✭✭✭1/2
Review: A la Turca in Hollywood
By Judith Stocks, Sun Sentinel
Important: This article was last updated on March 19, 2010. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.
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 2027 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood 954-925-5900 myalaturca.com Cuisine: Turkish/Mediterranean Cost: inexpensive to moderate Hours: lunch, dinner daily Reservations: advised for weekends Credit cards: AE, D, MC, V Bar: beer, wine Sound level: quiet to moderate Outside smoking: yes For kids: boosters; high chairs; menu Wheelchair accessible: yes  |
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First Impression: Flavor is cooked into every morsel and almost everything is easy on the wallet.Ambience: Beautiful Turkish pottery decorates the warm orange and brown dining room set with wrap-around booths and wood tables. The lighting is a touch too bright. Sit outdoors on a balmy night.
Starters: Even if dishes such as pastirma, piyaz, mucver and ezme are unfamiliar, they are among the most visually tempting appetizers or mezze you'll ever see. Pastirma ($7.95) is a velvety hummus garnished with wafer thin, herb dusted Turkish cured beef. Piyaz ($4.95) is a cold white kidney bean salad. Mucver are zucchini pancakes frizzled from heat at the edges for $5.95 and ezme is agreeably spicy, finely minced roasted red peppers, tomatoes and onions at $5.95, meant to be mopped up with the delicious pita.
Entree excellence: Bring your appetite and dig into the a la Turca, a $39.95 feast that easily feeds four if you order appetizers first. The feast includes: kofte (char-grilled ground beef flavored with Turkish spices); crusty doner kabob (shaved ground lamb, beef and veal cooked on a vertical skewer); rosy centered rib lamb chops and adana kebab (lightly spicy finely chopped lamb cooked over open flames). Ask for the doner meat with browned butter poured on at the last minute; it's addictive. Turkish guvech ($14.95) — a casserole of lamb, chicken, shrimp or eggplant — is enhanced by fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and bell peppers. We sampled ours with small but perfectly cooked shrimp. Spend $11.95 for great falafel, fried crispy brown on the outside, tender and fragrant inside, paired with hummus, tabouleh and smoky eggplant salad.
Sweet!: Kunefe ($7) is a delicately crunchy shredded phyllo nest with chopped pistachios and a Turkish cheese filling similar to mozzarella. Cinnamon dusted milk pudding ($6) melts in your mouth with custardy goodness. Wash them down with potent Turkish coffee ($3) in traditional lidded silver cups.
Service: Flows warmly, efficiently and thoughtfully.
Dining deal: Visit 4-7 p.m. any day and all mezze, beer and wine is two for one.
Contact dining correspondent Judith Stocks at judithstocksreviews@yahoo.com