Turkey!

My friend Rena is hosting an exchange student from Turkey, Lara, so when we decided to catch up over a meal this week, we thought we could cross Turkey off of the list at the same time. 

There are several Turkish restaurants in the area, but Rena has Turkish friends who think that Istanbul Grill in Avon is one of the best. I'm an East Side girl, so the drive to Avon felt like a road trip! But once I got inside, I was happy that I had made the trek. It's a warm, welcoming place full of photographs of Turkish cultural spots complete with explanations of what we're seeing printed underneath. The staff is predominately Turkish and very friendly and attentive. Our water glasses were constantly refilled and plates were cleared away quickly, making room for more and more food! 

The menu had a lot of options and Lara was excited to find so many familiar things from home. The group of four ordered two appetizers - Sigara Boregi and Zucchini Pancakes - for the table to share and a variety of entrees: Chicken Adana Kebab with Yogurt, Lamb Adana Kebab, Iskender Kebab with Yogurt, and Hunkar Begendi, also known as Sultan's Delight. 

Order in, time to research! 

I've decided that I can't go down into my terrible history rabbit hole this time, so it's all going to be interesting facts about Turkey instead. Sometimes I have to save me from myself. 😅

• Turkey is one of the world's earliest permanently settled regions, dating back to 23,000 BC. Recent archaeological excavations of Karain Cave have revealed a plethora of stone and bone tools dating from the Middle Paleolithic Period (a section of the Stone Age).
• Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, is split between two continents, 95% in Asia and 5% in Europe. 
• Oil wrestling is one of the oldest sports in Turkey and is considered the national sport. 
• The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the oldest and largest malls in the world. It dates back to 1455 and consists of 61 streets and over 3,000 shops. 
• Santa Claus comes from Turkey! A monk named St. Nicholas was born in Patara, near modern-day Myra sometime around 280 AD. Admired for his kindness, St. Nicholas was the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best-known St. Nicholas stories is the time he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married. Makes you rethink your Christmas shopping list a little bit now, huh?
• Turkey has the highest bread consumption per person in the world. Bread consumption a year is 440 lb per person. Turkish people eat more than three times their own body weight in bread annually. Bread is an indispensable part of every Turkish meal. This has been true for thousands of years, and it remains the most important component to every meal. It is eaten, whether it is particularly suited to the meal or not.

Now let's eat!

We were given a basket of the aforementioned Turkish bread and a couple dipping sauces to start off our dinner - one was a garlicky yogurt based sauce and the other was a slightly spicy, peppery thin tomato sauce. Both were great accompaniments to the chewy bread. 

The Sigara Boregi were excellent - fried cigar-shaped phyllo pastries stuffed with feta cheese and dill - and the Zucchini Pancakes were hearty and perfectly crisp. The garlic yogurt sauce served with them was a nice way to add a little kick to the fried pancake. 

Hunkar Begendi

I only tried my dish so I can't speak for the others, but the Hunkar Begendi (Sultan's Delight) was excellent. Typically I haven't been wowed by Turkish food because I've usually stuck with kebabs which are great, but still just grilled meat on a stick. This time I decided to branch out and try a different style of dish with the Hunkar Begendi, a saute of tender cubes of lamb, red and green bell peppers in a tomato sauce, served over a creamy bed of pureed eggplant and cheese. The eggplant and cheese puree was like nothing I'd ever had before - creamy, fluffy, cheesy, and packed full of flavor. It was what you want your mashed potatoes and grits to be! The lamb was tender and the peppers and tomato sauce brought some sizzle to the dish. I was happy that it was such a large portion because I knew the leftovers would be excellent. My dining companions all spoke highly of their dishes and Lara said that it tasted like back home. A pretty ringing endorsement! 

Lamb Adana Kebab, top left
Chicken Adana Kabab with Yogurt, bottom left
Lara with her Iskender Kebab with Yogurt, right

Turkish tea, top left
Rice pudding, top right
Baklava, bottom left
Hot Kadyif, bottom right

Even though we all packaged up at least half of our meals, we still opted for dessert and tea. Of course we did! There was Baklava, Sutlac or rice pudding, and Hot Kadayif - shredded wheat stuffed with nuts, topped with sweet syrup. I tried the Sutlac which was creamy and sweet with a nice dusting of cinnamon and the Hot Kadayif which was a really unique texture, but delicious. It tasted a bit like baklava, but with the fun sweet shredded wheat twist. The tea was great, but kept me up until 2am. I'll never learn! 

This was a fun dinner because we were able to discuss Turkish food and culture with Lara while we were eating. She seemed happy to have a taste of home despite the company of three chatty middle-aged ladies!

7 down, 45 to go!

Istanbul Grill
35840 Chester Rd.
Avon, OH 44011
440.937.0733
Website

Operating Hours:
MON | closed
TUES - THURS | 11:00am - 9:30pm
FRI - SAT | 11:00am - 10:30pm
SUN | 11:00am - 9:00pm