Dining Out: Olive Branches

One's Greek, one's Turkish, and never the twain shall meet. But two smart neighborhood spots bring out the glory of their hallowed Mediterranean ground.

By Dennis Ray Wheaton

(page 2 of 2)

The aromas—mint, dill, oregano, and grilling lamb—are what grab you first at Turquoise, a rousing Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant in Roscoe Village. After that, it's the noise. This cozy minimalist space, with the granite-topped bar and hanging pendant lamps, is rocking. It's fun and so lively that you don't mind the din, particularly when you dig into a welcoming basket of warm round loaves of house-made Turkish bread and a cabbage-yogurt spread.

The hummus made me perfectly happy and the feta salad was fine—even dandy—but I don't see appetizers like lahmacun (well-seasoned ground beef and chopped vegetables on thin, soft flatbread) every day. At $3.50 this distant cousin of pizza is the best deal in the house and perfect to share over drinks. The table card lists several Argentinean wines, great values at $20 a bottle, but stay Turkish and order a 2001 Kavaklidere Selection Kirmizi ($30), an intensely purple, dry, medium-bodied pour.

Turks are obsessed with eggplant, so when you share appetizers go for the sogurme, a baba ghannouj-like dip of smoked eggplant, brown butter, yogurt, garlic, and walnuts toasted in crushed red pepper. In a similar vein, but with completely different flavors, is mujver—pan-fried zucchini pancakes with scallions, feta, and mint over creamy yogurt garlic sauce. Have everything with su boregi, pastry sheets layered with feta and fresh dill, folded, baked, and cut into pieces that resemble kugel: crisp outside, soft and savory inside.

Seven kebap dishes (Turkish kebabs) anchor the entrées, and they are satisfying, if oversalty. Two versions of chopped lamb stood out: beyti kebap seasoned with garlic and chopped shallots and served wrapped in flatbread, and onion kebap with delicious caramelized whole shallots and cherry tomatoes in rich pomegranate sauce.

Manti is among the finest dishes in the Anatolian catalog: The shape is somewhere between tortellini and pot stickers, but the result is 100 percent Turkish. Traditionally the pasta pockets are stuffed with lamb, but here it's ground veal seasoned with oregano and onion, smothered in a creamy yogurt sauce with chili oil and tomato sauce. And the Imam bayildi—unforgettably translated as "priest fainted"—employs a baby eggplant, which is pan-roasted and stuffed with red- and green-pepper strips, onion, tomatoes, garlic, and lots of pine nuts.

Turquoise's baklava is too heavy on the pastry and too light on the nuts; I prefer the kazandibi, a custard made with caramelized butter and served with vanilla ice cream. It's perfect with a Turkish coffee and a nightcap of raki, Turkey's bold answer to ouzo. The Turks don't do anything halfway.

The Skinny

MYTHOS 2030 W. Montrose Ave.; 773-334-2000 A model meal Loukanika, garides giouvetsi, revani Tip When making reservations—a good idea—ask about nearby parking lot; street parking difficult. Hours Dinner Tuesday-Sunday Tab (without wine, tax, or tip) $30 to $35

TURQUOISE 2147 W. Roscoe St.; 773-549-3523 A model meal Sogurme, manti, kazandibi Tip For drama, order the salt-crusted sea bass flamed tableside. Hours Brunch Sunday, lunch Monday-Saturday, dinner nightly Tab (without wine, tax, or tip) $25 to $30