LONG ISLAND CITY – Mina’s is now open at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) P.S. 1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue in Long Island City. Chef-partner Mina Stone, half-Greek and half-Jewish, will be feeding artists, museum-goers, and staff, with cuisine influenced mostly by her Greek grandmother as well as her father’s side of the family, Jewish from Cleveland, as New York Magazine’s Grub Street reported.

Stone began her culinary career as a private chef following fashion school, eventually giving up on dress design and working on food full time, Grub Street reported, adding that she established “a niche in the art world by catering gallery dinners and as Urs Fischer’s in-studio cook” which led to her book Cooking for Artists and now her new role at MoMa P.S. 1.

“Her husband, artist Alex Eagleton, has redesigned the space that previously housed M. Wells Dinette, replacing the school-desk-style communal tables with Corian-clad two-tops (‘I hate communal dining!,’ says Stone) and enclosing the once-open kitchen (‘so it’s not noisy’),” Grub Street reported.

Eagleton “mixed sand into the white and pale-green paints to give the walls a vaguely stuccoed effect, a reference to both his and Stone’s half-Greek heritage and to Stone’s culinary inspiration,” Grub Street reported.

The menu includes “the simple, seasonal home-cooking that she learned from her Greek grandmother and that she deems lacking in New York’s Greek-restaurant landscape of diners on the low end and fancy fish joints at the other extreme,” Grub Street reported.

Peinirli, a type of Greek cheese and egg bread, with its boat-like shape often described as a pizza boat, is one of the Greek-inspired items on Mina’s menu to enjoy. The Greeks of Pontus brought the recipe with them to Greece in the population exchange following the Treaty of Lausanne. Many variations exist in terms of toppings and Mina’s version is topped with an egg, a great option for breakfast or anytime as the menu says. Strapasada, eggs scrambled with tomatoes and Arahova feta, served on toast, is also on the menu, as are a choice of four spreads served with bread for a classic, yet modern, Greek mezzethaki. The lentil soup is flavored with turmeric and lime, probably not how Yiayia served fakies, while the braised chicken with cinnamon and cloves recalls Greek recipes which feature a touch of those spices in the sauce.

Portokalopita and olive oil cake are also on the menu for dessert.

“She’s sourcing a barrel-brined sheep’s-milk feta that she swears can ‘convert a feta hater’ and baking a tahini babka that nods to her father’s side of the family, Jewish from Cleveland, but, she says, ‘feels very Greek to me,’ Grub Street reported, adding that “to drink, there’s everything from ouzo and the iconic frappe iced coffee to turmeric lattes, kombucha, and natural wine.”

More information about Mina’s at MoMA P.S. 1 is available by phone: 718-440-4616 and online: http://www.minas.nyc/.

For catering inquiries email: [email protected].