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Food in Turkey, one of my favorite subjects!! In Istanbul, it's kind of hard to go too far wrong as long as you stay away from the most touristy places. My reccomendations would be: Develi - a kebab house not far from the main tourist area of the city. Steve Raichlen chose it as one of his 10 favorite grill restaurants in the world. I was duly impressed Tugra in the Ciragan Palace Hotel - pretty much the ultimate for high end Ottoman/Turkish food. The meal I had there was spectacular both in terms of the food and the setting. It's expensive by Turkish standards, but not by American. One warning: avoid the chicken desert at all costs Pandeli in the Spice Market - very good food and good place to stop for lunch. There's also a lot of good street (or boat) food in Istanbul. Down on the waterfront you will see fishermen selling grilled mackerel and other fish from their boats. It's great! Over in the Beyoglu district (accross the Golden Horn) there are a couple large markets that have a variety of great food to offer. If you're going to travel along the coast, try to stop in Dalyan in the southwest. It's a really interesting little town that hasn't been overrun by tourists (yet). There are some really great fish restaurants there along the river. Near the center of town there is a completely non-descript place that serves the best lamb sandwiches ever. Look for line of locals out the door at lunch time. Have a great time!!

My brother-in-law taught me a good trick to achieve the desired crispy skin. It sounds scary, but you crank the oven up to about 500 and put the chicken in for 15-20 minutes, then turn it down to about 300 'til its done. You need to have a good exhaust fan to avoid smoking up you kitchen though.

mam....Didn't realize that they had gone back to the buffet format. They were doing a very limited buffet w/breakfast entrees to order for a while. Too bad they switched back. Had a pretty good dinner there not too long ago.

BH...Have you tried the Edgewater restaurant ('5-7' or '6-7', can't remember) since they redid it? Both the decor and food was significantly upgraded I think. They added outdoor seating, which had been sorely lacking. Don't know that they're going to win any awards, but if you're looking for a place to have a good meal with a killer view, its hard to beat. BTW....I think the food, brunch and otherwise, is signficantly better than Salty's.

There's been a disquieting lull for the last couple days, so I thought I would throw this out. Hopefully there are others that like going out for brunch.... I'm a sucker for buffet brunches, but too often run into tables-full of mediocrity. A couple weeks ago I went to the Calcutta Grill at the Golf Club at Newcastle because my wife had a gift certificate. It was great!, and the view can't be beat. The regular price is about ~$25, which I don't think is too bad given the spread they have. Some of the highlights were sushi (rolls), the carving station and an fantastic desert selection. For non-buffet type brunches, I like both Maximilien and Cafe Campagne a lot. Other fav brunch spots??

I think we should just start referring to gc as 'The Food Oracle of South King County'. I used to think I knew something on the subject, but damn!

There seems to be dueling Asian grocery threads going on which confuses and frightens me, but then I again, I'm just a simple caveman..... Number one Asian grocery item of all time: dried wasabi peas baybee!!! I can, and do, eat them by the bucket-full. My wife thinks I'm lucky to have any mucus membrane left inside my head.... I see that BH mentioned Viet Wah as her fav Asian grocery. Have you been to the SUPER Viet Wah down on MLK?? They have it ALL, and cheaper than Uwaji's...

Although not strictly Indian (more Pakistani/Middle Eastern), the Souk at Pike Place Market has some good stuff, including most of the spices that you would need for Indian cooking (different curries, garam masala, etc.). They also have naan and those pancake cracker type things I can't remember the name of......

Yes, its pretty ubiquitous. There were a couple surprising and disapointing food things in Turkey: a serious lack of good pida and good humus. For example, I'd say the humus at A La Turca was much better than anything I had over there. On the other hand, the Turks are magicians with eggplant and the babganouj is just over the top! Maybe my favorite meze I had was thinly sliced eggplant fried with feta on top....

