Date Night: Cafe Divan

Again, it’s no exaggeration that I live for guacamole. But what you need to understand is that my love of great Turkish cuisine ranks up there as a very close second. After a thorough DC restaurant search, I found myself introducing Scott to Turkish food at Cafe Divan in Georgetown.

Anyone who has ever lived abroad will tell you that it’s difficult to find authenticity in most ethnic restaurants. This didn’t appear to be the case at Cafe Divan, where I was greeted in Turkish and instantly felt my time in Istanbul come rushing back. I dabbled with a few of the words I could remember, and worked my way through the menu getting increasingly more excited about what it contained.

Scott and I eat Mediterranean regularly, but it is a far cry from actual Turkish fare. Thankfully, the menu at Cafe Divan is comprised of mostly Turkish dishes, and so I was able to introduce Scott to another love of my life.

Lahmacun. Guys: this is where its at. It’s a street dish in Turkey and it costs barely anything, but it was what I lived on and and devoured in Istanbul in place of guacamole (READ: no guacamole in Turkey – that’s why I had to move back). It looks like a thin pizza, covered with minced meat and sprinkle some lemon, onions with sumac and tomatos on that bad boy and go to town. It’s literally one of my favorite dishes of all time. I’m still trying to recreate it at home, but Turkish food is not as easy to make as it is to consume.

We ordered several appetizers, including sigara borek (sigara means cigar or cigarette and is named that because of the shape) which is also a love of mine – fried phyllo filled with feta cheese and parsley. This is one of the few dishes I can make at home, so perhaps a tutorial is in the near future. Hummus, dolma (stuffed grape leaves) and mercimek kofte (red lentil patty) rounded out the plate, all of which were excellent.

Make sure you try the pachanga böregi (stuffed pastry with pastrami) and any one of the pides. The pides are very much like a less rolled up calzone and incredibly delicious. I recommend the Sujuk Pide, as I LOVE spicy Turkish sausage (sujuk). 

I also ordered Scott one of my favorite pasta dishes while living in Istanbul – Manti. It’s stuffed pasta topped with yogurt and drizzled with a little red pepper oil for spice. It’s incredible.

Make sure to leave room for more than just baklava, as my favorite Turkish dessert is künefe, which is a cheese pastry soaked in sweet syrup. In Turkey, they usually serve this with dondurma (ice cream) to cut the sweetness, but here they didn’t. It’s sinfully sweet, and even though I’m not much of a dessert girl – that is Scott’s arena – I can’t get enough künefe.

And if you want to really be traditional, share a cup of Turkish coffee with your friends. Warning: it is very strong and make sure you don’t drink the coffee sludge at the bottom. In Turkey, people specialize in reading fortunes from that sludge, and you turn your cup upside down to allow the coffee to drain onto the saucer. Scott had his fortune read, and it was all good :)

If you want a refreshing and traditional Turkish breakfast, make sure you head there for brunch on the weekends and indulge in an assortment of vegetables, cheese, and meat. It’s a fabulous way to start the day.

I also found my other favorites, but honestly this post is going to turn into a series of the Best Turkish Dishes. Maybe I’ll even try to create them at home….

Istanbul and the food in Turkey is near and dear to my heart, and Cafe Divan definitely did it justice. Can’t wait to go back and sample more of the best Turkish cuisine this city has to offer.

-Al