Kitchen Istanbul

photo - kitchenistanbulsf.com

Kitchen Istanbul, Inner Richmond, Dinner
March 2, 2016

P&J:
Hummus, haydari, muhammara with pita bread
Crispy spiced brussels sprouts with aleppo aioli sauce
Grilled half moon bay sardines with walnut tarator sauce & house pickles
Turkish style beef stew with smoked eggplant puree "sultan's delight" & lebni
Kunefe, freshly baked shredded dough (kadayif), filled with sweet cheese & topped with pistachios
Turkish tea, coffee


Notes:
This was our second visit to this spot, the first being brunch on a whim after shopping the Clement Street Farmers Market.  Patrick lived some years in Turkey, so he has a fondness for Turkish Cuisine, and I simply have a fondness for delicious food.  Both are found here.

We started with a selection of three spreads served with triangles of thin pita bread.  It's hard to pick a favorite.  The hummus we've had before, which is why we asked for it again.  The flavor and texture is remarkably good, and different from what I've had before.  I could almost describe it as "toasty", but I'm not sure that's quite right.  The haydari is always a win for me: thick, rich, slightly sour yogurt.  I can eat it with a spoon, and did.  Muhammara is another favorite - I've been dying to make this at home, and haven't - an intensely flavored puree of roasted peppers and walnuts (I'm simplifying, of course).  All three of these spreads were delicious.  We promptly realized we had ordered too much food.

The Brussels sprouts are another menu favorite.  They were just as good this time as the last.  The sprouts are deep-fried to high heaven (= dark brown), well-seasoned seasoned with salt and oregano (?); the aleppo chile aioli is a nice accompaniment, but not altogether necessary; the sprouts alone are addictive.

I was particularly excited about the sardines, but they were a little disappointing.  I've had fresh sardines before, and love them, but these were a little stronger in flavor than I expected.  Perhaps not so fresh?  I don't know.  Everything was generally off - the pickles weren't pickled and the tarator sauce was an odd accompaniment; the flavor and texture didn't work with the rest of the dish.  I wouldn't order this again.

The stew was amazing: fork tender beef and carrots in a rich, meaty sauce over smoky eggplant, balanced with a cool dollop of tangy lebni (yogurt cheese, essentially; think sour cream).  So good, we wanted to devour it all, but we had to save ourselves.  We took home what was left.

So, what were we saving ourselves for?  Dessert, or the reason we were there that night (Patrick might not have known this, at the time), kunefe.  I swoon for this dish.  I've never had anything like it.  When Patrick saw it on the menu on our first visit, he was excited to order it.  I wasn't, so much.  It sounded odd to me, but I was happy to give it a try.  And try, I did; I think I may have eaten more than my fair share that day, just as I did this particular evening.  Mildly salty, stringy but soft cheese is wrapped in kadayif (phyllo dough, extruded into finer-than-angel-hair strands) and baked (?) until crispy, leaving the cheese inside appropriately warm and oozy, and all of it drenched in a thin sugar syrup, topped off with chopped pistachios.

We'll keep coming back here.  We'll keep trying new things.  And we'll keep having the kunefe.