Nil’s Mediterranean Cuisine Takes Root in Wilmington

Taking up residence in the former PinPoint location, Nil’s Mediterranean Cuisine is soon to be serving guests at 114 Market Street in downtown Wilmington. This will be the third Nil’s location for chef Tan Uckan and his wife, Semra, who also operate Nil’s restaurants in Fuquay and Angier, North Carolina. The menu includes Mediterranean staples such as falafel and shakshuka, as well as tapas and kebabs.

“We’re offering a little bit of an upscale, modern fusion of Mediterranean food with a lot of Turkish flavors,” chef Uckan said. He and his family are from Turkey and were “born next to the sea,” so Wilmington was a natural fit for them to take up residence and open a new Nil’s location.

The original iteration of Nil’s was more of a Turkish bakery, before evolving into a Mediterranean cafe and lunch location. When Uckan was first approached about the possibility of running the Fuquay restaurant (the only location at the time), he was running a successful food truck in the area and was content doing just that. His wife, however, had another dream. Literally.

“She was in Turkey at the time,” Uckan said, “and she called saying she had a dream that we had a small cafe restaurant.”

When Uckan told Semra that he had an offer for such a location in front of him and was leaning away from getting involved, she nudged him in the other direction, and they decided to take the leap.

Once at the helm of Nil’s, Uckan set about establishing a new menu, guided by his customers’ preferences.

“We tested what they like, what they didn’t like, and then we changed what we needed to,” he said. “We made a menu for all the customers and their favorites.”

Uckan plans to do the same with the Wilmington menu. While the opening menu will consist of many of the items served at the current locations, he remains open to receiving local feedback.

“We’re going to go with the flow,” he said. “I want people to not only enjoy the food but the Mediterranean vibe — you know, chill, no rush, no pressure.”

The restaurant will be open for both lunch and dinner (11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday) and, if the appetite is there for the Wilmington location, Uckan is open to expanding to Sunday brunch service as well.

Overall, Uckan has a why not approach to it all. Why not transition from a food truck to a restaurant? Why not expand into multiple locations? Why not adjust the menu based on customer needs?

“This part of North Carolina is growing up [in regards to] food, and why not?” he said. “This location came up, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.”

For more information, visit nilsmc.com or follow along on Instagram @nilsmediterraneancuisine for updates on opening.