a Turkish restaurant in Fairfax but he found this place and saw the potential for a small business in Arlington and moved here in 2019.”