Mary M.
Yelp
It is too bad there are only 5 stars available here on yelp because I have discovered a treasure that cannot- CANNOT be beat when it comes to magnificent food. As many of you know, I am a foodie from the get-go. I have consumed food all over the world and I'm always looking for something great. This place qualifies as one of the very very best.
My lunch partner and I had to share everything starting with the hummus and the esme. These were found under the "cold messe" - think appetizer. These were served with the Turkish pita bread which is more similar to focaccia than the pita we buy in the store. Everything here is made from scratch. The humus is as smooth as it gets and has tones of garlic, tahini and chickpeas. The esme is a really unusual dip made of eggplant, peppers, garlic and secret ingredients. You wouldn't know it's eggplant unless you read the menu as it is so finely diced it disappears into the other ingredients. The flavor hints at red peppers but is it's own masterpiece. Augmenting these dishes were beautifully crisp, uniquely flavored falafel; truly the best falafel that either one of us had ever tasted. There is an ingredient in these that makes them so good and yet we could not find out what it was. There is a tahini sauce that comes with the falafel which is tasty but quite unnecessary. Usually falafel are very chickpeaish but these were something else! And, if this wasn't enough we also had an order of lahmacon- a kind of really flat flatbread with a schmear of beef/onion spice mix. To finish the lahmacon there is a salad of pickled onions with sumac, tomatoes and lemon wedges. For those of you unfamiliar with this dish, you tear off a large wedge of the lahmacon, put a nice serving of salad in it and roll it up. Done right it resembles a delicious wrap.
AND NOW FOR DESSERT! There's nothing like it this side of heaven. Kunefe. To say it's a noodle dish is an insult even though really really thin noodles are involved. This is a traditional Turkish dessert made with a thin layer of noodles, a layer of cheese and another thin layer of noodles - this is pan fried in butter until toasty golden brown. Then a honey syrup is poured over in the same manner as a baklava and the dish it topped with chopped pistachios. Heavenly is the only way to describe it. To finish this wonderful meal we had Turkish coffee which was rich and flavorful and served In beautiful little cups. Overall, there was enough food for four people so we each took a doggy bag home
Service was excellent. Rahjat treated us like his own family - warmly and delightful. Ambiance is modern with genuine Turkish chandeliers and mosaic hangings on the wall. The space also has a very modern bar for those who choose to imbibe.
Prices are fair for the amount and quality of food.