Local restaurants bring culinary diversity to Mason community

Aybika Kamil | The Chronicle

Serving as a melting pot of cultures, authentic eateries around Mason contribute to the growing diversity. 

Establishments like Chaykhana, Yard Vybz Nyaminz and Crêpe n Dip in the Mason and West Chester area allow people from various backgrounds to connect and bond over authentic culinary dishes.

Otabek Mamarajabov has worked as a waiter at Chaykhana N1 Uzbek Cuisine for six months. He said he was drawn to the job due to his Uzbek heritage. Mamarajabov said he sees many of his friends and family while serving customers. 

“It’s very comfortable for me to work here because many people come from Uzbekistan and they can speak Uzbek,” Mamarajabov said. “They are happy with the food and restaurant when they come and bring everyone they know.”

Mamarajabov said all kinds of people, whether they’re American, African, Christian or Muslim, eat at Chaykhana. He said he has also noticed lots of students from local schools in Mason and Lakota introducing Uzbek food from Chaykhana to their friends and teachers. 

“The teachers say that they like all the food [here] which I think is great for the community,” Mamarajabov said. “It’s usually their first time tasting Uzbek food here and they try a bit of everything.” 

Inside Chaykhana, past all the tables, is a private room with a traditional Uzbek tapchan that can seat around 12 people. Families go with their friends to celebrate holidays like Eid, an Islamic holiday, or New Year’s. The tapchan room contains a long, low-to-ground table on a raised platform with thick traditional Uzbek blankets and pillows. 

“The owners were able to make Chaykhana bigger with support from everyone in the community,” Mamarajabov said. “We added a lot of things [including] the tapchan which is very beautiful and a big part of our culture.” 

Mason High School (MHS) Junior Durdona Ochilova is ethnically Tajik but was raised in Uzbekistan. She moved to Loveland from Uzbekistan in January 2022, and then to Mason in October. Ochilova’s sister, who already lived here, recommended moving to Mason because of the quality of the community and school. 

“I made a bunch of friends here who were Kazakh, Russian, American and Turkish in my classes,” Ochilova said. “The people in Mason were so welcoming and you can meet a lot of students from different cultures and countries.”

Ochilova said she loves talking to people from other places because she enjoys learning languages. She visits Chaykhana often with her family and friends. She said some of her favorite foods to get at Chaykhana are shashlik, plov and samsa. 

“Going to places like Chaykhana makes me feel like I’m in Uzbekistan,” Ochilova said. “Honestly, I really love America but sometimes you miss your home country and I get to feel like I’m in Samarkand when I enter some of the stores here.”

Co-owners and couple David and Nicole Williams also wanted to bring culture and a taste of home to their restaurant. Yard Vybz Nyaminz’s walls are painted with the colors of the Jamaican flag. Lining the walls are pictures of well-known Jamaican figures and places from the east and west sides of Jamaica where David and Nicole are from. The Williams’ said they wanted their guests to feel the Jamaican vibes with additional visuals of the beach and sounds of Jamaican music in the restaurant. 

“If you guys take a look closely, you’ll see that the dining room tells a story of us working together as a team because this was a team effort,” David said. “A lot of the inspiration [was from] sitting down together and it was really all amazing as it unfolded.” 

David worked half his life in restaurants and hotels around the United States and said he always dreamt of opening a place of his own that served Jamaican cuisine. Operating as a brick-and-mortar two years ago, Yard Vybz Nyaminz is now a restaurant.

“My wife was very inspirational and encouraging in making this dream become a reality,” David said. “We are trying to bring Jamaican culture to everyone, flavors and all, through our food like oxtail and signature jerk chicken.”

Nicole said she thought it was a great idea to come to this area because they wanted to bring a Jamaican restaurant to people who needed it. Many people have walked up to the Williams’ to personally tell them how happy they are to not drive across town to get Jamaican food. 

“Coming to this market is very surreal since there’s a lot of people migrating to the Mason and West Chester area who are Jamaican and others who love Jamaican food,” David said. “We are here to stay, to grow with the community and we give thanks for the love and support we get from everybody that comes.” 

After noticing the variety of cultures in the area, the Williams’ started serving halal meat to accommodate Muslims. They said many Muslims call in disbelief asking if Yard Vybz Nyaminz actually serves halal Jamaican food. The Williams’ also catered for the Islamic Center of Mason.

