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Five of us, Alex, Tammy, Tim, Lon, and I, met at A La Turka A La Turka for some long overdue catching up. Immediately, Lon and Alex were happy about the giant water goblets. I was happy about having a decent amount of light and table space. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find these days.

We started with the Mixed Appetizer Plate, which looks eerily similar to the one at Ali Baba. The Cacik was my favorite, thick and tangy. It seemed stronger than most. The hummus was a bit dry, the White Bean Salad standard. There was two made of eggplant. One was nice and smokey, the other flavored in tomato sauce (Soslu Patlican). The Acili Ezme was great but I wished for a tad more spice. For some reason, I can't remember the Spinach tarator.

There was also a little dish of sauces, possibly given with the bread. The two on the ends were like watery Tzaziki and the one in the middle was a nicely spiced tomato sauce (possbily some meat in there) and oil.

I ordered the Kagit Kebab, which is like lamb stew in parchment paper. I loved the potatoes, waxy not powdery, the lamb was tender, and cooked carrots are not my thing but they fit in here.

Lon ordered Manti, beef dumplings in yogurt, which seemed a little bigger than usual, but otherwise had their usual charm, fresh made dough with little balls of meat.

Tim and Alex were both drawn to the Stuffed Chicken, presented beautifully, but I didn't care for it, for the same reason I rarely like chicken at restaurants: it's just not as moist or as flavorful as other meats. The sauce has flavor, but it's not absorbed all the way into the meat.

Tammy's Chicken Yogurt Kebab on the other hand was moist and flavorful so applause there.

For dessert, we didn't catch any of the names (we really couldn't understand what they were saying) and both desserts were new to us. This one was like milky jello.

We all loved the second dessert and all I can tell you about the name is that it starts with a "Q". It was something similar to mozzarella, covered in chopped angel hair stuff, drizzled with syrup. It's baked so that the cheese is nice and melty. The "crust" topped with chopped nuts added crunch and the syrup creates that perfect combination of sweet and salty.

We washed it down with Turkish coffees and teas.

I can't help but compare A La Turka to Ali Baba, mainly because they have such similar menus. A La Turka is a bit more expensive than Ali Baba, but still perfectly reasonable ($35 per person, including tax and tip). For the most part, the food and atmosphere at A La Turka is better, but the bread at Ali Baba is better, which is pretty important, so I'm a little torn on this one...I think I favor A La Turka though.

posted by Jessica@Foodmayhem at 6:16 PM 8 Comments add a comment

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