Mezze Sampling Plate
by Celia Cheng
January 31st, 2008
BODRUM
584 Amsterdam Ave
(88th & 89th St)
212-799-2806
It’s funny how sometimes the simplest things can trip you up. I have been trying to decide on a craving for Bodrum but have been at a loss for much too long. I was stumped not because there’s nothing on the menu for me to choose from, but, on the contrary, every dish I tried at Bodrum, from starter to dessert — even the homemade bread — was a contender for my favorite craving. It’s all so good! It took me a while, but then I realized the obvious craving choice at a restaurant that has so much to offer — the mezze sampling plate!
Bodrum is a new Turkish restaurant that opened last July on the UWS. It serves homestyle Turkish cooking as well as some contemporary Mediterranean and North African dishes. The eatery, which seats forty (with outdoor accommodations when weather permits), has a casual but elegant feel. Upon entering the restaurant, you are faced with a wood-burning brick oven that warms this intimate, comfortable space. Comfort is found both in the atmosphere as well as the downright good homestyle cooking. The menu is not extensive but the quality of the food is consistently high.
Eating out as often as I do, my favorite meals are homestyle. Homestyle cooking is not to be confused with sloppy comfort food. Bodrum’s cuisine, as well as service, is refined and professional. Like its Turkish sister restaurant, Pasha, Bodrum also offers a fine-dining experience but in a warmer, more relaxing setting.
The shepherd salad is a good example of how Bodrum pays attention to detail. This is a simple and traditional Turkish salad, but too often restaurants serve it with oversized chunks of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and bell peppers. At Bodrum, the ingredients are finely diced, and carefully seasoned with the right balance of olive oil and lemon.
The mezze are all delicious and the mezze sampling plate for only $14 is the way to go. This includes a sigara borek (French feta and chopped parsley rolled like a cigar, as the name suggests, in crispy Turkish filo); a b’stila djej (Moroccan filo pastry stuffed with spiced chicken, almonds, chopped fresh herbs and cinnamon) — a true knock out!; hummus; babaghanoush; Turkish patlican (lightly spiced cubes of eggplant cooked with tomato, peppers, garlic and fresh herbs); and lebne (strained yogurt cheese mixed with walnuts, dill and purslane). And of course one of the best things about eating mezze is the accompanying bread. The homemade Turkish pide bread topped with sesame seeds is soft and fluffy, making it easier to soak up all the dips. I could just have pide with mezze for a meal, but there’s much more to enjoy at Bodrum, so don’t stop there.
Whenever I spy manti (ground lamb and fresh herb dumplings with garlic yogurt sauce) on a menu, I am wont to try it. The pieces of manti at Bodrum are unusually large, so they are more similar to ravioli than the normally petit dumplings. However, the size here does not compromise the taste. The manti is fresh and the garlic yogurt sauce a wonderful complement.
For the entrée, the special, lamb kebab with rice and steamed vegetables, was scrumptious. The copiously sized pieces of lamb on the skewer were juicy and tender, and the mixed vegetables were julienned, not large chunks that seem like an afterthought. The Moroccan fish tagine, with spiced red snapper and preserved lemon, olives and vegetables, was also a well balanced mix of flavors that was saucy and zesty.
The most interesting dessert on the menu is the ginger and Turkish fig ice cream, and it was delightful! Fig is one of those fruits that seems neutral in flavor but exquisite when fresh. It balances out the zingy ginger without harnessing its distinctive flavor. It’s an original and refreshing way to wind down dinner.
Bodrum was such a wonderful surprise! It’s my new favorite Turkish restaurant in the City because of its sensational homestyle cooking. Though I may have to travel ninety blocks uptown to get there, it’s worth the distance!
