The Feisty Foodie » Turkish

Tuesdays with TT: Ali Baba

TT — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:15:32 +0000

After getting back from the wedding in Delaware, my parents offered to drive CT & me back to the city and take us out to dinner. One of my go-to delivery places is Ali Baba for Turkish cuisine. In the almost 6 years I have lived in the neighborhood, the food has been consistently good. Usually I only order out from there and I think I have actually only eaten there once. AB and I have been suggesting to my parents for years that we go there. Unfortunately AB couldn’t make it this time.

After being seated, we were giving a basket of their great homemade Turkish bread. They always do a good job with it, making it have the right amount of burntness.

I ordered 2 appetizers for the table.

Hummus. They did a really good job with it. Super smooth and perfect with the bread.

I haven’t gotten the octopus salad appetizer in a long time, so I wanted to get it again. It was a very simple presentation with sliced peppers, onion, olive oil and lemon juice. A very fresh salad that was nice on a hot day.

CT got the Spicy Beyti Kebab for her entree. It is ground lamb flavored with garlic, hot peppers, parsley and grilled on skewers. I had a couple bites and it was very good with just the right amount of spice.

Mom got the Lahana Dolmasi (Stuffed Cabbage) cabbage leaves stuffed with ground lamb, rice, fresh dill and seasonings. Although the flavors were different than she was used to, she said it reminded her of the stuffed cabbage her mother used to make. I had a bite and it was also good, but not something I would order.

Dad got the Karides Guvec (Shrimp Casserole) a casserole of baked shrimps, mushrooms, vegetables, topped with kashar cheese and chef’s sauce and served with rice. He liked this a lot since he gobbled up the whole thing.

I got something different this time around, the Karides Sis (Shrimp Shish) char-grilled shrimps in our chef’s delightfully light sauce and served with mixed green salad. This was very tasty. Two shrimp kabobs with grilled peppers and grilled lemon. The shrimp was cooked perfectly, which is not easy when it is grilled.

Overall, it was a great meal with great service. I remember last time I was there the service wasn’t good. I am happy that they have kept up the quality of their dishes over the years, which is not easy in NYC. It was nice of my parents to take me and CT out for dinner and I think they really enjoyed their food.

The Country Kebab

Feisty Foodie — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:30:00 +0000

Once more following Daniel/Downtown Lunch around… it’s been an interesting couple of weeks with the lack of bento and the excess eating out, so I’ve been able to try a lot more of these places. Anyway, The Country Kebab – I’m constantly looking for good kofte like I had in Turkey. Or at least something delicious, whatever! I’m game!

Here’s the menu from outside the place. I opted to get the lamb kebab platter. They freshly cook it while you wait, so it does take a few minutes, but whatever. It smelled delicious. You get to choose your sides, too – he said “pick 3″ so I did.

He probably thought I was weird when I picked brussels sprouts. They were pickly/vinegary, but tasty. The broccoli also looked super fresh and tasty (it was vibrant green instead of mushy/soggy looking; I will get that next time). Hummus was delicious with the hot fluffy pita? they provided, and I also got stuffed grape leaves because I really like those. Except not these. They were really mushy and… this may not surprise some people… sweet. Later on, I looked at the menu and discovered there are raisins in their mix. I like savory grape leaves, stuffed with rice and seasonings, not rice & raisins. If you like the sweet kind, these were good – though very soft – but just not my thing.

And the lamb? Cooked properly, still juicy, soft and tasty, not gamey, this was pretty good. It could use a little more salt, but I just dipped it into the provided tzatziki and/or the hummus as I ate, wrapping it in pieces of the fluffy pita and enjoying myself thoroughly. It was a bit too much food, though I ate it all anyway (oink! oink!)… I was definitely fighting falling asleep when I went back to work. Yummy.

Yvo says: Thankfully, its location next door to L&L Hawaiian Barbecue means it’s far enough away that I don’t have to fight temptation every day to eat monster plates of food. I would definitely go back for more, the offerings are solid enough that I imagine most things there are good. They had a rotating roster of soup (a couple of people came in while I was eating and a decent number of people went straight for soup, leading me to believe it’s good), and the sandwiches were pretty big too. Yum… good value and good food should go hand in hand everywhere as they do here.
recommended

Byblos (Lebanese)

Feisty Foodie — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:14:00 +0000

Despite eating more than my fill of kebab in Turkey & Greece, Byblos- a Lebanese restaurant – caught my eye when I saw the many positive reviews on MenuPages. I was curious to see how good their lamb would be in comparison to Greece/Turkey, though I had a good idea it wouldn’t be as good, perhaps it would come close.

