Demetri Mechelis
Martha Dear | Washington, D.C.
March 2022
Demetri Mechelis’s introduction to the hospitality industry was at his father’s restaurant, Aleko’s Taverna. Through high school, Mechelis bussed tables and helped prep ingredients at the Wheaton, Maryland restaurant. Then, while working on an associates degree in hospitality management at a nearby community college, he decided to become a chef. He picked up, moved to New York City, and enrolled in the French Culinary Institute. Upon graduation, Mechelis scored a line cook role at Chef Peter Hoffman’s New American restaurant, Back Forty. Mechelis followed the chef de cuisine, Ryan Tate, to his new project—specialty food market All Good Things upstairs and 40-seat fine dining Le Restaurant downstairs. Tate emerged as a mentor to Mechelis, opening his eyes to gastronomy and what food has the potential to be.
In 2014, Mechelis returned to the Washington, D.C. area to be closer to family. He started on the line at Tail Up Goat in 2016, where he met his future wife and business partner, Tara Smith. Then in 2018, Mechelis became sous chef of the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood restaurant, Ellē, under Rising Stars alum Chef Brad Deboy. Mechelis began daydreaming about opening a pizzeria in the neighborhood and not too long after, he and Smith rented out a basement space and developed the concept. Named after Mechelis’s mother, Martha Dear opened in late 2020 as part Greek taverna and part neighborhood bar, with Smith managing front of house operations and Mechelis manning the gas-powered dome pizza oven.
