Restaurant review: Cafe Istanbul in Plano

by Chow Hound of McKinneyNews.net

Maybe it was the half dozen eggs Chow Hound ate approximately two hours before he hit the joint. Or maybe the food just wasn’t too terribly good – not bad, mind you, but not too terribly good. Or maybe it’s a brain tumor, a glioblastoma slowly eating away at Chow Hound’s brain stem, taking with it his sense of (good) taste.

Whatever the case – the eggs, the brain tumor, etc. – Chow Hound’s visit to Café Istanbul wasn’t ... well, it wasn’t too terribly good – not bad, mind you ...

Chow Hound likes to think of himself as a worldly sort of dog, a hound who appreciates eating (and thinking and drinking and sleeping) outside the box (the “box” being McKinney) occasionally. So when The Dog heard Café Istanbul (a Turkish joint for those of you who flunked geography in middle school) was dropping a second location in the newish northern portion of The Shops of Legacy (in Plano), he was understandably aroused.

For those who haven’t left McKinney in a while – say two or three years – there’s one of them fancified urban living centers in Plano, featuring, as fancified urban living centers typically will feature, upscale shops and eating (and drinking) establishments. (Isn’t it amazing, BTW, how most of us have allowed ourselves to become so ridiculously easy to entertain? Just throw something to buy or eat in front of our faces and…)

At any rate, one of the newer establishments to plunk down in the middle of all this fanciness is Café Istanbul, the apparent spawn of a Café Istanbul on Lover’s Lane in Dallas. In keeping with the trendy Shops of Legacy trendiness, Istanbul appears to have positioned itself to appeal to the 30+ demographic, those who’ve got enough extra change to walk away from a $55(ish) meal for two (including drinks and tip) without having to call a cardiologist for defibrillation.

The smallish Istanbul’s low lighting and warm wood flooring accompanied by stone walls and dark, wooden tables accented by blue linen napkins – all these work together to establish a rather sedate, calming atmosphere, a place, for instance, to perhaps talk quietly with your significant other. There’s also a very small bar area with several Turkish drink offerings and a substantial wine list.

For dinner, Chow Hound went fairly traditional – and it wasn’t hard to do considering most – if not all – of Istanbul’s offerings were fairly traditional.

The Dog dipped his tongue in a bit of hummus ($5.95) and kalamar (calamari; $8.95) for starters and wound his way through three entrees: Kuzu sis (skewered lamb; $14.95); lahmacun (ground beef Turkish pizza; $4.95); and coban salata (skewered chicken salad; $8.95).

The star attraction of the aforementioned dishes was most certainly the Kuzu sis, a dish that teased Chow Hound’s exceptionally sensitive taste buds with a handful of flavors and textures. The marinated and skewered lamb was tender and red in the middle (medium rare, as it should be) and conveyed a nice charbroiled flavor that, as CH has already alluded to, mixed quite well with the tang of red cabbage, the spice of green pepper, a sweet cherry tomato or two, and a side of rice pilaf – all of which performed ensemble duties with the lamb.

The downer of the evening was the Turkish pizza. CH was expecting something akin to a crispy brick-oven pizza. Instead, this pizza, covered with a (pasty – not in disgusting “pasty,” but in extremely finely ground “pasty”) ground beef and various spices, was disappointingly limp – as in the flatbread was soggy. Who knows? Perhaps Turkish pizza is supposed to be soggy. Whatever the case, CH would have preferred some crunch.

Chow Hound would be remiss not to type a word or two about the appetizers.

The hummus was nice – a bit less bitter than what CH is used to. The calamari was exceptional. Extremely tender and delicately battered, Chow Hound particularly enjoyed the tomato-based spicy sauce that accompanied the fried squid.

Though not on the menu and therefore not ordered by Chow Hound (duh!), fresh, hot lavash was served upon CH’s being seated. The lavash was interesting because it was not the two-dimensional (flat) variety The Dog is used to ingesting. Instead, this oxygen-infused, bulbous, three-dimensional darling arrived puffed up like a steaming football. Very nice.

Finally a word about service. The young lady attending to Chow Hound was nice yet disappointingly vacuous. Questions pertaining to various Café Istanbul dishes – come on, this is a Turkish joint -- were inevitably returned with “I don’t know,” while finished meals sat far too long at the table. To be sure, CH would take nice and relatively clueless over rude and erudite any day. Perhaps the server was new. Maybe that’s why the GM was tailing her around the joint most of the evening.

Chow Hound’s notoriously subjective Milk Bone rating: 2.75 bones out of 5. For those who care, a 2.75 rating would suggest that the joint has potential, but as Chow Hound learned (sorrowfully) years ago, potential don’t pay the bills.