This mom and son duo bake delicious Macedonian food at this Newmarket spot

This week, CBC Metro Morning's food guide Suresh Doss introduces us to a new kitchen, run by a mother and son. 

Macedonian Secrets is at 16700 Bayview Ave in Newmarket, Ont.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Suresh Doss:  Nicholas Georgievski is the young owner behind this tiny shop. He just turned 30 earlier this month. He was born in Richmond Hill, and identifies as Macedonian.

His parents, Maggie and Louie, are from Strumica, a southern city close to the Bulgarian border. They came to Canada over 30 years ago when they were young, and Maggie's first job was running a coffee truck.

Ismaila Alfa: These are the catering trucks you find by office buildings and construction sites, right?

Suresh: Yes, I remember seeing these everywhere when I was a kid. The truck would pull over and the owner would flip open the back, stainless steel everywhere, fold-down counters. You'd get your cigarettes there or grab a coffee or a snack.

So Maggie opens this truck at the age of 27 and ran it for 18 years. Over time, she slowly introduced her own traditional cooking to her customers. And they would favour her truck because they wouldn't find this stuff elsewhere, like cabbage rolls or stuffed peppers.

This was a huge inspiration for her son Nicholas and he always wanted to open his own place. So he eventually starts working with dough, making pizza.

Ismaila: Why pizza?

Suresh: You know, I wish someone can tell me why it seems like there are a record number of pizza places in Newmarket. And some of these pizza places have been around for decades. Nicholas worked at one of the oldest pizza places in town, but soon realized that he wanted to do something a bit more traditional. 

He wanted something more Macedonian, something that's harder to find. He wanted to do something inspired by his mom, who was known for making her own flat breads and savoury pastries. So they found a former pizza shop, with the oven intact, and they started experimenting.

Ismaila: So what should you eat if you go to Macedonian Secrets?

Suresh: Let's start with the Zelnik. These are baked pastries that are filled with with meat and or vegetables inside.

Maggie approaches her dough almost like the way you would make laminated pastry for croissants. The dough is layered with lard, spread really thin on a sheet pan, and then spread with a filling, before another layer of dough goes on top.

There are a few options for fillings: beef and onions; feta and spinach. My personal favourite is the leeks and cheese. The leeks are fried before with paprika beforehand. They just have this wonderful flavour after the Zelnik is baked.

You can also customize your filling by calling ahead.

Next, you should try a Pastramajilja

Ismaila: What is a Pastramajilja?

Suresh: Pastramajilja is a rectangular-shaped flatbread, which varies from region to region. Nicholas makes his own dough by using a little bit of olive oil, and a little beer as a leavening agent in his dough. But this also gives the bottom of the dough a beautiful crust when it comes out of the oven. You can actually hear it crack when you cut it into it.

The dough is topped two ways — either chicken or pork. Both are marinated and seasoned with paprika, black pepper and garlic. The chicken gets a little bit of oregano.

Ismaila: This sounds to me like a meal you'd want to share.

Suresh: The Pastramajilja is big, hefty — you definitely want to share it. And the star here really is Nicholas's dough work, which has that contrast of light airiness on top and crunchy crust on the bottom.

Ismaila: Let's get into the sweets now. 

Suresh: Well, you can't leave without a slice of baklava. I didn't know this until I visited, but Maggie makes trays of baklava every day, all in-house. And they're not sweet, they're gently pronounced with sugar.

You want to get the Baklava Katife, which is basically thinly-layered phyllo pastry with strands of fried dough at the centre. It's finished with this wonderful lemon syrup when it comes out of the oven.

Ismaila: That sounds amazing. The pandemic has been tough on so many restaurateurs. How are things going for Nicholas and Maggie?

Suresh: They're doing well, and I think it's because they have each other for support in the kitchen. For Nicholas, this project is not just a chance to preserve a part of his culture, which he kept repeating. But he also genuinely loves cooking with his mom. Here's Nicholas:

Nicholas: "I actually grew up in the kitchen with my mom, licking spoons from desserts she used to make and sitting there with her and playing with dough as a kid.

I don't know how to work in a kitchen without my mom at this point, to be honest with you. She told me I have to replace her; I don't think I ever can. She's my inspiration for 90 per cent of the things I'm doing here. I mean, I watch my mom my her entire life working away at a coffee truck, late into the night, early in the morning [waking] up. And I figured, you know what, if I start something like this, maybe just maybe I can make her proud of me too."

Ismaila: I think that's one of the sweetest things I've heard so far.

Suresh: One of the best things about Macedonian Secrets is watching the interaction between mom and son.

You can find Macedonian Secrets at 16700 Bayview Avenue in Newmarket, Ont.