“We want to not just be another regular Jamaican restaurant, but one that stands out,” David said. “We also want to be one of the best in Ohio that everybody would love to come to at all times.”

MHS sophomore Jumana Ahmed, an Egyptian Muslim, used to struggle with finding readily accessible halal food. She was born in Florida and lived in Wyoming for nine years. Ahmed said there were no Egyptian restaurants or similar cuisines in Wyoming making it hard for her and her family to find food they could eat.

“You eat at a friend’s house or you eat at your house and that’s it,” Ahmed said. “It’d be a three-hour drive to get to a halal market or international market so it was tough and I just got used to not having a diverse community because that’s just [the environment] I adapted to.” 

Ahmed said she noticed a benefit of living in Mason is the variety of stores and restaurants that are available. She visits the Halal Market with her friends to get halal gummy bears and candy. She and her family have also been to Turkish and Uzbek restaurants in the area, as the food is similar to what they eat at home.

“My parents just wanted to eat Arab food and there just happened to be Arab food at Uzbek restaurants [here],” Ahmed said. “It’s nice that it’s so much more easily accessible and that I don’t have to drive two or three hours just to eat something like that.”

Before moving to Mason, Ahmed’s mom knew only a couple of people from Egypt who happened to live here. Ahmed said from there, her family got to know the rest of the community and they are now friends with many people. 

“I was super nervous when I first heard I was moving here – I was a whole wreck,” Ahmed said. “But it’s great in Mason. Since I’ve settled down and we found a community, I’ve made some friends and it’s gotten a lot better.” 

Ahmed visits Crêpe n Dip, a recently opened Syrian Muslim-owned business, with her friends. Crêpe n Dip is open until 11 P.M. on weekdays and midnight on weekends, which Ahmed said makes it a popular hangout spot, especially for Arabs. 

“It reminds me a lot of Egypt because usually shops here in America close down really early so you don’t see that nightlife in smaller towns,” Ahmed said. “It was nice to see people being active so late at night.”

Ahmed is familiar with the owners of Crêpe n Dip and is friends with their nieces. She said she feels more inclined to eat there because she knows the owners and that other people do as well.  

“It’s definitely inspiring because if I ever wanted to do anything like [opening a store] I know I could,” Ahmed said. “I know that the community would support me so it’s nice to know that they are there for each other.”

Mulham Kebab and Molham and Moutazz Abdulhadi are the co-owners of Crêpe n Dip. Kebab said Crêpe n Dip has received tremendous support from people in the Mason and West Chester area. 

“We’ve had a lot of people just come to support us, but us having [Crêpe n Dip] in this community provides a lot of support not only to us but also to the community,” Kebab said. “Everyone sees this place as somewhere to come and hang out.”

Kebab saw many changes in the people and his surroundings during his 27 years living in the area. He said he remembers how 20 years ago, there was nothing past Tylersville Road and the population was small and quiet. Now, on Tylers Place Boulevard is Crêpe n Dip with the International Halal Market next door and the Sweetzone Bakery on the other side. 

“[Tylersville] has developed and grown so much to where it’s now one of the most popular locations in this area,” Kebab said. “I’ve been seeing the whole community putting hands in hands together and a lot of diverse stores are developing.”

With multiple stations in the kitchenette of the cafe comes multiple cultures. Crêpe n Dip has a variety of dessert and drink options from pancake platters and bubble waffles to hot chocolate and Lotus Biscoff milkshakes. A taste of the United Arab Emirates is found in their Dubai Chocolate Crêpes, some of Italy in their gelato and a bit of Türkiye in their traditionally prepared Turkish coffee. 

“We have a lot of different products because we want to be diverse in what we provide,” Kebab said. “I think people just need a little push to be together and [that happens] if you bring people [to a] location with a good atmosphere.”

Seeing people come from all over the world in the Mason and West Chester area, Kebab and the Abdulhadis wanted to bring the community and families closer together. Kebab said they picked its location because of its proximity to the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati. This allows Muslims to pray and hang out afterward at Crêpe n Dip, or vice versa. 

“We’re happy to be part of this community and we’re happy to be welcoming everyone in,” Kebab said. “We’re always here, welcoming customers at any given moment of the day with a smile on our face.”