Tracey A.
Yelp
We were hell-bent on finding a unique restaurant for Manhattan vacation day one and waltzed down 2nd Avenue at 9:30 p.m. checking out the offerings. This place, with it's odd name and cozy, fun ambience (marble-topped tables and silver stars swinging from the tin ceiling), caught our attention. A quick look-up on the Yelp app confirmed that we were about to enjoy some good Turkish food, whatever that was.
The appetizer section of the menu included a notation reading "mixed appetizer platter is available upon request" and my decision to order it represented my second really good decision of this vacation (the first was my choice of accommodations). The mixed appetizer platter, which we ordered for 3, was a humungous plateful of deliciosity, a photo of which I previously posted. The fresh flavors of hummus, white beans, tzatziki, eggplant, grains, and pastry sticks filled with oozy hot cheese was an explosion of flavors, each more enticing than the last. Everything on the platter went together beautifully (with Turkish red wine), and left my taste buds dancing.
So satisfying was that platter (which turned out to be $31 for 3) that we probably should have skipped the entrees and gone straight to desert but we did not. The entrees were good, but couldn't compete with the excellence of that appetizer platter: We sampled a Lamb special, Eggplant Moussaka, and Manti (house made dumplings in a garlic yogurt sauce that was good but too much of a single flavor).
I've since learned that this restaurant is owned by chef Orhan Yegen, a somewhat notorious character about whom many people hold strong opinions (think Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi"). Their Hot Yogurt Soup, a couple years back, was listed among the top 50 NYC soups by New York Magazine, which also described a foolproof way to order at Sip Sak: "the appetizer sampler, followed by the invariably lamb-based special of the day".
I'll go them one better and suggest starting with some Turkish wine, moving onto that memorably wonderful appetizer platter, and closing out with either more wine or a small dessert. No entree is even needed.