OK, I'm a moron. I failed to realize that Pacific Crest and HITW BBQ were one-in-the-same place. I have been there and really enjoyed it. It ticks me off a little that they close so early though. Its very convenient for me, just have to roll down the hill.....

mamster....Good review of A La Turca in the times today. I thought your comments about the quote on the front of the menu were funny. It does raise expectations to perhaps too high of a level for what the place actually delivers. You're right about portion sizes being kind of wacky too. I have to say that the idea of Turkish food being one of world's great cuisines makes a lot more sense when eating in Turkey. I had what was definately one of the 5 best meals of my life at the Ciragan Palace Hotel in Istanbul overlooking the Bosphorus. It was epic. Also, the consistent quality of food there across price levels rivals any country I've been to.

I go to Rascal's pretty frequently and haven't run into any over the top testosterone type scenes. Wonder if you're thinking of some other place (Funsters, maybe?). Rascal's (on Des Moines Mem Drive) is really low-key for the most part and the restaurant is completely separate from the casino/bar area. Most patrons are seniors, couples or families. The worst I can say is they have some pretty bad bands playing occasionally. Yes, the ribs!! Extremely good, except for an occasional hiccup. They also have an entire Chinese menu, most of which is very solid. Haven't been to Pacific Crest (where is it?), have been to HITW BBQ which I thought was good. Their beer isn't bad either. I have to say that your term "South End White Trash", seems somewhat redundant to me. On a totally different south end dining subject.....do you know if Le Bonaparte in Des Moines is kaput? Tried calling them a couple weeks ago with no luck. Too bad if they are, always thought it was a nice little place....

A couple of friends of mine went to India a while back and they had an interesting observation on the food. First and foremost was that unless you went to a relatively expensive restaurant, the food was not as good as Indian food here because the quality of the ingredients is generally pretty poot. The other is that India is so vast, that it doesn't make much sense to talk about 'Indian' food the way most of us do. Just as with a place like China or even Italy, apparently there is incredible regional diversity.

This is so juvenile, but I just cant' help myself. An Asian grocery opened in my neighborhood (Boulevard Park) a few months ago. The name.....Hung Lo. I $#!^ you not.

GC....Its starting to sound like you and I should collaborate on a review of dining on the South Siyeed! An unlikely place that I think has very good food in general and at times truly great steaks and prime rib is Rascal's Casino. No, really! Have you ever tried it GC? You seem to have been every where else on the south end...... I concur with you observations about the atmo at Spencer's. I think part of it is the decorating choices of the entire hotel. Someone got a little to creative and ceiling in the restaurant is a bad joke, kind of like Wyland does his version of the Sistine Chapel. I try not to look up with my mouth full.....

Schielke...I'm with you in feeling that, for the price, the big steak places don't give me great satisfaction. It seems like there are other places where you can get a steak for half the price that is much more than half as good. For the times that I do have a jones for a high-end steak experience, I really like Spencer's at the SeaTac Hilton (yes, you read that correctly, both times). For me, the quality is right there with the Met and the others and, while not inexpensive by any means, it is a little more gentle with you wallet.......

I probably should leave this to an actual chef to answer, but incomplete knowledge never stopped me before..... My understanding is that high end steak places have access to a higher grade of beef than you ever see in most grocery stores for starters. They also have broilers that get much hotter than anything that mere mortals have at home which allows them to create the crusty outside, while the inside stays juicy. One trick I learned to approximate the finish they put on steaks is to get a frying pan really hot, drop a thick steak in for a couple minutes and then put the whole pan into a 400 degree oven until its done.

I had some pretty good local wine when I was in Turkey, but it was a different producer (Villa Doluca) than what A La Turca carries. My wife tried one of the whites, which wasn't too exciting. The other big difference being that it is dirt cheap in Turkey and I think the bottles at A La Turca were running ~$32. I understand why, but it doesn't make them very competitive. I noticed they also had Turkish beer: Efes Pilsner, which I'm sure tastes better sitting in Istanbul than it does here....

I'm far from being an officianado on Indian food, but I've really enjoyed the meals I've had at Chutney's, both on Cap Hill & Lower Queen Anne. They are somewhat meat-centric, but do have a vegetarian section on their menus if I remember correctly.....

Definately pricier than Bistro Antalya, but also more of real dining experience. Still very reasonable give the type and quality of food that is offered I think...

And here I thought I was introducing something off the beaten path!... I'm anxious to read your review mamster. One question, did you summon up the courage to try the Turkish wine?...