For those of us who were early/on time/not quite that late, they’d placed on the table some pickled vegetables and some flatbread. The pita was thin and delightfully chewy, but cold and not that interesting, unfortunately. We decided to order hummus, as all of us love hummus, but the pita with the hummus was only good and could have been better had the pita been served warm.

Wisely, someone ordered the falafel, which arrived deep fried goodness alongside a slightly spicy dipping sauce, which reminded me of hot sauce mixed with yogurt. The falafel was delightfully crispy and yummy.

StB ordered a chopped salad of some kind, which she enjoyed very much.

Two people ordered meat pies or vegetable pies, which looked like the above. I heard good things about them, but I can’t tell you exactly what…

I ordered the grape leaves (dolmades) with kibbee – “ground lamb with burghul, baked. I had no idea what to expect; I asked about burghul and was told it was a kind of grain, so I’d thought it might be like a fried rice dish, so I was surprised when it came looking like lasagna, but not. The waiter had assured me that they were well known for their lamb, and it wasn’t gamey at all, so I dug in eagerly. The grape leaves were horrendously gamey and after 2, I couldn’t force anymore down. The kibbee, on the other hand, tasted pleasantly of lamb but not the gamey taste I was dreading. It was yummy, although after eating half of it, I found the texture a little too dry and crumbly for me, so I began dipping liberally in the hot sauce/yogurt combination provided with the falafel. That made the texture slightly more bearable.

I felt bad for SpB, who had ordered just dolmades, but she said she didn’t think they were that bad.

Yvo says: Overall, not a bad place for authentic Middle Eastern cuisine (Greek, Turkish, Lebanese cuisines all seem somewhat similar though each with their own twist, but the same or similar names). I would go back, though I found the location a bit annoying- it’s only a few blocks from Grand Central, which means it is completely out of the way for me and not in an area where I could hang out after dinner. The food was yummy, and the place was fairly empty at night- I’ve a feeling it gets busier during lunch hours or perhaps late night, when the belly dancers arrive and the live music starts- so it’s a solid middle of the road for me.
middle of the road- okay/not bad if you’re in the area

The Food of Greece and Turkey

Feisty Foodie — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:00:00 +0000

Hmm, looking over my pictures, I only photographed two meals in Greece. How odd. I guess because it was much of the same stuff, repeatedly~ kebabs, lamb, kebabs, etc. So here’s the teaser, only one of these meals, at Smiles Restaurant somewhat near our hotel:

Lamb kebab with pita, tzatziki

Grilled octopus, with our appetizer of taramasalata in the background

Pork schnitzel

Our first meal in Turkey was soundly disappointing, but we knowingly went into a touristy place. Ah well.

Our mezze (starter) platter - hummus-ish, horse beans, stuffed eggplant, shredded chicken salad type thing, greens, and I forget what was in the center. We liked this compilation quite a bit actually.

LanNa’s soup

Salad

LanNa’s fish – no really, there’s a few sea bass chunks in there somewhere. It had a LOT of bones.

Shirley’s “Turkish” dolmades (stuffed grape leaves)

My handmade pasta with lamb

Best kofte (“meatballs”) in Istanbul, according to a Turkish friend

Salad with yummy beans

Rice pilaf

Kofte!!! Soft, delicious kofte

Worst meal overall on vacation: in Ciceki Paseji (Flower Passage, literally) in Istanbul, in the Taksim district. We sat in this crowded hallway like place, with cats roaming up and down (they were cute, actually), and the restaurant owners would insist you look at their menu and get very aggressive. We randomly chose a place that had people in it, because they all boasted fresh fish, but the prices were outrageous- even more outrageous was that they show you this tray of “fresh” fish (they’re all dead at that point, of course, and just lying on a tray), and when you try to order it, you find out that it’s served whole (head, tail, both on, with bones). Call us spoiled Americans- but even so, that’s not true; I’ll eat whole fish, steamed, at home, or in restaurants even and not flinch. Asian restaurants. Which are much cheaper than what they wanted (it was something like 20YTL per kilo of fish, and you had to buy the whole fish, and the turbot was HUGE- 2+ kg, plus it’s so simply prepared I just didn’t feel it was worth it, and not all of us wanted fish….).

Our mezze- broccoli-ish and horse beans

another mezze- stuffed mussels. Where are the mussels?…

Salad

LanNa’s shrimp and garlic something or other

Shirley’s kebab something or other

Why all the pictures of one dish? Because, you see, my friends, this is me eating fried lamb brain. I swore I’d try it since I saw it on another food blogger’s site describing Greek food, after my friends decided we were going to Greece. I didn’t see it on any menus in Greece, so instead I tried it in Istanbul. The verdict? Don’t eat it with a doctor next to you telling you “Trust me, I’ve dissected enough brains, it tastes like brain.” Seriously, though, it’s kind of mushy, with no real taste of its own. I wouldn’t say I disliked it but I don’t see any reason to go out of my way to get it again. Kind of like how I felt about fugu (blowfish)… people eat it just to say “I ate that.” Though not sure about the brain, that might be a cultural thing, though it really tastes like nothing to me.

