Chef Samia Behaya was born and raised in Grenoble, France as one of seven children. She received her culinary training at home where she learned to cook traditional North African recipes from her mother. After several years of working throughout the industry in France and the United States, Chef Samia opened Simple Cafe & Restaurant in 2006. Chef Samia aimed to create a relaxing environment where customers could come to meet new people or catch up with old friends while sharing and enjoying her culinary traditions. She believes in cooking simple, homemade food full of flavor and natural ingredients. The house specialty is her bread, baked fresh to order with Algerian spices just like her mother's. Other favorites include the house cous cous with merguez and vegetables or crispy "borek" made of ground beef, potatoes, fresh herbs and spices. For Chef Samia, Simple Cafe & Restaurant has always been about creating an environment for her customers. In 2009 Chef Samia decided to experiment on a pop up restaurant with Ane Nyugen called "Bep" or "Kitchen" in Vietnamese. The pop up quickly grew from one night a week to five and Bep now has its' own loyal following. After seeing the success of this collaboration Chef Samia still wanted to offer her customers more. She decided to expand her community once again and invest in a shop in shop within Simple Cafe & Restaurant called Berlyn65. With this new partnership she can now offer her customers more than just a dining experience, and it too has become a neighborhood staple. Since its opening in 2006 Simple Cafe & Restaurant has become a neighborhood staple for the surrounding community sustained by its regulars and continually expanded upon by tourists. For Chef Samia it was about bringing her vision to life in one Simple place.