Simit House flatbread. (Photo: Instagram)
The less worldly among us may hear Turkish food and think kebabs. But as the middle eastern gateway to Europe, Turkey's cuisine is far more varied, all the way to the baked goods department.
Simit House, a family-owned bakery opened during the pandemic, brings an array of mostly savory Turkish treats to Garden City, Metro Times writes in its latest restaurant review. The alt-weekly describes a number of winning combinations that generally involve veggie, meat and/or cheese innards spiced with the likes of sumac, za'atar and paprika and surrounded by flat, flaky or fluffy dough. Menu items also vary visually and may be shaped like canoes, new moons or twisted rings.
Here's a taste:
Among the best options is the pogaca, a light, airy, and spongy savory pastry that holds a small amount of filling like feta and spinach or cream cheese with dill baked into the dough. It's the dough that does the heavy lifting on the pogaca, and, like the best pastries out there, its success owes a great deal to its texture.
The mini pide (pita) is a tiny dough canoe gorged with minced meat that's mixed with sauteed onion, tomatoes, bell peppers, parsley, and red pepper paste, and is awesome. Another version has a salty mix of feta, mozzarella, and parsley.
The long pide is the same soft vessel but comes as an elongated, thin flatbread, and the chicken and cheese version holds a super tender bird that falls apart, spreading out across the bread and melding texturally with bits of red pepper and the thick cheese coating. (Owner Sondus Assaf) notes that she fries small, organic chickens with onion, bell peppers, and oregano, which helps keep the meat tender. It's hard not to think of a thin-crust pizza when eating a long pide ... but these aren't textures and flavors that you'll find at the corner pizzeria.
A simit is a quintessential Turkish bread — circular, twisted, and coated in golden sesame seed. It's soft and slightly chewy, and is served plain, though it goes well with cream cheese or preserves, so it's no surprise that it's sometimes billed as a "Turkish bagel."
The Turkish bakery is said to be the metro area's first. Assaf says it's drawn Turkish-Americans from as far as two hours away.
