Friday

Ismael Kebapcısı: Lahmacun Tycoon

4 Comments May 1, 2009 – 11:03 am | Permalink |  Print This Post |

Where Beyoglu slopes down towards the Bosphorus in Tophane, a rough-around-the-edges district named after a nearby Ottoman-era cannon factory, there’s not much in the way of swanky eating. Judging by the great piles of husks on the sidewalk, sunflower seeds are the dietary staple of the neighborhood. Well, that and a spicy flatbread called lahmacun (pronounced lah-ma-joon).

Over at Ismael Kebapcısı, owner Ismael smiles broadly from his post by a blackened stone oven. He’s always got a little dough on him, and at lunchtime he’s making it hand over fist.  Ismael grills up mincemeat kebabs and chicken sheesh, but he clearly takes most pleasure in plucking a small handful of dough, dusting it with flour and rolling it out matzo-thin on the marble slab before him. He pats on top of it a fine spread of ground meat, tomato, onion, red pepper paste and spices and then shoves it deep into the hearth with a long paddle. That’s about all there is to a preparing a lahmacun.

There have got to be a dozen other lahmacun makers within a four-block radius of Ismael. You may ask, “Why is this lahmacun different from all other lahmacun?”

“Because I think positively!” Ismael explained one day, twinkling eyes lit by a clear sense of duty.

We’re not inclined to doubt Ismael on that point. Positive thinking goes a long way in the kitchen and the proof is sitting right there on the end of his paddle. And Ismael is not the only one who thinks positively about his lahmacun. Around lunchtime, as fast as he can turn them out, Ismael passes steaming lahmacun to a delivery boy who sprints off to waiting customers.

The commercial strip that’s home to Ismael’s restaurant is teaming with esnaflar, or the offices of small businessmen, who can be famously finicky about what they eat and how much they pay for it. Everyone seems to approve of his creations, although some prefer the lahmacun found at Yoremiz Pide, a bakery tucked back in the neighborhood. Their more heavily laden lahmacun is certainly worth a try, particularly if combined with a visit to next door Tutun Deposu, a former tobacco warehouse turned art gallery.  

Though it might resemble a wafer-thin, cheese-less pizza when it emerges from the oven, think of lahmacun as a kind of wrap. Before the roll, the lahmacun is loaded with a mound of fresh cut parsley and an optional squeeze of lemon. A bite of this is at once spicy and tart, hot and cold, smoky and fresh, crispy and chewy. Such simple contrasts add up to a very complex snack. One of Istanbul’s best street eats we think, positively!

Ismail Kebapcısı 
Address: Bogazkesen Caddesi #11, Tophane Beyoglu
Telephone: 0212 244 1178

Yoremiz Pide 
Address: Luleci Hendek Caddesi #14, Tophane Beyoglu 
Telephone: 0212 249 8272

Tophane Tütün Deposu
Address: Lüleci Hendek Cad. #12 

(Photo by Monique Jaques)