Oct 11, 2008
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Oct 11, 2008 |
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Ablaze in red, the new restaurant whirls onto Main Street with distinctive style and very good food.
Turkey bridges Europe and Asia, and so does its crossroads cuisine. In many ways, the kitchen is its own spice market and grand bazaar.
The two adjoining dining rooms, shaded red and framed in black, are formal but not overly so. They're decorated with small wall sculptures, handsome tilework and little sofas suitable for a tea break.
Tava's diverse fare is full of grilled meat and fish, subtly flavored vegetarian dishes and generous use of grains.
Enjoy the excellent baba ghanoush, or eggplant spread with olive oil, garlic, yogurt and ground sesame. Pair it with the fresh, tasty dolma, grape leaves stuffed with nuts, black currants and seasoned rice.
Complement the house's vivid hummus with a combo of minced tomatoes, spicy peppers, onions and walnuts, finished in olive oil. A paste of red lentils rolled with scallions, greens and spices works in tandem with a feta cheese platter. Mellow, pan-fried zucchini pancakes get a boost from garlic-yogurt sauce.
But balls of falafel are on the dry side. Likewise, the cracked-wheat patties filled with ground lamb, nuts and black currants. Thin-crusted variations on pizza, capped with ground lamb and parsley, improve the choices. A salad of feta, corn, greens and tomatoes does, too.
Grilled seafood is easily recommended, especially whole grilled fish. Gilt, or sea bream, stands out, simply prepared and accompanied by salad of shredded carrot and red cabbage.
It's preferable to the drier cuts of pan-seared salmon wrapped in vine leaves. Alternatives: the all-purpose tilapia, here baked with tomatoes, lemon and bay leaves; and marinated, char-grilled shrimp with rice.
Meat dishes are dominated by lamb. Manti, or poached dumplings the size of gnocchi, are a bit chewy, set like artwork on a square plate with garlic yogurt.
But kuzu pirzola, or thin lamb chops, are tender, flanked by grilled tomatoes and peppers with rice. Adana, or chopped and skewered grilled lamb, however, is overcooked. You're better off with the lamb kebab.
Chicken kebabs are juicy and have a lightly smoky quality. Try them instead of the tava tavuk, or overdone, thinly sliced white meat sauteed with peppers and onions.
Tava enjoys sweets. Kadayif, similar to honeyed, shredded wheat, adds plump pistachios. Baklava does the same with crushed walnuts. And a soothing almond pudding is the right prelude to bracing Turkish coffee.
Eat like an Ottoman.
Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 10/14/07
Hours: Every day for lunch and dinner, starting at noon.