Ali Baba’s Terrace in NYC (www.alibabasterrace.com)
Why I thought it would be gross: I thought it was dessert/mountain food, and I’ve never lived by either of those, so I have no idea what they eat there. Also, I don’t really like goat meat (I’ve had it, I lived, but I’m not a fan), and I figured goats were big in Turkey, because of the mountain thing. And Middle Eastern spices are hit or miss with me. As I’ve said before, my reasons are frequently far from logical or based on actual facts.
Ingredients: Vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and eggplant. Spices like parsley, dill, cumin, paprika, and tarragon. Dairy like thick plain yogurt with spices. And meat like gyro (thinly sliced lamb and beef marinated with pretty simple spices like salt, curry powder, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary).
Character: The Turkish food I ate was from the mountainous Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey and has a lot of yogurt to it, features spicy flavors like cumin, and tends to be stew-based. The meats are similar to goulash flavors, the vegetables are often stewed, and the salads taste a lot like dill. The cuisine is a hybrid of mountain and Mediterranean styles.
What I thought: I tried Turkish food at Ali Baba’s Terrace in New York City. My travel mate got a recommendation for this place from the Turkish Embassy, and served as our guide based on his experiences living in Turkey for the vast majority of his life. So, this was a safe place to try something new.
We started out with a few cold appetizers, which included a salad called Gavurdagi Salatasi. This salad consisted of diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, parsley, walnuts, and coated with pomegranate sauce (which is much more concentrated than Pom at the grocery store). I loved this salad! It was a great combination of fresh flavors and sweet, and a little bite to it from the citrusy pomegranate. I wrote down the name just so I could make it at home.
As part of this course, we also were served cacik, which is a yummy homemade yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber, mint and dill. This was particularly good when I dipped my bread in it. The bread was called simit, which is an egg-based bread loaded with sesame seeds and baked until it’s crusty on the outside but really soft on the inside. It reminded me of Italian bread you get in a loaf in the grocery store (or challah, if you’re familiar with that). This combination was great.
Next we tasted some hot appetizers, but I’d prefer to leave judgment of these up to others – they wouldn’t fall into the category of things I liked.
Finally, we moved into the main courses. My favorite was called Iskender Kebab, which is gyro meat (thinly sliced lamb and beef marinated with pretty simple spices like salt, curry powder, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary) served over bread topped with a fresh tomato sauce and a healthy portion of fresh yogurt. It was similar to a burrito or enchilada with gyro meat in it. It was rich in flavor from the spices and the tomatoes and yogurt.
Also, I tried a little bit of my husband’s Raki, which is an unsweetened, anise-flavored spirit that is very popular in Turkey. It’s similar to Ouzo and Sambuca. I really enjoyed the presentation of it. They added a bit of water at the table, which clouded up the drink, and then kept everything cold in a ice bath on the table. No matter how many times I bump into anise (aka: black licorice flavor), it’s always gross to me. This was no different, but I liked the pageantry of it.
Overall, I liked several of the components of our meal. Others I tried and didn’t like as much based on textures or spices. But I continue to feel strongly that I should take every opportunity to try new foods in supportive environments, and am really glad I did. And I have a new salad to show for it!
Resources:
www.turkishfoodandrecipes.com Turkish food from simple recipes in both English and Turkish with pictures.
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