Searching among the eclectic storefronts (a Guatemalan eatery here, a gelato shop there) on Roscoe Street on a recent Wednesday evening, we almost missed Turquoise, a 4-month-old Turkish-Mediterranean restaurant burrowed into a condo building.
Contributing to its stealth status is its shunning of so many things Turkish: There’s not a kilim rug, a hookah or a belly dancer in sight.
In fact, with its simple patio, dark wood bar, sleek pendant lighting, bold paintings (one of Buckingham Fountain) and easy-listening soundtrack, Turquoise has a feel that’s more like your average American restaurant and bar.
But looks and sounds can be deceiving. The menu is a celebration of Turkish delights, from the familiar (lentil soup, lamb kabobs, baklava) to the not-so-familiar (sogurme, lakerde, manti, onion kabobs). To lend some variety, according to chef and partner Mustafa Guler, there’s a smattering of non-Turkish dishes–Caesar salad, veal osso bucco, chocolate souffle.
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Sifting through the offerings wasn’t easy, and the menu’s spelling and grammar deficiencies (fettuccina, gorgozola, tuna in white beans dressed, crumpled walnuts) made it even tougher for the two former copy editors at our table.
Still, we persevered, and snacked on sesame-seed-speckled flatbread and grated carrots in a tangy yogurt sauce before deciding to go heavy on the appetizers.
It was a prudent move. First came the sogurme, a wonderfully smoky and garlicky mix of eggplant, yogurt and red pepper topped with toasted walnuts; then a better-than-average bowl of red lentil soup with lots of mint and a bit of a kick. Next was the Zengo Creation (named for Turquoise’s other partner, “Zengo” Shaw Dogan), a hefty, vinaigrette-dressed salad of arugula, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, kalamata olives and slabs of feta (though the menu promised “three cheese”). Finally, the lahmacun, an ultra-thin melt-in-your mouth flatbread spread with a tasty mix of ground beef and vegetables.
But then our entrees arrived, and suddenly a sea of whiteness washed over us.
The adana kabob (chopped and seasoned lamb and beef rolled into two logs) came hidden in a white flour tortilla alongside a lonely grilled pepper, a pile of white rice and a dish of white yogurt sauce–on an off-white plate.
The salt-crust sea bass, whose oversized “potato souffle” (sliced potatoes in a white mayo-cheese-chive sauce) arrived a good 10 minutes before the fish did, was carried into the dining room on a jelly roll pan piled high with salt. With much fanfare, the waiter dribbled the edge of the pile with liquor, set it aflame, broke through the salt crust, fished out some shards of pale sea bass and scraped them onto a plate–no parsley, no lemon, no anything.
Whiteness morphed into blandness.
Perhaps the owners’ desire for “a simple, modern” Turkish restaurant had gone too far. It almost made us wish for a belly dancer to appear.
We ordered dessert, kazandibi, and hoped for the best.
Soon a rectangle of white custard was placed before us, but it was subtlely sweet and smooth, with a generous sprinkling of brown.
Thank goodness for crumpled walnuts.
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Turquoise is at 2147 W. Roscoe St.; 773-549-3523. Open for lunch and dinner Mon.-Sun. Entrees $13.95-$21.95.