Yael D.
Yelp
From the instant I set foot in this spot, I felt transported to a quaint, joyous village far, far away. Now that joyous bit was no doubt fueled by the BYO vodka I spied on a number tables. But Village Cafe, indeed:
Anyway, Eggplant Salad was like a chunky baba ganouj, sans tahini. It had a lovely smokiness, but wish it had been served at room temperature, rather than cold. Greek Salad, boasted some gorgeous tomatoes. Too bad the kitchen used canned ripe olives instead of kalamatas.:(
Ground Lamb Luyla Kabob reminded me of Turkish Adana, but each meat disk was wrapped in what looked very much like a piece of flour tortilla. Lamb Ribs were mostly fat and bone so wasn't a huge fan. Chicken Kabab was tender and juicy, though.
Ka-Bob-Ing for Information. What you need to know:
Lamb here was unabashedly rich and fatty. It also straddled the line, almost crossing over into so gamey it tasted like the mutton Jerry hid in his napkin on Seinfeld territory. But not quite. I liked the shamelessly lamby flavor but know it's a polarizing taste so am letting y'all know.
We also ordered Kutaby, aka savory stuffed pancakes. Full-flavored Lamb was my favorite, with Chicken tasting downright meek in comparison. The Greens-Filled Kutaby was interesting and in fact, hubby asked our server exactly what it consisted of since we couldn't pinpoint the flavor. "The kitchen combines all the greens we have, like spinach, lettuce, mint, and cilantro, " he explained.
For dessert, we tried Mutaki, which is sort of like nut-filled rugelach. Our server told us it was good for people who don't like sweet desserts, but this was downright bland. I think this pastry is traditionally supposed to include cardamom, but alas I tasted none, or much of anything else, in this rendition.
Service here was so charming that instead of getting p.o.'ed when our two requests for an ice bucket for our BYO white wine went unfulfilled, we shrugged it off and rigged a hack using our water pitcher instead. It was just so hard to get annoyed with such otherwise warm and attentive service.
I love a restaurant that makes me think about what I'm eating. In a good way, mind you. And this one got me all curious about Baku cuisine. Alas, am not sure if we ordered right since overall, I came away feeling like Taci's Beyti across the street does Kabobs and Salad better. I'd like to return here, though, to explore other menu items like Chicken Tabaka and the dumplings I saw going by to other tables.
Word to the wise: This place was PACKED on a Saturday night. We got the last available table but had to vacate it within an hour for another party because we showed up on the fly, without reservations. Learn from our mistake, people.