Mar 01
Monday
Kelle Söğüş vs. Kelle Tandir: Face/Off
Don’t people just love to fight about food? Punch ups over which city makes the best pizza, brawls about what’s the right way to barbecue. Louis and Ella nearly called the whole thing off over the pronunciation of the word “tomato.”
In this pugilistic spirit, we took our place at a couple of stools at our favorite back of the fish market corner bar, Asmaalti, from which to call one of the great barroom debates of these parts: is a sheep’s head, or kelle, more tasty when boiled and served chilled or roasted and served hot? Continue…
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Eski Kafa: New-Age Old-Fashioned
2 responses - Posted 01.05.10
An ironic wink and nudge come with the restaurant name Eski Kafa, which is also a Turkish term for “old fashioned to the hilt.” This little eatery, with its Zen lodge décor and signage boasting “all natural” “organic” and “without hormones” is also decidedly new age – to the hilt. ...continue
2 responses - Posted 01.05.10
An ironic wink and nudge come with the restaurant name Eski Kafa, which is also a Turkish term for “old fashioned to the hilt.” This little eatery, with its Zen lodge décor and signage boasting “all natural” “organic” and “without hormones” is also decidedly new age – to the hilt. ...continue
Beans: An Investigative Report
1 response - Posted 12.31.09
(Editor's Note: In honor of New Year's Day, we are rerunning this feature, which was originally posted in April of this year. Happy New Year to all our readers and keep coming back for more in 2010!) Until visiting some of Istanbul’s shrines to the baked bean, we generally regarded the ...continue
1 response - Posted 12.31.09
(Editor's Note: In honor of New Year's Day, we are rerunning this feature, which was originally posted in April of this year. Happy New Year to all our readers and keep coming back for more in 2010!) Until visiting some of Istanbul’s shrines to the baked bean, we generally regarded the ...continue
Zinnet Restaurant: Silk Road Trip
no responses - Posted 11.17.09
There are those restaurants worth going to because of their out-of-the-way location – a fish shack at the end of a lonely beach, a fondue hut at the top of an Alpine ridge. Then there are those worth seeking out despite their location – that culinary gem stuck inside a ...continue
no responses - Posted 11.17.09
There are those restaurants worth going to because of their out-of-the-way location – a fish shack at the end of a lonely beach, a fondue hut at the top of an Alpine ridge. Then there are those worth seeking out despite their location – that culinary gem stuck inside a ...continue
Çiğ köfte: The Raw Deal
no responses - Posted 10.12.09
It may not quite be up there with Japan’s fugu, blowfish meat that if prepared incorrectly can lead to death, but Turkey’s çiğ köfte is one of those foods that carries with it a certain frisson of danger. Literally translated as “raw meatballs,” the dish is made out of uncooked ...continue
no responses - Posted 10.12.09
It may not quite be up there with Japan’s fugu, blowfish meat that if prepared incorrectly can lead to death, but Turkey’s çiğ köfte is one of those foods that carries with it a certain frisson of danger. Literally translated as “raw meatballs,” the dish is made out of uncooked ...continue
Vefa Boza: Strange Brew
no responses - Posted 10.07.09
After our first taste, we were not quite ready to sing the praises of boza, a thick, almost pudding-like drink made from fermented millet. But the experience stuck with us. What is that flavor? Something like cross between Russian kvass (a fermented drink made from rye bread) and applesauce may ...continue
no responses - Posted 10.07.09
After our first taste, we were not quite ready to sing the praises of boza, a thick, almost pudding-like drink made from fermented millet. But the experience stuck with us. What is that flavor? Something like cross between Russian kvass (a fermented drink made from rye bread) and applesauce may ...continue
Sakarya Tatlicisi: Just Dessert
1 response - Posted 09.29.09
The arrival of fall usually finds us heading instinctively, like a salmon swimming towards its ancestral headwaters, to Beyoglu’s Balik Pazar, the neighborhood’s old fish market. Autumn is quince season in Turkey and that means the appearance – for a limited time only – of one of our favorite desserts, ...continue
