Excellent Beyti Kebap at Istanbul Restaurant in San Carlos

[Melanie Wong]

Last week I stopped by for a bite at Istanbul Restaurant in San Carlos, a new Turkish place that opened two months ago. I’d heard there was a new place in town from Eden’s owner, Chef Vahit Besir.

Istanbul serves lunch and dinner using halal meats and is a full-service restaurant rather than a quick-serve kebap shop. The proprietors also operate a restaurant back home in Istanbul. The executive chef is Bedri Inkaya. Looking at the online menu, I’d been excited that it serves breakfast, as I’d wanted a chance to try a Turkish bagel. Unfortunately, the Turkish breakfast has been discontinued. However, it has just started up a weekend buffet brunch and now has a wine and beer license, so I wanted to post about my solo dinner and hopefully others will give it try soon. I had the window table by the window box of French lavender.
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While I studied the menu, a basket of complimentary warm, house-baked pide was presented. This was accompanied by olives and soft butter sprinkled with a few bits of fresh oregano. Aromatic with the fragrance of yeast and sesame, the refined style of pide is much lighter both in texture and color than I’ve had before in our area.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3448227231

The menu offers a full line-up of cold and hot appetizers. Dining alone, I asked if I could have the Mixed cold appetizer, usually $10.99 for two, as a single serving. My server readily agreed and charged $6.99 for this plate. Starting at the upper left: Ispanak borani (spinach with mixed garlic yogurt), Haydari (thick homemade yogurt with tomatoes, onions, walnuts and spices), Cerkez tavugu (boiled chicken breast marinated with milk, nut and red pepper), Humus (mashed chickpeas, mixed with fresh lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and tahini), Kozlenmis patlican salatasi (charcoal grilled eggplant mashed and lemon juice), and Baba ganouj.
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For a closer look at the mixed cold apps, the most unique was Cerkez tavugu, the poached chicken breast whipped with yogurt and nuts in the upper right hand corner here, between the spinach and the eggplant salad.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3448227177

I was a bit disappointed that baba ganouj, that is not listed on the menu, was part of this plate, especially since it was a bland and quite non-smoky version. I would have preferred a taste of the Muhammara (bulgur, mild and hot pepper marinated with strawberry juice) or Peynir tabagi (feta cheese, cheddar, pepper jack cheese), mostly because this sampler needed some piquancy. Also they’re more unusual offerings, and I’ll be sure to specifiy my preferences next time. The mezes were fine, but none other than the grilled eggplant salad stood out to me. In particular, the Humus was quite pasty and too tart for my taste.

Having a hard time picking an entrée among the many choices, I’d asked how the döner kebap is prepared here, as the krep doner (pancake gyro with béchamel sauce and slice of potatoes) looked interesting. The beef and lamb doner is assembled with slices of beef steak packed with ground lamb. Then my waitress recommended Beyti kebab is the house specialty.

I’m glad I listened to her as the beautiful Beyti kebap, $14.99, here blew me away. Served with grilled tomatoes, tomato sauce and whipped garlic yogurt sauce, one of the things that makes it so special is the delicate housemade lavash wrapping the kebap. The meat was perfectly grilled with a fresh charry fragrance and free-flowing juices that mingled with the sauces on the plate. The menu described it as ground beef, but it had the richness of lamb. I asked my server about it and she confirmed that it has some ground lamb is the mix for extra flavor.
Beyti kebap plate
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3448227173

Taking a closer look at a slice of the Beyti kebap, I can’t say enough about the difference that the fresh lavash makes. Thinner and almost melting in the mouth, the exterior of the lavash wrapper was marked by the grill too. This is a much better version than New Kapadokia’s, for example. It will be even better in the months to come as the quality of our tomatoes improves. This dish was supposed to be served with rice pilaf and grilled veggies. They never came to the table, and I was so taken by the Beyti, I didn’t notice.
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No room or time for dessert, I had to dash off. Next visit for sure, as the baking seems quite competent here. The grilled whole fish is also calling to me. I’m happy to have another Turkish dining choice.
http://www.istanbulsancarlos.com/menu...

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Istanbul Restaurant
1201 Laurel Street, San Carlos, CA 94070

[Melanie Wong]

Website is gone. No longer on Opentable. Phone is disconnected.

[alina555]

Yup, although they are still showing up on Restaurant.com. It's unfortunate because they had real great promise - it just seems like everything that has gone into that corner has failed.

[Oceanlover]

That corner is cursed. But I have a completely different impression of this restaurant and I felt it could not compete with New Kaopedia in RWC that is constantly full. The service was poor and the food quite horrible with dry meat, unimpressive rice and over cooked vegetables. No wonder it closed especially given it's less than popular location.

