The first restaurant I worked at in New York City, Trigo, did not last very long, but it had a very interesting, eclectic Mediterranean menu. The benefit of running a Mediterranean restaurant, rather than a pure French or Italian one, is that we could draw from all of the various cuisines of the region, and combine ingredients and dishes in whichever way we chose. We had Spanish, Italian, and French dishes on the menu, we used ingredients like preserved lemons from North Africa, and spices like Zataar from Israel. From southern Europe, to Turkey and the Middle East, to North Africa, the Mediterranean cuisines reflect a variety of cultures and landscapes.