Kofte Piyaz

The grilled beef meatballs were very light.

These kofte (half-dozen, $7.85) resembled stuffed clams in texture, but without nubbins of shellfish. Though not filling, unlike many meatier meatballs they were not at all dry or grainy, either. Grilled lamb sausage ($8.85) was very smoky-flavored; the white bean salad called piyaz ($2.85) was sharp with onion and garlic, almost to a fault. Best was baked butternut squash with crushed walnuts ($2.85), in part because Peter Cherches — who'd spotted this not-fully-made-over coffee shop and joined me for dinner — had pledged to go easy on dessert, so more for me.

Another day, Turkish coffee (comped by the proprietor) could kick-start breakfast, too, perhaps the egg-tomato scramble called menemen, or maybe a gozleme, feta or ground spiced meat grilled in filo dough. I imagine it resembles a kutaby, but the menu makes a comparison that will be more familiar to the local Mexican community: The gozleme is also called a quesadilla.

Kofte Piyaz
881 Fifth Ave. (38th-39th Sts.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Comments

[Cathy McGath]

I've never seen kofte like that before, and I've never had beef kofte, but I've been meaning to try to make it at home. I make Lebanese-style lamb kofte all the time at home making bigger meat patties baked in tomato sauce and topped with thinly sliced tomatoes.