Last night, the ever intrepid Anne Bourget and I dined at the Cafe Istanbul. They are located at 5800 Madison Avenue (Madison and Manzanita) in the deepest part of Sacramento's north area. Quite a jaunt for downtown snobs. The food is Turkish. Turkish, well, middle eastern would be more apt. The food was wonderful. This was one of the best meals I've had in a restaurant in ages. Prices for dinner entrees range from 5.95$ to 10.95$. Appetizers ranged from 1.95$ to 7.95$ for the vegetarian meze appetizer combo (feeds two). Entrees include beef, chicken and lamb shish kebab. Mussaka, yaprak sarma (stuffed grape leaves), manti, gyros of chicken and lamb, hot and spicy kebabs, mild kebabs, babganush (eggplant puree with tahni). An entree comes with a salad. The dressing is a simple vinagrette with sumac sprinkled on top. The dish is presented with a wonderful rice pilaf, a bit of hummus, and freshly-made there pita bread. Both Anne and I had lamb shish kebab. The lamb was marinated in a marinade redolent of oregano. The lamb was still pink inside and was a high quality cut. This is a place we both agreed would be fun to visit with a group, in order to try everything! They also had some interesting soups. There's a 4.25$ "power lunch". The restaurant is located in a strip mall, but don't let that put you off. Inside, the air conditioning was cool enough to keep a polar bear happy. In the middle of the room is a large water fountain with plants all around it. This would be a great lunch place on a blasting hot day. There's a wide screen TV on which play belly dancing videos. There's enough room between the tables that I wouldn't be surprised if there was a live dancer on the weekends I was very impressed and plan on returning. Oh, they serve beer and wine and other drinks, tea, Turkish coffee, and the requisite sodas. They serve Pepsi, not Coke, if you are a Coca Cola addict. Service was okay. There's only one waitress. She appears to be the chef's wife. They may have more help on the weekends. This place is worth checking out!
Sacramento, CA