1 response - Posted 09.29.09
The arrival of fall usually finds us heading instinctively, like a salmon swimming towards its ancestral headwaters, to Beyoglu’s Balik Pazar, the neighborhood’s old fish market. Autumn is quince season in Turkey and that means the appearance – for a limited time only – of one of our favorite desserts, ...continue
Şehzade Erzurum Cağ Kebabi: Gaucho Kebab Rides Again
7 responses - Posted 09.21.09
We were alarmed to recently discover that one of our favorite spots, Erzurum Cağ Kebab in Karakoy, had closed down. Turns out the owner returned to his former job – being an electrician. Istanbul has plenty of kebab joints, but places serving cağ are sadly hard to find. Originating in the ...continue
7 responses - Posted 09.21.09
We were alarmed to recently discover that one of our favorite spots, Erzurum Cağ Kebab in Karakoy, had closed down. Turns out the owner returned to his former job – being an electrician. Istanbul has plenty of kebab joints, but places serving cağ are sadly hard to find. Originating in the ...continue
A (Shady) Place in the Sun: Picnicking in Istanbul’s Concrete Jungle
4 responses - Posted 08.27.09
Summer months in Istanbul can be oppressively hot. In a city that seems more prone to laying asphalt than planting trees, a public place in the shade is hard to find. Though many Istanbulites escape to the green spaces outside of the city on weekends, we’ve compiled a few inner-city ...continue
4 responses - Posted 08.27.09
Summer months in Istanbul can be oppressively hot. In a city that seems more prone to laying asphalt than planting trees, a public place in the shade is hard to find. Though many Istanbulites escape to the green spaces outside of the city on weekends, we’ve compiled a few inner-city ...continue
Dogu Türkistan Vakfi Aş Evi: East meets East
2 responses - Posted 08.03.09
With the particularly uncatchy name of Dogu Türkistan Vakfi Aş Evi (or East Turkistan Foundation Food House), it’s clear this restaurant is not aiming for mass-market appeal. Rather, the place functions as a kind of public service agency. Located inside the charming and very pleasant courtyard of a 16th-century former ...continue
2 responses - Posted 08.03.09
With the particularly uncatchy name of Dogu Türkistan Vakfi Aş Evi (or East Turkistan Foundation Food House), it’s clear this restaurant is not aiming for mass-market appeal. Rather, the place functions as a kind of public service agency. Located inside the charming and very pleasant courtyard of a 16th-century former ...continue
Mekan: The Cosmopolitan
4 responses - Posted 07.24.09
Sometimes billed as “that Armenian-Jewish restaurant in Beyoglu,” Mekan harkens back to the neighborhood’s cosmopolitan past, when it was home to a large non-Muslim population. The food is sometimes Sephardic and Armenian, sometimes Turkish. But the important point here is the place’s authenticity. Mekan is not trying to be anything ...continue
4 responses - Posted 07.24.09
Sometimes billed as “that Armenian-Jewish restaurant in Beyoglu,” Mekan harkens back to the neighborhood’s cosmopolitan past, when it was home to a large non-Muslim population. The food is sometimes Sephardic and Armenian, sometimes Turkish. But the important point here is the place’s authenticity. Mekan is not trying to be anything ...continue
Altan Şekerleme: More Than Just Eye Candy
no responses - Posted 07.17.09
Just up the Golden Horn from the Egyptian Spice Bazaar is Kuçuk Pazari – a rarely explored warren of market streets and Ottoman-era caravanserais that are home to scissor sharpeners, saddle shops, vendors selling axle grease (by the vat) and purveyors of axes. From this potpourri of run down, yet ...continue
no responses - Posted 07.17.09
Just up the Golden Horn from the Egyptian Spice Bazaar is Kuçuk Pazari – a rarely explored warren of market streets and Ottoman-era caravanserais that are home to scissor sharpeners, saddle shops, vendors selling axle grease (by the vat) and purveyors of axes. From this potpourri of run down, yet ...continue
Mandabatmaz: Grounds for Celebration
2 responses - Posted 06.15.09
