Anatolia

Yesterday, of course, was September 11. Unlike the past eight September 11's since the 9/11, it was not really a day of somber memorials and sober reflection, so much as a day filled with argument and controversy over the role of Islam in our political and cultural life.

It was thus perhaps ironic that my wife and I decided to go to the Anatolia restaurant in Waterbury for lunch (it was also an absolute coincidence as we were planning to go there last weekend but something came up). For those that don't know, for several centuries the Muslim Turks were the bane of Christian Europe, ending the Byzantine Empire in 1453, overrunning Greece, the Balkans, and most of Hungary in the 15th and 16th centuries, besieging Malta in 1565, and literally reaching the gates of Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683. Yet, Turkey now is a member of NATO, one of our strongest allies in the Muslim world, and it is perhaps the most westernized of all Muslim nations besides Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia (themselves legacies of several hundred years of Turkish dominance in the Balkans).

Yesterday, however, was for us not a day of politics, or for history, but for food; delicious Turkish food. We have been to the Anatolia a few times before with very good results and yesterday was no different.

Not surprisingly, Turkish food bears a great resemblance to the type of food you'd associate with Middle Eastern or Lebanese cooking, and there are also a lot of common elements with Greek cuisine, notwithstanding the longstanding tense (often worse) relations between the two countries. That said, it does have a style and flavor all its own.

One of the key elements in Turkish cuisine is sumac, a spice derived from a number of different but related red flowering plants (the word sumac being derived from Medieval French, Latin, Arabic, and Syrian words for "red"). You'll find sumac in Turkish, Iranian, and Arab, and other Middle Eastern cuisines and it adds a lemony taste to the foods it garnishes. Several of Anatolia's dishes have sumac in them and every table has sumac which you can sprinkle on to your food.

Yesterday we started with an order of Dolma ($7.50), or stuffed leaves, and the large cold mixed appetizer plate ($15.95), which is an Anatolia special, and almost a meal in and of itself. The Dolma were fantastic (my wife said the best she'd ever had). They were stuffed with seasoned rice and a thin paste that tasted like it had been made from dates. The sweetness of the dates, contrasted with the rice and leaves very well, and the mixture of textures was an added plus.

The mixed appetizer plate is one of the best appetizers you will have anywhere in Connecticut. It consists of a very large plate covered with a different number of dishes; humas, baba ghanoush (mashed, seasoned eggplant), kisir (cracked wheat, tomatoes, scallions, parsley and sumac); ispanak (spinach, garlic, and onions with yogurt); shaksuka (or meneman, consisting of eggs, tomatoes, onions, green pepper and spices); antep ezine (onions, red and green peppers, garlic, walnut, and spices); and haydari (a yogurt dip flavored with walnut).

The plate also comes with a generous portion of crispy bread which appeared to be ekmegi, which is a wheat based bread glazed with yogurt and sesame seeds. The bread is used to dip, and to spread the various dishes, and its texture and consistency offsets the different dishes very well.

It really is hard to describe how good this plate is, because there are so many different flavors and textures, but it really is quite fantastic and the portions are more than generous. It is also a great way to sample a bunch of different traditional Turkish dishes, so that alone would make it worth a try.

For dinner I had the iskander kabab ($14.95) which is seasoned lamb and veal in a tomato sauce with yogurt over fried bread. You also get about 1/4 of a roasted tomato, which makes a nice garnish. The different textures alone make it a fun dish (crunch bread, chewy meat, and smooth yogurt and tomato sauce) and the different flavors are great (especially because the fried bread soaks up the different favors). In fact, my wife and I have had a few different entrees and we both agree that this is the best on the menu (I can't take credit for a better menu choice this week. My wife suggested I have the iskander kabab because we both knew how good it is and she agreed to try the manti because we've never had that before).

My wife decided to try the manti ($12.95) which is a traditional turkish pasta consisting of tiny (smaller than a dime) dumplings with lamb, with garlic, sumac, and red pepper, served with a tomato sauce and yogurt. Her dinner was very good, but it was extremely rich because manti is cooked in butter, a lot of butter. In fact, if you are not used to (or don't like) very rich foods, the manti may not be for you. Still, it was very tasty and a solid choice.

To drink, my wife opted for club soda, but I had an authentic Turkish apricot juice ($2.00). It was super sweet and delicious, but probably not for people that don't like very sweet foods and drinks.

For desert, I had the stutlac, or rice pudding ($4.75), which was a solid choice, but not particularly exciting. My wife had the sekerpare ($4.75) a pastry made from semolina flour, almonds, sugar, and eggs. The consistency is like those old stella doro cookies, but the taste is much, much better, though it is a pretty subtle desert that doesn't smash you over the head with sweetness or flavor.

My wife also had Turkish tea ($1.50) while I had Turkish coffee ($2.50). If you have never had Turkish coffee you ought to try it, especially if you like strong coffee. That said, Turkish coffee is very, very strong stuff (about twice as strong as what we would consider espresso) and served very, very hot so beware, it is for sipping, not for drinking and certainly not for gulping.

Ironically, like Ichiban last week, Anatolia is in what used to be a Friendly Ice Cream, so it is another good example of how small businesses can thrive in an urban environment when chains can't (or won't). The place is clean, neat, and well organized and the staff is friendly and very hard-working (I think most people would consider it understaffed, but the service doesn't suffer a bit).

I am not expert in Turkish food, so I can't say for sure how authentic the cooking is, but I know Anatolia is owned by a Turk (Mahsun Yigit) who does all the cooking, there is a TV in the back of restaurant toward the kitchen which always seems to be playing a soccer match from what appears to be the Turkish professional league, and I have always seen at least one group of Turks eating whenever I have been in Anatolia (including a large extended family of about a dozen yesterday), so my guess is, it is pretty darn authentic. I do know for sure, however, that it is a very good little restaurant and that my wife and I will keep going there.

Bottom line - Anatolia is another good ethnic restaurant that is reasonably priced that won't stretch your wallet but which will stretch your palette, even if a lot of the food has elements which are pretty familiar. Those are all good things, so check it out.

Anatolia doesn't have a website, but here are links to directions and reviews, including a reasonably favorable review from the New York Times - http://www.yelp.com/biz/anatolia-restaurant-waterbury; http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/491314; http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2008/01/24/lifestyle/guide_to_dining/311568.txt; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/nyregion/17dinect.html