from the boston globe (8/8/2008)
It takes hours to prepare, but chef Osman Kiranoglu’s oven-baked Turkish sutlac is worth the wait. He boils the mixture of Turkish broken rice and cream twice, then bakes it in a clay pot in a hot oven. The result is a deeply rich, custardy, vanilla-flavored treat with a crunchy creme bruleelike burnt crust. Even cold, which is how it’s sold (in generously sized containers), this is classic comfort food. Bottom line, it's seductive and sophisticated. A luscious way to end a picnic at nearby Post Office Square park.
from the boston globe (8/10/2006)
Long before the nearby Financial District rubs the sleep from its eyes each morning, Osman Kiranoglu has already spent hours in his restaurant kitchen. Every day, there’s yogurt to be made, marinades to be spiced, herbs to be chopped, and so much more. In other words, this is a chef obsessed with cooking from scratch. But you have to walk into Boston Kebab House and order to know it.
After a friend tipped us off to the House’s ‘‘excellent, juicy, really nicely seasoned kebabs,’’ we found ourselves entering, well, a sub shop. Boston Kebab House took over the Bull Market Deli in February. But instead of replacing it, they just scooted the deli to the left side of the cafeteria-style food line inside and made room for their own menu on the right. And it’s the right side where things get interesting.
Here, Kiranoglu serves up the foods of his Turkish homeland, and the kebabs are as good as they get. Lamb shish kebab (all kebabs $7.95 plate, $5.95 sandwich) came as juicy cubes of grilled meat piquant with the taste of hot and sweet Turkish pepper pastes. Kofte kebabs (lamb meatballs, spicy with cumin, mint, and thyme) unleashed meaty juices and a nice kick of chili pepper with each bite.
Yes, they serve on plastic plates, and we had to fish cold pita out of a bag at the takeout station, but we had no complaints since it was shored up with two savory pilafs (rice and bulgur) and a chunky cuke and tomato salad packed with fresh parsley. This was definitely slow food, so we didn’t mind that it was served as if it were fast.
Chicken kebabs were just as good. The juicy bites of meat were fragrant with orange zest and herbs and served with a memorable fresh basil aioli. But a second order on a night when Kiranoglu was not at the grill was dry. The crowning kebab, however, has to be the doner, which here is no premade slab of mystery meat. Kiranoglu makes the doner in house, marinating, slicing, skewering, and lathering fat on the thin-sliced lamb himself before slow roasting the resulting cylinder of meat. Shaved onto the plate, the doner is crispy at the edges, juicy on the inside, and just salty enough to perfectly cut the cooling dill and parsley in the yogurt and garlic sauce.
Competition, however, abounds. The Kebab House plopped down within skewering distance of several other downtown kebab shops, but the restaurant seems undaunted.
‘‘We’re not competing with the kebabs made at other restaurants in town,’’ said co-owner Levent Berksan. ‘‘We’re competing with the kebabs made in Turkey. We want to be as good as in Turkey or better.’’
The same effort goes into the changing menu of meze (Turkish tapas). We ordered two meze samplers ($6.95 for six items) and requested a little of each of the dozen or so items. When they came, we felt like revered guests in a Turkish home (only with plastic forks).
Though the setup is self-serve, Kiranoglu brought out complimentary Turkish tea, a stack of warm pita, and four plates of specialties. On them we found one tasty nibble after the next — flavorful falafel, baby okra spiced with shallots and mint, artichoke hearts tossed with sprigs of dill, sautéed eggplant thick with olive oil and chunks of garlic, lemony chick pea salad, spinach warmed by the toasty flavor of roasted pine nuts, and more. What a way to eat.
And soon it will get better. Come fall, the Kebab House will add full table service downstairs at night, including servers who will drizzle butter onto your iskender kebab at the table just like in Istanbul.
Meanwhile, those who know Sultan’s Kitchen (Boston’s first and many argue best Turkish restaurant) may find the current setup familiar. That’s because Kiranoglu spent four years cooking under Sultan’s chef/owner Özcan Ozan, who he says has helped and taught him a lot.
But the fabulous desserts Kiranoglu makes were learned at the pastry shop he began working at in Turkey as a child. Among them, the kazan dibi ($2.50) is a dessert to cross town for. This clean-tasting, light milk pudding is poured over sugar, singed in an oven, and then flipped over to serve. The caramelized top is so close to burnt it tastes almost like mocha, and the effect surpasses even the best flan. But you won’t err with the buttery baklava ($1.95) or rich, baked rice pudding ($2.50). Like everything else here, they’re both made from scratch, and well.