It’s a dirty secret nobody wants to talk about, but let’s put it out there: finding a good cup of Turkish coffee in Turkey can sometimes be very difficult. Thin and watery, rather than thick and viscous, is frequently the order of the day. This is no small matter, akin ...continue
2 responses - Posted 06.15.09
It’s a dirty secret nobody wants to talk about, but let’s put it out there: finding a good cup of Turkish coffee in Turkey can sometimes be very difficult. Thin and watery, rather than thick and viscous, is frequently the order of the day. This is no small matter, akin ...continue
Karaköy Güllüoğlu: Still Flaky After All These Years
3 responses - Posted 05.11.09
Baklava, the flaky, phyllo-dough based pastry, has long ago stopped being a Middle Eastern regional specialty. In America, for example, it is now a staple of dessert menus at diners and falafel stands across the country. But these places miss the point: baklava is actually not a dessert, but rather ...continue
3 responses - Posted 05.11.09
Baklava, the flaky, phyllo-dough based pastry, has long ago stopped being a Middle Eastern regional specialty. In America, for example, it is now a staple of dessert menus at diners and falafel stands across the country. But these places miss the point: baklava is actually not a dessert, but rather ...continue
Çiya: Loquat Kebabs and Mesopotamian Truffles at Istanbul’s Culinary Shrine
6 responses - Posted 05.06.09
For us, one of the highlights of spring in Istanbul is a visit to Çiya Sofrası, the Asian-side eatery that is very likely the best restaurant in Istanbul. It’s certainly not the fanciest or most cutting-edge place in town, but we rarely leave Çiya without having a profoundly new and ...continue
6 responses - Posted 05.06.09
For us, one of the highlights of spring in Istanbul is a visit to Çiya Sofrası, the Asian-side eatery that is very likely the best restaurant in Istanbul. It’s certainly not the fanciest or most cutting-edge place in town, but we rarely leave Çiya without having a profoundly new and ...continue
Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası: The Syrian Connection
6 responses - Posted 04.20.09
The only positive thing about the torturous annual visit we make to Istanbul’s main police station in order to renew our residence permit is the chance to drive through the low-rent Aksaray neighborhood, home to dozens of intriguing off-the-beaten path restaurants, most of them opened by migrants from other parts ...continue
6 responses - Posted 04.20.09
The only positive thing about the torturous annual visit we make to Istanbul’s main police station in order to renew our residence permit is the chance to drive through the low-rent Aksaray neighborhood, home to dozens of intriguing off-the-beaten path restaurants, most of them opened by migrants from other parts ...continue
Van Kahvaltı Evi: The Kurdish Breakfast Club
8 responses - Posted 04.13.09
In Turkey’s predominantly-Kurdish eastern provinces, breakfast is not just for breakfast anymore. Particularly in the city of Van, not far from Turkey’s border with Iran, the morning repast has been turned into serious business: the town is filled with dozens of Kahvaltı Salonu’s – breakfast salons – that serve a ...continue
8 responses - Posted 04.13.09
In Turkey’s predominantly-Kurdish eastern provinces, breakfast is not just for breakfast anymore. Particularly in the city of Van, not far from Turkey’s border with Iran, the morning repast has been turned into serious business: the town is filled with dozens of Kahvaltı Salonu’s – breakfast salons – that serve a ...continue
Kaymak: The Heavenly Cream
7 responses - Posted 04.01.09
In our imagination, kaymak - the delicious Turkish version of clotted cream - is the only food served in heaven, where angels in white robes dish out plate after plate of the cloudlike stuff to the dearly departed, who no longer have to worry about cholesterol counts and visits to ...continue
7 responses - Posted 04.01.09
In our imagination, kaymak - the delicious Turkish version of clotted cream - is the only food served in heaven, where angels in white robes dish out plate after plate of the cloudlike stuff to the dearly departed, who no longer have to worry about cholesterol counts and visits to ...continue
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