Knoxville Restaurant replaces Knox Mason at KoPita Embassy Suites.

Already planning an expansion, KoPita Authentic Mediterranean has agreed to take over the restaurant’s main location at the Embassy Suites in Knoxville after the Knox Mason leaves next month.

Owner and chef Evie Zenati told Knox News that their restaurant, the current 524 S. Gay St. The site is playing with the idea of ​​building a new kitchen and increasing capacity, but the costs were too high.

With Knox Mason’s recent announcement of a departure plan on July 2, Zenati contacted Alpesh Patel of the Kana Hotel Group, which is located at 507 S. Gay St.

Basically, KoPita is just hitting the road with a planned opening on July 15.

“We had a lot of interest from a lot of different people,” Patel told Knox News. And, after interviewing many different people, I was excited about what he wanted to do in our place. ”

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‘KoPita 2.0’ is adding new menu items.

KoPita has had an exciting journey, beginning as a vegan restaurant, as well as before opening an extra meat-eating restaurant and finally combining the two concepts.

The Mediterranean restaurant will have its own luncheon, but its lunch menu will focus on more advanced offerings and a mix of multi-cultural Israeli cuisine.

Customers can expect a white dinner at night and a variety of dishes from Morocco, Tunisia, Spain and beyond.

“It’s a mixture,” Zenti said. “The cooking scene in Israel is very advanced … so I will try to bring as much food as possible.”

The dishes will be between 50% and 60%, and everything will be cooked after ordering. Despite the lofty concept, which Patel calls “KoPita 2.0”, Zenatti wants to keep prices low.

The hotel has more space and a full bar.

One of the biggest changes will be the addition of a bar, which Zenati admits he doesn’t know much about. KoPita currently only sells beer, but he is hoping to find a skilled bar manager to make something special at the hotel.

Overall, Zenatti plans to increase its staff from 10 to about 25. The current location will increase from 45 to 100 in the hotel restaurant and 25 in the balcony.

Zenati plans to wait a month or two before offering room service, followed by “finger foods” in the rooftop bar.

He also plans to keep the restaurant open from Thursday through Saturday midnight with a special menu last night, which he thinks is missing from the food scene in downtown Knoxville.

The restaurant plans to be open seven days a week.

Embassy Suites in search of ‘longevity’

While Zenati said he was aware of the difficulties Knox Mason faced in the hotel space, “I believe in myself, and I believe in my city.”