The Boston Phoenix
December 2, 2009
-Turkish-and-Mediterranean-Cuisine/
Pasha
Turkish & Mediterranean Cuisine
A fantastically long list of Turkish delights
By ROBERT
NADEAU | December 2, 2009
3.0 Stars
GOLDEN PLATTER: The mixed kebab platter offers a good way to sample
the endless list of entrées. Its beef steak, lamb, and chicken are all
recommended.
Even without enormous evidence, the Nadeau family has decided that
"Turkish food never lets you down." Louise likes to grab lunch
downtown at Boston Kebab House – Maurice prefers Allston’s Saray-
and Stephanie and her school friends enjoy Brookline Family
Restaurant. Now there is newcomer Pasha, a mile or so into Arlington,
which is possibly the best of all. It certainly has the longest menu,
frequently pausing to boast that a dish is unique to this spot. Not
for long, I hope. Not everything is brilliant, but, well, you know,
Turkish food never lets you down.
Meals start with cut-up pieces of that wonderfully soft Turkish
not-so-flatbread with sesame seeds, and small dips of yogurt and nuts
(hidieri)- "spicy mashed vegetables" (acili ezme), sort of a
tomato-onion chutney with pomegranate- and something sour like
cherry vinegar.
These nibbles inspired us to order the mixed appetizer plate ($13.95),
which got us lots more acili ezme ($4.95/à la carte) and hidieri
($4.95), as well as brilliant fresh hummus ($4.95) ground with
cumin. I didn’t like the platter’s smokeless babghannouj ($5.95) so
well, but did enjoy a spicy tabouleh ($5.25) red with pomegranate and
slices of stuffed vine leaves ($5.95) with the real tang of grape
leaves. If you order only one cold appetizer, go with the spicy mashed
vegetables. We also had fried calamari ($8.95), which were fresh, a
little under-fried, and not crisp, but served on lots of salad.
The list of entrées is endless. We covered a key category thoroughly
with the mixed kebab platter ($19.95). What jumped out was the beef
steak ($13.95/à la carte), though the lamb ($15.95) and chicken
($12.95) were right there. Another key morsel was the grilled meatball
($13.95), well-spiced but not to the point of suggesting sausage. A
baby lamb chop ($15.95) was overdone on the mixed platter. The bulgur
pilaf, with a meaty flavor, is the pick of the starch options.
A special our night was kadin budu köfte ($13.95), translated as
"ladies’ thighs meatballs." This is metaphor rather than simile, as
the meat comes in four patties, but is tender and veal colored, made
of ground beef and lamb. It comes garnished with two small balls of
real, medium-grain Turkish rice and salad.
>From an odd menu of pastas, one must not overlook the manti ($13.95),
lamb cigars wrapped in incredibly soft fresh pasta – softer even than
chow fun – in a dual sauce of creamy yogurt and buttery tomato. It
isn’t pretty, and tends to drip on one’s clothes (my clothes, anyway),
but is awfully good eating.
Pasha has a fine selection of Turkish wines among a solid worldwide
list. Although wines from an Islamic country seem unlikely, Turkish
wine has both an ancient history and a newer history that goes back to
the modernizing regimes of the early 20th century. We went for the
most expensive red: Kavaklidere (turkey’s largest winery) Kalecik
Karasi (that’s the grape variety), a $49.95 wine from the hot year of
2005. What the heck? If you’re having your first bottle of Turkish
wine, it might as well be the best they make. Was 2005 as good in
Turkey as it was in Bordeaux? I don’t happen to carry a Turkish
vintage card. I can say with confidence, though, that this bottle
deserves a slight chill. At American room temperature, it has a
terrific cherry aroma, but, perhaps with a lot of oak aging, is a
rather light wine with a little too much alcohol to serve warm.
Turkish coffee ($2.95), served in a cup smaller than some shot
glasses, was intense and delicious. Turkish tea ($1), in a small but
tall glass as my Romanian aunts used to drink it, was excellent- as
was apple-flavored tea ($1), presented similarly. (Political note:
reconciliation is in the air. When we asked our server where to get
Turkish tea for home use, she suggested the Armenian groceries in
Watertown.)
Despite long histories of tea and coffee drinking, Turkey does not
have the sweetest desserts on the planet. Baked rice pudding ($3.95)
is one of the best around, likewise the double piece of baklava
($4.95). Kazandibi ($3.95), a stodgy caramel pudding in my past
experience, was better here, but not as good as the rice pudding.
The room has been hung with fine fabrics and good wall paintings-
one can hardly detect that this space formerly housed a Turkish-owned
sushi bar! A little blond wood and some wave-pattern stucco might be
remnants of that truly odd piece of restaurant history. Why would
someone who eats manti and baklava at home want to operate a sushi
bar? It would be like a Viennese pastry chef running a fish and
chipper in Belfast. Or a Chinese master chef investing in a string of
Kansas pizza parlors.
The servers are clad in red satin vests with gold embroidery- the
background music – sounds like a romantic violin concerto – is
Sufi. The plasma TV doesn’t have American sports- it has a looped
Turkish tourist video with panoramic shots of beaches – no focus on
individual bathers. It takes an old-fashioned attitude to sustain
dishes like "ladies’ thighs meatballs."
Somewhere in a back room, a crate of chopsticks is gathering dust.
Robert Nadeau can be reached at [email protected].