For 26 years, Mazza has quietly occupied a corner near 15th and 15th, serving creamy hummus, hand-ground spices, warm pita, lamb kebabs, and some of the most consistently respected Middle Eastern food in Utah.
The restaurant survived recessions, shifting food trends, neighborhood change, and the rise of corporate dining concepts. But according to Mazza founder Ali Saba, survival has become harder than ever, not because Utah stopped loving local restaurants, but because the economic environment that once allowed them to exist is disappearing.
“We are the neighborhood restaurant,” Saba says. “Our clientele is middle-class people from the neighborhood and from outside the neighborhood who have more sophisticated palates, more well traveled.”…