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Um, I think I just started a thread! Inspired by Sietsema's first bite article last week, friends called us and asked us to join them for an early dinner on Saturday at the new Ottoman Taverna. We had all traveled to Turkey on various trips (separately) so we were psyched to get some good Turkish food. TL:DR - Really good food, really average service, decent price (for DC), Michelle Obama sighting. Details follow: We were only able to get a 5:30 reservation so we decided to get there, have drinks, then order mezze, then wait, then eat mains, and proceed on. That was a good strategy. The room is gorgeous - really really nice with interesting decor. The hostesses were a little flaky (trying to give us someone else's table even though the last name on the reservation was a simple as could be) but nice, and we were seated. As soon as we sat we realized that something was going on -- Secret Service were swarming the place and started wanding all the people coming in just after us. The waiter told us Michelle Obama was there, in the private room (which we had guessed) hosting a party. (Coincidentally this is the second time in a year that I have been at dinner when Michelle shows up -- last time was Rose's Luxury). The Michelle situation may have been the reason for all the weird service. For more on Michelle, see this: "Michelle Obama Dines at Ottoman Taverna" by Anna Spiegel on washingtonian.com I'll get the service out of the way. Our waiter (not Turkish, Latino, which only matters because he didn't know much about the food and was hard to understand) was a bit amateurish. Knocking into glasses, not really knowing the cuisine, not able to answer many questions, and just a bit bumbling. I think the service (at the prices they charge) needs to be much more polished. That's all I'll say. The food, however, was great. We started with 4 mezze - a cold chicken salad, Imam bayidli (cold eggplant with tomatoes), kofte kabob, and something else I can't remember (but was the best of the bunch.) The chicken and kofte were well spiced and moist. My Imam bayildi was just OK. It was the weak link. I love this dish at Zaytina and think theirs is better. For mains I had the Iskender Kabob, which was shaved lamb and beef over cubed fluffy pita with spicy sauce. It was the best dish on the table and I LOVED it. Two others had the Manti (small pasta filled with meat in a cream sauce) and it was good (if a small portion) and authentic. My other friend had some sort of kebab I can't recall. Desserts were Turkish coffee and some really nice baklava with walnut ice cream. Drinks-wise I had a gin and ginger cocktail that was out of this world refreshing and good (with beach plum gin) and we split a bottle of Turkish red wine (I didn't choose it, so don't remember what it was). For 4 of us with 4 cocktails, a bottle of wine and a glass, 4 mezze, 4 mains, 4 desserts, and 3 coffees the bill was about $350, which was not cheap, but seems to be the norm in this town these days. I'll be back. Funny moment (I was talking about artificial insemination during dinner and turned my head and happened to say "sperm" really loudly just as an older couple walked by. The husband was in a non-ironic Donald Trump hat. They kind of looked at me and continued on. They sat a bit far down from us. Later in the meal, when their server told them that Michelle was in the house the woman loudly exclaimed "Oh GOD!" and they left shortly thereafter. I guess you really can't escape politics in this town. And, Trump lady, I am sorry I seemingly shouted "sperm!" at you.)- 9 replies
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