[Melanie Wong]

That's too bad. I had two lovely meals there with warm and friendly service that far exceeded New Kapadokia. I'm sorry to see it gone.

[Oceanlover]

Sorry to say - this restaurant was awful. The menu is so full of spelling errors that it is hard to really determine the description of the entree. That really is unacceptable. The owner couldn't describe the entrees either with limited English capabiities and therefore what we got was not what we thought.

I had a chicken kebab -- dry cubes of chicken breast with virtually no seasonings. The rice was very "american" in a scoop with a bit of butter and some oversteamed vegetables. My guest had what I think was the doner which was dry strips of beef/lamb - no sauce. The service was disinterested.

With access to New Kaopedia (sp?) in RWC and other Turkish restaurants I would never recommend this restaurant.

[Melanie Wong]

I can understand being disappointed in what you were served, but complaining about spelling errors!?!?

What day of the week were you there? That might help others avoid the same fate. Did you send your food back?

[Oceanlover]

I was there on a Saturday night. The spelling menu errors come in question when the entree description is unable to be interpreted and then the server cannot describe the entree either. This comment has been noted on Yelp as well and just does not seem very professional.
It would have been very difficult to describe to the owner that the food is just not up to par with other like restaurants. I send food back if it is not cooked to my specifications but usually not for just inferior quality which may just be my standards.

[Melanie Wong]

On Cinco de Mayo, I was in the area again at lunch time. I returned to Istanbul planning to order the krep döner, fascinated by the idea of doner kebap wrapped in a thin crepe. At noon, I was the only customer. The chef came out of the kitchen to greet me, and when I asked for the krep doner, he apologized that his meat order was more than a day late and he could not make this. I went back to the menu, and he brought a fresh-out-of-the-oven pide to munch on.

This time a larger, and entire, whole pide, all for me. This was darker in flavor and color than my first visit with a denser texture. It was accompanied by soft butter, feta, and some great black olives seasoned with thyme.
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Then the waitress I’d had before arrived and apologized again for being out of doner. She suggested the Adana kebap, but I explained that I’d made Adana for 50 people on Saturday! I ordered instead the kuru fasulye (lamb with white beans), and she confirmed that the kitchen had the right type of meat for this dish. Meanwhile, I asked for an ayran, and learned from her that it’s made with Berkeley Farms light yogurt, the brand they’ve found has the taste like home.

During a long wait for my food, I could hear what sounded like an argument coming out of the kitchen. Next, my waitress presented me with a casserole dish of guvec and said that it was on the house. She said that the chef was not satisfied with the texture of today’s white beans and could not serve it. She was most apologetic that I could not have my choices. No need, I was pleased to have the guvec, as it’s a dinner-only item here. I am, however, starting to wonder if someone has put an invisible sign written in Turkish on my back that says, “feed her for free”.

The Guvec, veal baked in casserole with eggplant, bell pepper and savories, was deliciously simple. I especially liked the direct taste of the unthickened natural juices. On another day I might find this too bland, but on this cool and gray day, it was quite comforting.
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Some soft, almost sticky rice was served on the side. Quite delicious for catching all the juices of the guvec.
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[foodlover]

Melanie, your recommendations are always right on target. Istanbul was a great discovery, thanks to you. We were the only diners at 7:30, but five others dropped in much later. The beyti was wonderful; so was the iskender. A dining companion had the kuzu pirzola; the eggplant that accompanied it was very flavorful. We let the hostess/server know we had read your review, and she was so grateful for the great comments. She also provided some restaurant recommendations for an upcoming trip to Istanbul. I would really like to try the guvec some time.

[Melanie Wong]

Thanks for giving it a try! The kuzu pirzola (rack of lamb with eggplant) looks fantastic in your photo.

While I'm enjoying the feeling that the chef is cooking just for me, I am concerned about keeping this little spot in business. Hope it picks up some traction and more customers.

Pls do post on the Turkey/Greece board, http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/52 , when you get back from your travels. Would be cool if you had a chance to try the place that Istanbul's owners have at home.

[foodlover]

My thoughts exactly about keeping Istanbul going. It's gems like these that are so vulnerable in the current economy.

Not one word was said about the restaurant they have at home when we solicited recommendations. The wording on the website could be interpreted as they're the former owners of an Istanbul restaurant that's still operating.

Will post when I get back.

Have you tried Hong Kong Saigon Seafood Harbor Restaurant in Sunnyvale? It's off topic, so I'll leave it at that.

[rworange]

Brunch is a $15 AYCE buffet with soup, four hot entrees, cheese, salads, hummus, fruit, three types of bread including the Turkish bagel, four Turkish scones, two desserts and beverage. Sunday 11am - 3pm. Will fill in the details later.

[Melanie Wong]

I almost ended up there today myself, but didn't realize until too close to the ending time.