BH....I've been to Ephesus a couple times in the last six months. I agree that the bruchetta is very nice, although not particularly Turkish perhaps... I like their humus for the same reason that I liked A La Turca's, you don't get beaten over the head with the garlic. I find that their kebabs can be a little uneven, but generally good. I'm a big fan of their rice pilaf (don't want to know how much butter they use) and my sister claims to be addicted to the roasted eggplant...

Let me start by saying that I LOVE Middle Eastern (ME) food in general and Turkish food in particular, so I was very excited when I first stumbled accross the web page for a relatively new (open <1year) Turkish restaurant in the area. The paucity of good ME food in the Seattle area is perhaps my biggest source of culinary discontentment. We do such a good job covering most of the bases, but have this one gaping hole. Granted, there are some good places such as Ephesus, Mediterranean Kitchen, Karam's, Cafe Paloma & Bistro Antalya (RIP?), but even these places typically either offer only a limited menu or sell out to 'pan-Mediterranean-ism'. Further investigation revealed that said restaurant, A La Turca Cafe & Grill, was actually in Renton of all places, and not just in Renton, but SE Renton (read: might as well be Kent). But hey, their menu looked great and I'll try any Turkish place at least once....... So Saturday night, my wife and set out for A La Turca with high hopes. Soon we discovered that not only is it in SE Renton, but its in a strip mall. Two strikes and I'm not even through the door yet. When we enter, the hostess guesses, correctly, who we are. I'm impressed by this, since the restaurant in nearly full, but maybe we were the only 7:30 reservation. The space is decorated with kilim and Turkish copper-wear, but still looks like a restaurant in a strip mall somehow. The menu is a treat, full of Turkish specialties that I hadn't found outside of Turkey. We start with some meze (appetizers): humus, calamari and mucver (shredded zuchinni fritters). The humus was excellent, particularly if you like your humus to not be completely dominated by the garlic, this one allowed the flavors of the beans and tahini to come through nicely. The calamari itself was good, but the sauce, a garlic cream something or other, was truly exceptional. Isn't that what matters with calamari after all? The mucver nice and crisp on the outside, but a bit soggy in the middle. If you've had mucver at Bistro Antalya, A La Turca's is much thicker and softer. The biggest disappointment is that there are so many other meze that we couldn't try, at least on this visit. I'm also thrilled that they have raki, a traditional Turkish drink similar to Sambuca or Pernod, that I became addicted to when I was in Turkey. For the truly adventurous, they also have Turkish wines on the menu. For our entree, my wife and I shared the mixed grill which consisted of small portions of sis kebab, doner kebab, sis tavuk (chicken) and kofte (grilled ground lamb). The sis kebab was disapointing, but the other selections were all excellent. In fact, I thought the quality of the doner was very comparable to Bistro Antalya. For dessert I chose baklava, always a dicey proposition for me since I'm usually disappointed. This rendition, for my taste at least, was near perfect; a fine balance of the sweetness from the honey and nuttiness from the walnuts. Definately the best I've had in a long time. Dessert was accompanied by the traditional demitasse of mud, uhhh, Turkish Coffee. Overall I was very satisfied, especially given the reasonable prices and friendly service. If you enjoy Turkish food, I think A La Turca is definately worth a trip. This could be a whole thread topic unto itself, but if anyone knows of ME places in the area that they think are good, I'd love to hear about them. I still hope that some day someone will open a high-end ME/Turkish restaurant in town.

BH, that's not good news about Abe's Place. Haven't been there for a while, but if he's out of business, then my two favorite sandwich places (Bistro Antalya being the other) are both out of business! I'm trying a new Turkish place in Renton tonight and will provide details later.....

Cassis has been one of my faves for some time. I ate there recently after not visting for quite a while (moved off Cap Hill a couple years ago). I thought it was still great! My wife had the cassoulet and, as Mamster said, it is pretty fantastic. I'd prefer more beans and less meat, but that's splitting hairs. I had the lamb shank which was also excellent. Dessert was the chocolate marquise, which should be illegal. Cassis is particlularly good if you like to try interesting pates and other charcuterie. They make there own for the most part and come up with some pretty interesting stuff. On my last visit it was venison pate, maybe not my favorite ever, but definately worth a try. We also had the mussels, which were done in a typcial French style and were very good.