Turkish Cuisine at Beyoglu

I'm sitting in my room right now after running home in the torrential downpour and wind.  I almost ran into a dude on a bike, who I'm sure cursed at me in some language.  In any case, I only have a cup of hot tea to keep me company, but I'm thankful that I'm dry now and inside where it's warm.  

Since it's too late to cook and since I'm pooped I'll talk about a delicious meal that I had yesterday at Beyoglu with my friend Patrick.  Beyoglu is basically my standby restaurant when I'm meeting someone on the Upper East Side for anything artsy fartsy (the Met, the Neue Galerie, or the Whitney to name a few).    It never fails.  It's a Turkish restaurant named after an area of Istanbul where there are a ton of consulates and quite a bit of shopping.  How do I know this?  I went to Turkey a few years ago and stayed a hotel in that area.  Here's a picture of the inside of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul for reference:

Beautiful isn't it?  Well, Turkish food is just as wonderful as the architecture.  Beyoglu, the restaurant, always makes me remember my trip and it never really fails to deliver.  

In terms of our meal last night, it first started off with a home-made pita bread which instead of being flat like I'm accustomed to in my Greek/Egyptian neighborhood, is dome-shaped.  As an appetizer they had manti as a special, which I enthusiastically ordered.  If you've never had manti, you really need to do yourself a favor and try some whenever you get a chance.  They are small, meat-filled dumplings covered with yogurt and a little bit of oil.  I know what you're thinking, you're thinking what kind of combination is that?  But no, it's really one of my favorite appetizers.  I've even had it courtesy of my friend's mom who is from Afghanistan, so I guess it's not a strictly Turkish dish.  

Here's the before:

And after:

Pretty soon afterward, in between five refills of water (talk about an attentive waitstaff), the main courses arrived.  Patrick had the doner kebab which consisted of thin slices of lamb and beef over rice pilaf accompanied by potatoes and sliced tomatoes.  I've had this dish in the past and my favorite part is when the fat from the lamb and beef combine with the rice pilaf, which itself is made with chicken broth and a bit of butter.  (Fat heaven!)   Patrick's response to his dish was, "This is really good!"

While, I myself wanted the doner kebab, I have a thing against everyone at the table ordering the same thing.  It just strikes me as boring and pointless.  (Variety is the spice of life!)  Therefore I decided to branch out and get the moussaka, which after a bit of googling seems to be more Greek than Turkish (but hey those, two countries are adjacent to each other, so I guess there's a lot of borrowing involved).  Moussaka in our waiter's words is a dish of chopped eggplant, ground beef and tomato sauce, which is then covered in cheese and baked.  I guess if I were to compare it to something, I'd say that if eggplant parmesan and lasagna mated, moussaka would be the love child.

Afterwards, Patrick and I were stuffed.  Turkish food, in my limited experience, tends to be filling if not overwhelming at times and our meal was no exception.  Tomorrow I may try to attempt making manti, if I can get my act together.   Stay tuned, friends!