"Interesting" is rarely a good adjective when it comes to food. Most commonly, it comes across fully loaded: When your friend cooks you dinner and you don't have the heart to tell them it's bad or the poker face to lie, "interesting" is the perfect go−to word. In the case of Istanbul'lu, the recently opened Turkish restaurant in Teele Square, however, "interesting" is most certainly a good thing.
The first thing patrons will notice upon entering the nondescript door is the size of the restaurant: Istanbul'lu occupies an extremely intimate (read: small) space, but, because of a clever setup, has a seating capacity of around two dozen. The chartreuse walls are hung with Turkish tapestries and plates, instruments, old illustrations of Istanbul and one menacing sword over the kitchen entrance. The benches that line the walls are colorful and surprisingly comfortable. It's a warm, welcoming space — the perfect setting to dive into a new cuisine.
"For the first time in the state Istanbul'lu is introducing Turkish style home cooking to you." So reads the back of the menu at the small eatery, which is sandwiched between a bar and a Tibetan restaurant on Holland Street. While the validity of this statement is unclear, Turkish food is a relative rarity in the United States, so whether or not it's "the first Turkish style home cooking" in Massachusetts, Istanbul'lu has a lot to offer when it comes to novel dining experiences.
Homemade Turkish bread and an addictively delicious red−pepper dip (red pepper, olive oil and garlic, according to the extremely helpful and friendly wait−staff) come complimentary, but try some Turkish tapas, hot or cold ($5 to $7.50), for starters.
Istanbul'lu offers some well−known classics, like dolma and hummus (each $5), and many tapas that echo the familiar. A plate of haydari ($5.75), a thick yogurt dip with mint, dill, garlic, butter and red pepper, may remind diners of tzatziki, the classic Greek sauce now so commonly found on gyros and souvlaki sandwiches, but it is thicker, tangier and fresher than its Greek cousin. Scooped up with the warm Turkish bread, it's a must−try, although the melted butter drizzled over the top congeals quickly if not mixed in right away.
Patlican salad ($5.50), an eggplant−based dip, sounds like it should be somewhat akin to baba ghanoush, but the amount of garlic overpowers the sweet and smoky roasted eggplant that should be the dish's main star. The çoban salat ($8.75), on the other hand, sounds quite similar to a traditional Greek salad on paper (it features tomato, cucumber, red onion, parsley, scallion and lemon juice), but is far superior.
Istanbul'lu offers brunch, lunch and dinner, and all come at fairly affordable prices.
The brunch menu ($7.00 to $13.50) consists mainly of egg−based dishes. Menemen ($7.50), billed as a "very famous Turkish vegetable omelet," is served in a large skillet and is big enough to share. While in almost no way an omelet in the classical sense, menemen makes a delicious, exciting brunch option: a pile of perfectly cooked scrambled eggs mixed with melted feta cheese, scallions, and sautéed bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions. The texture varies from bite to bite, from the smooth cheese to the crunchy scallion. It's simultaneously hearty and light and incredibly fresh.
The lunch fare ($7.00 to $10.50) is mostly sandwich−based, featuring panini, durum (sandwiches in lavash bread) and ordinary sandwiches on homemade bread. While most of the sandwiches sound similar, and again, somewhat familiar, be careful what you order: Unfamiliar ingredients, while exciting, can lead to disappointment. The Yengen panini ($9.00), for example, features sucuk, Turkish pastrami, kasar and roasted peppers.
Turks and serious foodies may be familiar with all of the aforementioned ingredients, but to the layman it might sound daunting. Sucuk is a traditional dry−sausage (a bit of an acquired taste), Turkish pastrami is nothing like Jewish pastrami, and kasar is a soft, unpasteurized sheep−milk cheese. Together in a squashed panini, the results are somewhat disappointing.
Dinner fare ($13.00 to $18.00) is no different, or less interesting, than the brunch and lunch options. The beyti kebab ($17.50) is a ground−lamb kebab served with lavash bread and a tomato−yogurt sauce, but it's not at all what it sounds like. The yogurt sauce is basically the creamy, tangy yogurt used in the haydari, and the seasoning of the kebab is foreign and hard to place. The result is fascinating: There is nothing quite like it in any typical Americanized food.
While a variety of desserts are available, the only thing necessary to close a meal at Istanbul'lu (and it's so good it should be required) is a cup of Turkish coffee ($3.75), prepared the right way — sludgy and just this side of cloyingly sweet.
While there are a few minor drawbacks to Istanbul'lu — there is, for example, far too much garlic in many of the dishes, which is a criticism I personally never thought I could levy at any food, and it rules it out as a good date spot — it's clear that this is real, authentic Turkish food. Those looking for something other than the usual bastardized Asian, Mexican or Italian food so prevalent around Tufts' campus could do much worse than a meal at Istanbul'lu, the most interesting restaurant in Teele Square.
