Zucca arrives on Castro Street Zucca arrives on Castro Street (January 25, 2002)

New Mediterranean-style restaurant makes a bold start in tepid economy

By Amy Goodpaster Strebe

After a month of being open to the public, Zucca Ristorante owner Praveen Singha and his business partner Mehmet Degerli are settling in on Castro Street. The two spent nearly $750,000 transforming the former Town & Country bar into an eclectic Mediterranean-style restaurant, and now Singha and Degerli are getting to know their repeat patrons.

"We did a feasibility study and found that no Mediterranean-style restaurant existed in Mountain View," said Singha. "We thought it would be good to bring our restaurant here to Mountain View, and Castro Street seemed like the perfect location. I love the ethnic mix of people out on the street," he said. "The younger and older generations, there is a lot of energy here."

Singha said it took one year and 10 months to obtain final approval from the City of Mountain View to build their restaurant. Needing to get the building up to code, the owners had to replace the roof, as well as the foundation and the plumbing. "The building was in really bad shape when we took it over," he said.

Planning to open last February, Zucca opened its doors 10 months later on Dec. 14. With an emphasis on cuisine from Greece, Turkey, Italy, France and Spain, Singha said he's envisioned a European-style bistro atmosphere for Zucca, a casual place where people can come to meet and share a meal or drink before going on to the theater or perhaps a concert at Shoreline. In the spring, Singha said, he plans on placing tables on the sidewalk, as well as in the adjacent alley way that has been renovated along with the building.

"With the outside seating people can feel comfortable ordering just appetizers or salads," said Singha. "They don't have to order a main course __ whatever fits their budgets."

Singha sings the praises of his executive chef, Paul Cohen. "I see in him a very talented chef," he said. "He has clean, good flavors and we share a lot of the same ideas for the restaurant." Zucca also has its own in-house pastry chef who creates a variety of desserts, as well as homemade breads.

Originally from India, Singha was educated and trained professionally as a chef in Europe and Canada. As a hotelier, he came to the United States in 1974 from Montreal and worked in Boston and New York, before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1989 he opened an Indian restaurant with his brother-in-law in San Francisco. Deciding he wanted to branch out to different styles of cuisine, Singha sold his portion of the restaurant one-and-a-half years later.

Recognizing the risk of opening a new restaurant in today's uncertain economy, Singha said he's confident that by keeping prices reasonable and maintaining high quality and attention to detail, Zucca will be successful.

"I think what's scaring some people about us is that they think we're an expensive restaurant," Singha said. "But I can't justify a $30 chicken. We wanted to do a casual, mid-range menu. Sure it's a risk, but I don't think we'll have any trouble competing with other restaurants, but we won't compete by lowering the quality of what we offer."

"Hopefully if people like what we do and we're consistent with that, we'll be around for a long time," he said.