Turkish Meze

The other day was my birthday. I fondly recalled the one when we lived in Antibes. We drove to St. Paul de Vence to have dinner at La Colombe d’Or, the restaurant we liked so much, it became the model for our subsequent Provençal restaurant in New York. As usual, we ordered their hors d’oeuvre--an opulent spread of small dishes, served on ceramics from nearby Valloris, the town put on the map by Picasso.

I decided to celebrate this birthday serving small entrées at home. Instead of French hors-d’oeuvre, I opted for a Turkish meze from nearby Beyoglu restaurant.*

Menu

Patlican Domates Soslu
Pan-fried cubes of eggplant topped with sautéed fresh tomato
Canick
Thick homemade yogurt with cucumber and garlic
Arnavut Cigeri
Pan fried calf’s liver
Sucuk Izgara
Cumin and garlic spiced cured beef
Naan
Wine: Willm Pinot Gris 2008

To copy La Colombe d’Or’s presentation, I put the various dishes on small, white china bought in Chinatown.

The eggplant dish tasted like a top ratatouille; the yogurt dish was thick and creamy, and most refreshing; as requested, the calf’s liver was cooked medium rare and delicately spiced. The cured beef turned out to be a grilled, thickly sliced, spicy sausage. Not quite what we had expected. Obviously an acquired taste which we hadn't as yet acquired.

Of course, I had bought way too much. The Alsatian Pinot Gris went well with the food.
All told, it was a lovely meal.

*Beyoglu, (212) 650-0850
Third Ave. & 81st Street