An honest-to-goodness Turkish snack: a “simit”. Something like a pretzel, but on the inside, at this particular place, fluffy like a croissant though less buttery. These can be found on every corner being sold from a cart, and in cafes, sometimes cut open to serve a sandwich within. We got this one- our inaugural simit from Simit Sariya (Simit Palace), and were very pleased, but annoyed the next day when we got one from a cart to discover it was rock hard and cold, much more like a NYC street-pretzel than we’d expected.

Though I didn’t photograph the rest of our meal (very normal, dive place, no big deal, though on the Asia side of Turkey), this was the only dessert we had in Turkey. A chocolate pudding, essentially, though the top was sprinkled with finely chopped nuts and had a layer congealed on top, the pudding itself was extremely delicious. We concluded that anything made with milk/dairy in Turkey/Greece (or maybe all of Europe) is better because it’s richer and has no FDA to regulate the pasteurization (if any) and therefore just tastes better.

Our last meal in Turkey was in the Grand Bazaar, at Havuzlu, which is mentioned in many guidebooks and, the proprietor proudly informed us, the New York Times (I bit back telling him exactly what I thought of the NYT and their restaurant reviews). It was a bit hard to navigate towards, and is in a strange, less traveled portion of the Bazaar, but we found it after much cursing and pushing of other tourists.

Shirley’s “steak”

Kofte – not as good as the first place

I will have more formal reviews for only two places we visited- one in Athens, and one in Istanbul… coming soon. For now, happy eating!!!

Turkish Kitchen

Feisty Foodie — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:38:00 +0000

For HB’s birthday celebration #3 (I think?), StB and I were going to take her to Turkish Kitchen. Of course, ShB and BB decided they wanted to come too- heck, the more the merrier, right? Of course, when StB changed our reservation, she was informed that it was okay to change as long as we were sure to be out by 9 (our reservation was for 7 pm). This of course brought up jokes about Gordon Ramsay’s 2 hour time limit…

In any case, the most important thing was definitely the food.

We started off with the fried calamari appetizer, which came with a garlicky dipping sauce. We all enjoyed the crispy, chewy calamari and enjoyed dipping the bread in the garlicky sauce even more.

BB and HB both chose to get the beef stuffed cabbage dish, which when I sampled, was filled with beef, but the cabbage kind of just dissolved in my mouth. I would have liked the cabbage to hold up a bit better, since I do like cabbage, but I liked how it was slightly sour and very flavorful.

ShB ordered the Cornish game hen, having heard that it was delicious. She was not disappointed, nor were those who tried it (I didn’t). She said it was definitely worth the $17 price tag.

StB chose to order two appetizers instead of an entree, so she could try more things, and I copied her. For her first appetizer, she chose the zucchini cakes, which were crisp, tasty and very dense. We all enjoyed a bite of the zucchini cakes.

We both chose a red caviar spread as a part of our appetizer-entrees. I really liked this dish, the most actually. There was plenty of red caviar mixed throughout a thick yogurt that we dipped our bread in liberally. I didn’t use the lemon but found the spread flavorful enough to keep eating. I was seriously stuffed and still had to sadly leave some on the plate- it was so good. I think it’s a bit much to eat on your own- HB commented that she liked it but could see herself getting tired of it quickly, so wouldn’t order it without knowing she could share it with a few people. I just nodded, munching happily away on it. StB enjoyed her dish as well, though I believe she also had trouble finishing it.

For my 2nd appetizer, I’d chosen a beef dumpling in a yogurt sauce. I liked these, though they were a bit too sour for me (HB said she liked the sour taste), and I was surprised how small they were. There wasn’t a lack, but they were about the size of my thumbnail, doughy filled with a bit of beef. Definitely interesting although I don’t think I’d ordered this again.

We were way too stuffed to do more than look at the dessert tray.. and my share of the bill was around $20. Not bad.

Yvo says: Turkish Kitchen had a great ambiance for large group dining, laid back and fairly casual. The location is great, on 3rd Avenue between 28th and 27th Streets, and the extremely reasonable prices make it even better. They do add an 18% gratuity for parties of 5 or more, but that is pretty much standard at many restaurants now so it’s not a big deal. I really enjoyed my food and overall dining experience, although if you don’t like yogurt, you may really hate Turkish Kitchen.
highly recommended