Posted in Appetizer , Turkish , UWS
Izmir Kofte
by Celia Cheng
December 13th, 2006
TAKSIM [CLOSED]
99 2nd Ave
(5th & 6th St)
212-979-5400
I tried the original Midtown Taksim just about a month ago and it didn’t make enough of an impression for me to write a review, good or bad. This new East Village sister restaurant however, has offended me enough to write about.
Taksim is hard to miss on this Second Avenue block as the signage and exterior is very red. The restaurant interior is large and spacious, which accentuates the emptiness when there aren’t enough diners to fill the space. The meze and hot entrees are all displayed behind the glass counters, in front of the kitchen, creating a very open and eye-catching atmosphere. Despite the fact that it was rather empty on a Wednesday night, I initially thought there was hope when I first walked in. As the evening progressed, positive feelings kept giving way to dissatisfaction and disappointment. Sigh! The search for yummy Turkish food continues. It’s just that this one is so close to home!
I went to Taksim with my Turkish friend, Cem. As soon as we sat down, Cem complained about the music — a mix of Turkish, Arabic, Egyptian and Greek pop that had an unnervingly heavy beat for dinner time and became annoying very quickly — and mid meal asked them to turn it down as it was so loud we felt like we had to yell at each other to communicate. The meze and shepherd salad were standard enough but not memorable, which was how I felt about the entire meal at the Midtown Taksim. At that point, things were still okay. For mains we ordered the Izmir kofte (meatballs cooked in a tomato sauce with potatoes and green peppers, Izmir’s most famous local dish) and the special, tandir (lamb cooked in the oven for 8 hours), both dishes served over rice. I love Izmir kofte and had the pleasure to try a very traditional and delicious restaurant that specialized in it while in the town of Alacati, close to Izmir, the 3rd largest Turkish city located on the Aegean coast. It’s mouth watering because the lamb meatballs, potato and green peppers simmer in juices of the tomato, and when poured over rice, the rice soaks up all the goodness. Back to reality here in NY, at Taksim: it’s not quite as good but still appetizing. The tandir, turned out to be just pieces of lamb meat over rice. I have a suspicious feeling that the meat was not cooked in the oven for 8 hours, and if it was, what a waste of time! Cem and I picked at the tandir a little but then moved on to devour the Izmir kofte. The tandir remains a mystery to me since there was no sauce, no yogurt, clearly just lamb over rice. Of course, I understand when lamb is supposed to be so tender that it needs no embellishments, it should be eaten alone, but we definitely didn’t reach that level of culinary excellence in this case. I even struggle to recall if there were traces of onion with the meat. When I asked Cem, he said, “I’m not sure but it just tasted like bad rice underneath bad lamb meat.”
Service is friendly but not polished. Our Irish waitress would come and ask how things were when Cem and I were most engaged in conversation and at other times when we needed attention was somewhere far away. The manager was also very chatty, trying to befriend the customers to ensure repeat business. He’s Turkish, which is a good sign, but I found it rather offensive that when he stopped by our table to ask how everything was, I politely replied, “good,” to which he responded, “That’s good that you liked it but I’m asking the person who counts because he knows what it should really taste like.” Wow! If I actually cared and thought there was hope I would have considered that a slap in the face. This is after Cem told him I had just returned from Turkey, no less.
Did dessert at least save the day? No. The almond pudding was disgusting. It was watery and did not exude the aromatic flavors of almond. I wondered if they’d given us the rice pudding by mistake but then started chewing the almond slices so I realized that it must be the almond pudding. I prefer to determine my food based on a combination of taste and texture, rather than just the latter.
When leaving, the manager again came by to ask us how things were, and Cem gave him a piece of his mind about how disturbing the music was, a good way to drive customers away. Though they conversed in Turkish, their attitudes clearly revealed the nature of the exchange. The manager replied that this is the type of music the owners want to play. Well, in that case, the owners shouldn’t count on doing much business because if it’s just about them and not about the diners, they should get out of the hospitality business. Go take some lessons from Danny Meyer, please!
Posted in East Village , Meat , Turkish
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