Friday
Gözleme Organik: Don’t Call it a Pancake
“You’re going to make mine thin,” said an old man with Coke-bottle glasses.
“Not too thin, it will break. We load these full of stuff, sir, and it’s all organic!” replied Hacer Hanım.
“Whatever, just make mine thin and put some cheese in there,” the man grumbled.
Hacer Hanım turned her back on the crusty old codger to face Us, her concerned audience, who’d already questioned her about the origins of her farm-fresh cheese (the Aegean island of Gökçeada), funky little mushrooms (the Black Sea’s Kastamonu) and mixed greens (Zonguldak, also on the Black Sea). “On Saturdays during the organic market, we are just too busy! Actors, models, wealthy people, people of culture, Japanese people even, they are all eating my gözleme. And it is all organic!” the grand dame of the griddle chirped, as if in a commercial. Continue…
All entries filed under this archive
3 responses - Posted 06.21.10
In previous posts, we’ve reported on the unusual eating habits in Turkey’s hot and dusty Southeast. In Gaziantep, we noted the “wake and flake” baklava breakfast. In Urfa it was a morning dose of grilled liver. But in the town of Nizip (and elsewhere in the area), the favored first ...continue
2 responses - Posted 05.20.10
Yesterday, a New York Times article, titled “Marijuana Fuels a New Kitchen Culture,” reported that some “chefs are unabashedly open about marijuana’s role in their creative and recreational lives and its effect on their restaurants.” With dishes like poutine of foie grois, cereal milk flavored soft-serve ice cream and deep-fried ...continue
4 responses - Posted 04.14.10
(Editor’s Note: We've been looking this week at some of the new burger places that have recently opened up in Istanbul. After trying out some of these new joints, our thoughts kept drifting back to the classic "Wet Burger" served by Kizilkayalar in Taksim. A true Turkish original, the "Wet ...continue
2 responses - Posted 03.31.10
We are proud to announce the second weekly winner of our 2nd photo competition, which is focusing on portraits of people working in the food business. The weekly winners will be among the group of “top 10” submitted images, from which our readers will select a final winner. The contest ends ...continue
2 responses - Posted 03.10.10
Turkey’s EU accession talks have raised a lot of important questions on reform, accompanied by predictable growing pains. But the latest news from Ankara, which can be read in Turkish in this article in the daily Radikal newspaper, makes us more than a bit uncomfortable. According to the article, Turkey’s food ...continue
3 responses - Posted 03.01.10
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 ...continue
8 responses - Posted 02.12.10
Let’s face it: lahmacun is easy to get excited about. It checks all of the boxes of a perfect savory snack – crispy-oven fired crust, light and spicy meat spread, with a fresh green topping and a tangy spray from a lemon. It’s like an artisanal pizza with a Middle ...continue
no responses - Posted 02.05.10
Models don’t hang out at Asma Alti Café Bar and Mustafa, the bartender, isn’t experimenting with lost Ottoman-era concoctions or any dry ice hocus-pocus. In fact, order anything but an Efes draft – an Efes Light, for instance – and watch the waiter scramble off to the corner store to ...continue
3 responses - Posted 01.21.10
Editor's note: Along with Dürümzade, Istanbul Eats favorite Kızılkayalar was also featured in the recent episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations." The Taksim veteran's famous "wet burgers" - which Bourdain seemed to enjoy immensely - came in 3rd place in our recent "Top 5 Istanbul Street Foods" competition. For those ...continue
5 responses - Posted 12.04.09
Editors's note: This is the final installment in our (highly subjective) look at Istanbul's top five street foods. For years on İstiklal Caddesi, just beyond Galatasaray High School, in one calm spot stood the beatific Ali Bey, an angel in a white doctor’s coat offering salvation in the form of golden ...continue