Uptown Beverage owner opens Mid-Eastern cafe

BOARDMAN

Mike Nizami had never done construction until he had to complete his vision for a new cafe.

“I figured the area needed a place like this,” Nizami said.

Nizami wanted his cafe to be inviting, comfortable and fun.

Fire Fox Cafe at 7393 California Ave. is more than a hookah bar. It’s a place for people to relax in a lounge atmosphere, sip a lemon-mint smoothie and try some Middle Eastern dishes such as the popular knafeh, a levant cheese pastry soaked in sweet syrup and rose water and topped with kataifi, a pastry that looks like it is wrapped in shredded wheat, and pistachios.

“We do have a Middle Eastern [feel], but it’s not overwhelming,” said Mariella Marino, manager of the cafe. “It’s just enough to get people interested in something cultural.”

Hookahs, oriental tobacco pipes with hoses that draw smoke through water, are a part of the cafe, but the central focus is offering a place to relax.

Nizami, who immigrated here from Jordan in 1997, already has a liquor business, Uptown Beverage in Youngstown, and a drone photography business, Flying Fox Photography. The opportunity to open a hookah cafe just fell into his lap one day.

Read more about the new business in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.