68 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {food coloring} A man of few words, Dino Tekdemir doesn’t make a big deal out of moving across the world to pursue restaurant work in the Bay Area. He’s matter-of-fact about leaving his family’s farm in the south of Turkey for an unknown place where he didn’t speak the language. “Starting from scratch, it can be challenging,” he says simply of his nine years spent squirreling away savings while working as a dishwasher, busser, server and finally manager in order to afford to open a restaurant of his own. “You learn everything from experience. You learn from the bottom.” He leaves it at that. But it takes a special kind of tenacity to go from presiding over dirty dishes to a small restaurant empire. This Kurdish self-starter has been behind some of the Bay ABOVE: Dino Tekdemir looks to the future. Area’s most beloved concepts— Anatolian Kitchen, Naschmarkt, Nemea Greek Taverna, Barbayani Greek Taverna and most recently, Portola Bistro—all in a 15-year span. “I’m not tired!” Dino insists, sharing that he fully intends to create more eateries in the years to come. Where to next? “It all depends where the opportunity comes from,” he replies. “It all depends where Luck comes knocking on your door.” To see where it all started, pay a visit to Anatolian Kitchen in Palo Alto. Dino’s firstborn might not have a minimalist-chic interior like Portola Bistro or the cool coastal class of Barbayani, but the space is made homey by reclaimed wood and rattan chairs. Enchanting and intimate,
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