{"id":177713,"date":"2026-03-27T21:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177713\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T21:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:31:12","slug":"mid-east-bakery-50-years-of-culinary-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177713\/","title":{"rendered":"Mid-East Bakery: 50 Years of Culinary Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"Tony and Marie Aflak pose in front of the Mid-East Bakery mural. (Photos: John Alexander)<\/p>\n

BAY RIDGE \u2014 When you walk into the newly remodeled Mid-East Bakery,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0struck by a mural behind the counter depicting a cedar tree with a cross of light in its trunk, surrounded by the bounties of Lebanon: bread, olives, and wheat.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shop also boasts\u00a0brand-new\u00a0display cases featuring an assortment of\u00a0Lebanese-Syrian\u00a0delicacies. Yet, it feels the same as always,\u00a0with warm familial faces behind the counter and some of the most\u00a0sought-after\u00a0Near Eastern cuisine in the borough.\u00a0But for the family behind the counter, Lebanon\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0only a source of flavor and faith\u00a0\u2014\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0also a place they speak about with worry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Mid-East Bakery marks 50 years in Bay Ridge, the family\u2019s story reaches far beyond the display cases \u2014 back to a homeland they still cherish, and increasingly worry about, amid persecution of Christians and the threat of a wider U.S.-Iran conflict that has made parts of Lebanon feel uncertain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea \u2018Truly Something Worth Celebrating\u2019 at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral<\/a><\/p>\n

The bakery has not only fed customers the finest Middle Eastern foods since 1976, but its owners, Marie and Tony Aflak, and its founders Antonine and Frangie Tabet (Marie\u2019s parents) have been staples in the community, including at their home parish, Our Lady of Lebanon<\/a> Maronite Catholic Cathedral.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marie and Tony credit their faith for guiding them through the years.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Lady of Lebanon is our home away from home,\u201d Marie said. \u201cBeing part of that culture and raising my kids in that culture means the world to me. The Lebanese are such loving and caring people, and I want my kids to grow\u00a0up\u00a0with all that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout our faith and believing in God and the Church, we would not be where we are today,\u201d Tony added.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marie and Tony have run Mid-East Bakery since 2019. Each year,\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0continued the bakery\u2019s tradition of donating food to the cathedral\u2019s Easter and Christmas vigil, which they will do again this year for the 50th time.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Marie Aflak\u2019s parents, Mid-East Bakery founders Antoine and Frangie Tabet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find both Marie and Tony to be wonderful, faithful parishioners, and we love having them and their sons,\u00a0and we are very grateful for all that they do for the Church and for the community,\u201d said Bishop Gregory Mansour<\/a> of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, and pastor of the cathedral.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Abi-Habib, a parishioner at Our Lady of Lebanon who serves as New\u00a0Jersey\u2019s\u00a0honorary consul general of Lebanon, said that when he craves zaatar bread, spinach pies, or kibbeh balls, he\u00a0immediately\u00a0heads to the Mid-East Bakery.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd add to that the fact that they have been catering events and giving to the Church and the community for all these years is remarkable,\u201d Abi-Habib noted. \u201cIn fact, they never stopped giving back.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even as\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0established\u00a0roots in Bay Ridge, the Aflak\u2019s remain connected to Lebanon. Tony grew up in\u00a0the\u00a0Middle Eastern country but left during the civil war when he was 14. He\u00a0permanently\u00a0settled\u00a0Brooklyn in 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Catholic Baker in Queens Serves Up Recipe of \u2018Sugar & Nice\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

He still visits his homeland\u00a0whenever\u00a0he gets\u00a0the chance.\u00a0But Tony said that worry has grown in recent years,\u00a0both over pressure on Christians in Lebanon and because the current U.S.-Israel war with Iran has made much of the country unsafe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Freshly baked bread in bags ready for customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, one day, we will be able to go back and visit not just my home and where I grew up, but to travel through the whole of Lebanon, without risking going to certain areas because you are Christian,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said. \u201cWe pray for peace where\u00a0there\u00a0would be no division between anyone of any religion or culture.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Marie, taking over the bakery was\u00a0a way to preserve\u00a0an integral part of her life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom when I was in a stroller, I would be here, and they would give me bread to keep me occupied while my parents served the customers,\u201d Marie recalled. \u201cSo, I really grew up here. This is part of me. And when they retired, I just\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0let it go.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not only did she preserve it, but, with Tony, she made it better. They both committed to making the bakery even more successful than it was. Marie went to culinary school to grow her knowledge, which allowed them to expand the menu from pita bread and dry goods to include delicacies like kibbeh, grape leaves, hummus, tabbouleh, spinach pies, meat pies, and baba\u00a0ghanoush.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tony credits his wife and her family for building a staple in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be here today if it wasn\u2019t for my wife\u2019s family, who established this business and built a loyal customer base that still comes in today asking about them,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marie is determined to keep her family\u2019s Lebanese legacy alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother brought a beautiful piece of her culture into this neighborhood, and I am proud to continue sharing the traditions of Lebanese culture,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are deeply grateful for all the support and blessings we have received over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who walks through these doors is family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony and Marie Aflak pose in front of the Mid-East Bakery mural. (Photos: John Alexander) BAY RIDGE \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-177713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}