[rworange]

I got there late myself and was the last one out the door. My eyes were bigger than my tummy and even though I took little bits of everything, I was looking at a whole lot of pastries I only tasted. Hated to ask, but hate to waste food and asked if it was ok to bring them home even if it was a buffet. She was really nice and not only gave me a take out container, she said to help myself to anything left on the table to take with me since I was the last one out. It was very generous but I was soooo full I couldn't even contemplate that ... though right now I'm kind if lamenting I didn't take a few items ... eh, don't need the calories. It really messed with the rest of the day food-wise. For a few hours I didn't even want to look in the direction of restaurants.

[Melanie Wong]

No döner on the buffet?

[alina555]

I was also there this past Sunday at the buffet, after visiting the restaurant for the first time (dinner) earlier in the week. Admittedly, I am very unfamiliar with Turkish food so my initial look at the buffet table was disappointing because I was expecting many more meat dishes, but to my surprise everything I had was extremely tasty. I went back up three times to try out all the different choices. The owner is very sweet but mentioned that she was concerned that people haven't been coming to the location because the Yelp reviews of the previous restaurant tenant were negative. I am hoping this place hangs around - it's definitely on my restaurant rotation list.

[Melanie Wong]

Thanks for the feedback. The evening I was there, I noticed a handwritten vegetarian menu taped to the door. As good as my kabob was, I have really been wishing for more variety in the choices at Turkish places, and I hope this one can deliver on that. More vegetables, an array of baked goods, show what Anatolian cuisine can do besides grill meat.

[rworange]

Yes, it is nice to see different dishes on the menu such as cupra fish or cuvec (veal steak cooked in oven).

I hope when Chowhounds try the place they explore some of the less usual dishes.

Anyway the salad / baked goods part of the menu seemed to be a combination of some of the breakfast offerings along with the cold appetiers section.

There were four types of maffins, a type of Turkish muffin that was sort of a cross of a scone and cookie with a fine crumbly texture.

The Uzumlu Maffin Ken which was listed on the breakfast menu as muffin with grape, reminded me of Sconehenge scones ... by grape they meant raisin.

There was a honey nut (kircbiye?) and another not on the breakfast menu that I'm blanking on. I liked the chocolate maffin the best with a nice cocoa flavor that went well with the aryan yogurt drink.

I think beverages might be included. I expected to be charged for the beverage but when it wasn't on the check, she just said that's ok. Not sure if it was forgotten or just part of the charge.

It was a nice creamy drink without the saltiness of Real Donar. I like the saltier drink better, but for breakfast this worked better with the baked goods.

The Turkish bagels (acma) were like bready German pretzels without the chew ... in bagel form. They seemed to have a nice shiny egg wash and were sprinkled with sesame and poppy seeds. Talking to Bedri (I think) she said that sometimes they have cheese acma

My favorite baked good was item was the pogca, a roll with feta cheese.

They also had halves of flat oval pide, sutlac and kadayif. The pide was thn and chewy. Finally tried sutlac (rice pudding). It was nicely browned on top and more like a creamy custard than a rice pudding. The kadayf ... the baked shredded wheat dissert with walnuts and honey ... had more honey than Real Doner. I liked the dryer, crisper RD version better since I'm not a fan of baklava and this version seemed closer to that in taste and texture ... though with shredded wheat.

The item I liked best of was the mucver which was one of the hot dishes. The other hot items were rice, scrambled egg with greens and kofte.

When I asked what was on the buffet table, the mucver was just described as fried zucchini. I almost didn't try it, then thought, why not. When I stuck my fork in the dish, it came up with a huge, soft fritter. this was quite excellent. It was eggy and oily in a good way like ... well, fritters ... or potato pancakes.

They kofte was good, a ground meat patty topped with a layer of mashed potatoes, thin grilled eggplant, zucchini and tomato speared with a huge toothpick to hold it together.

There was tomato soup which is the one thing I didn't try. I didn't want to fill up on it in the beginning and by time I considered trying some ... I was too full.

The cold buffet had a lot of the Kahvalti Tabag from the breakfast menu - slices of feta, cheddar, jack cheese , sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, jam (Smuckers), honey packets, butter, black olives. There was also a dish of pickled cocktail onions and pickled red cabbage ... yes, cabbage ... I pulled my eyeglasses out, stared at it and chewed on it a while ... pickled red cabbage.

There was also a bowl of yogurt mixed with fresh chopped strawberries, a bowl of raisins, sliced fresh cucumbers, baby spinach leaves, mixed salad greens, cruiets of oil and vinegar and a creamy ranch type dressing.

Completing the buffet was hummus and ispanak borani (spinach with mixed garlic yogurt). The hummus had a nice little garlic kick, but as you mentioned was not a standout. I did like the 'spinach dip' quite a lot.