The New York Times, 20-Dec-14
By FRAN SCHUMERDEC
Once the holiday season starts, restaurants in which you can dine well and festively, free of crowds or the necessity of advanced planning, are as rare as a perfect Christmas.
Since my children were in high school (they are now too old to eat anywhere but in Brooklyn), our family has been joining friends for dinner, somewhat irreverently, on Christmas Day at this casual and cheerful bastion of sumptuous Turkish food.
Traditional it is not, but given our mix of religions and orientations, neither is our crowd. Our only common bond: We like good food, a lively atmosphere and a celebration that is hassle-free. Beyti Kebab, which originally opened as a butcher shop in the early 1980s, fulfills those requirements.
The food is similarly basic and authentic. Any review of the menu must start not with appetizers but with the restaurant’s pièce de résistance: any meat entree where the word “yogurtlu” appears in the name. The various “yogurtlu” dishes consist of a meat kebab set in a pool of satiny yogurt in which bits of pita bread are in the process of disintegrating. It is the apotheosis of a soggy sandwich — and it is irresistible. Try it and I predict that nostalgia for holiday baked ham or stuffed turkey will cease.
The more highly seasoned beyti kebab, the restaurant’s namesake entree, is best eaten without yogurt, because then you can appreciate the judicious use of garlic, onions and red and green peppers that bring out the rich, gamy flavor of the veal and lamb in the dish.
Except for the ones with yogurt, plain kebabs, which dominate the list of entrees and include combinations of chicken, lamb, veal or gyro (a mix of veal and lamb), arrive on a bed of buttery, seasoned rice. The accompanying mealy tomato is best ignored, but the long-green pepper beside it is essential: its juicy texture and fruity flavor lighten the experience of eating all that meat.
Another suitable companion for the kebabs is the shepherd salad. Long before chopped salads became fashionable, Beyti Kebab was carving chunks of tomato, cucumber and Spanish onions into jewel-like cubes. Chopping the ingredients allows more of their juices, and therefore their flavors, to mingle. The fresh parsley and lemon juice add so much verve that even without feta cheese, the salad sparkles (with feta, it is $2 extra). Like the owner, Ozcan Arslan, the chef, Turan Dayakli, was born in Turkey. When I asked him in a telephone call after my visits where he learned to make the kind of thick, tangy, tahini-rich hummus that is rare outside of the Middle East, he answered Israel. There, too, he perfected his falafel, which he makes with chick peas and broad beans, and serves with a cool, minty sauce.
The Turkish bread that appears instantly at your table is a highlight. Served still warm, the slightly charred strips have the qualities of great pizza dough: crusty on the outside with a soft and airy interior. Slightly sour because of the yeast, the strips are perfect for scooping up the ultrarich hummus or the thick, gooey and unforgettably smoky baba ghanouj.
Will the more fussy family members in your party find flaws? Don’t they always? One night when the lamb cubes in every other dish were moist and tender, the chunks in the lamb shish were, in fact, leathery. The chicken, a tad dry, might benefit from less cooking. Fried eggplant, the centerpiece of the appetizer known as patlican tavasi, was overwhelmed by yogurt in this version.
Perhaps because we come here during the holiday season, our excursions usually end not only with the strong Turkish coffee, but with a stop at the retail shop at the front of the restaurant. There you can purchase gifts: halvah made with pistachios, plump Middle Eastern dates, and the kind of large, buttery Turkish walnuts used in the restaurant’s best dessert, the sweetened shredded phyllo and walnut pastry known as kadayif.
Typically quiet on Christmas and New Year’s, Beyti Kebab is quite different on holidays like Ramadan, after the sun sets and daily fasts are broken. “Then, even my banquet room is full,” Mr. Arslan said.
Beyti Kebab
4105 Park Avenue
Union City
201-865-6281
THE SPACE In spite of the lack of frills, this rather pedestrian storefront manages to exude good cheer. Tables inside seat 85; adjacent banquet room seats an additional 150. Restaurant is not completely wheelchair accessible; there are a few steps to negotiate.
THE CROWD Many Turkish-speaking diners but English speaking ones as well. Dress is casual. The lone server presiding during each of my recent visits was pure charm and efficiency.
THE BAR Diners may bring their own wine or beer.
THE BILL Lunch: $11.99, includes appetizer and entree. Dinner: appetizers, $4 to $33 for a large combination platter; entrees, $14 to $26. Desserts, $5. American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard accepted.
WHAT WE LIKED Bread; shepherd salad; baba ghanouj; hummus; falafel; beyti kebab; any kebab with yogurt; Turkish coffee; kadayif.
IF YOU GO Lunch, Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner, seven days, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations recommended for large parties and banquet room.
RATINGS Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.
