Day 4: Lakeview

So, yesterday it was sunny and beautiful and I was stuck inside the I-House on the University of Chicago campus with Bill the AP proctor instead of being inside a restaurant where I could view the lovely sun and blue sky from a safe distance. Then today, as I was waiting for my first bus, it began to pour down rain. So instead of sparkling yesterday in the sunlight, I melted today in the rain. Life is unfair.

Despite the deluge, I did manage to go to a restaurant today. And better yet, I got to see Linnea, since today's neighborhood, Lakeview, is where she lives. Lakeview is the farthest I have ever had to go on a bus, so it was quite an adventure. I went north on the number 8 bus for about 30 minutes until I reached the Lincoln/Fullerton stop. Whoever knows this intersection knows that it was not made for people like me, becuase it is where three streets meet, something that the CTA trip-planner website failed to mention. So when the website said to switch from the number 8 bus to the number 11 bus at the Lincoln/Fullerton stop, it must have been a (successful) ploy to get me to wander aimlessly in the rain for 15 minutes. Eventually, this tiny old Russian lady offered me an umbrella (I had to crouch down to fit under it with her) and led me to the bus stop. Finally, I got to today's restaurant:

A La Turka, located at 3134 N. Lincoln Avenue, was recommended to be by Linnea, and, as it turns out, it is the place to go for belly dancing and hookah. Don't ask me how I know that. The restaurant is really nice. Upon entering, you are saturated with Turkish culture. The first tables you see are only a foot off of the ground, and they are surrounded by cushions and pillows, not by chairs:

This is the way that many traditional Turkish families eat. The hostess, who is actually the owner of the restaurant, said that she used to be very embarrassed by eating on the floor, and had not eaten on the floor since she left home, even though these cushioned areas are in her restaurant. The rest of the decor is very nice, and there were many types of decorations for which I do not know a name, although they are very pretty:


In addition to these anonymous decorations were some familiar ones. Covering the walls of the restaurant are blue glass objects called the "evil eye" that are supposed to ward off evil:

When I was a kid I used to have my own evil eye that my dad had brought me back as a souvineer from his trip to Turkey. However, when I found out that it was called an "evil eye," I thought, "Why would my dad give me something evil?" So instead of pondering that question, I just circumvented all confusion and gave it to my sister.

When Linnea and I sat down to eat, they first gave us fresh bread and olive oil. It was some of the best bread I had ever tasted, with the exception of the naan you get when you put a blue stick in your bowl at Flat Top. This bread was very soft, and had a buttery taste even without putting any butter on it. Plus, it stayed warm for an exceptional period of time:

Linnea's meal was a combination order called "Lunch Special #2." This consisted of a soup or a salad and her choice of two appetizers. Linnea chose to order Lentil soup:

A lentil is a legume that was originally harvested in the Near East. Although they are now served all over the world, lentil soup is traditionally a Turkish or Indian dish. For her first appetizer, Linnea ordered baba ghanoush. This actually looks much better in real life:


Baba Ghanoush is a traditional Middle Eastern dish made of mashed eggplant with various seasonings. This dish is perfect for me, because I love the taste of eggplant but hate the texture. But by mashing the eggplants, we rid the ingredient of its rubbery texture, making it a very delicious dip for the baskets of bread that we ate. The second appetizer that Linnea ordered was hummus:

This, like the baba ghanoush, proved to be a great reason to eat more bread. Hummus is a Middle Eastern dip made out of chickpeas. Chickpeas are one of the oldest crops harvested in mesopotamia, and hummus is, according to some Middle Eastern folklore, one of the earth's oldest known prepared foods. The word "hummus" actually comes to us from the Turkish language, even though we typically think of hummus as a mainly Greek food. It is sometimes served with toppings to make it look festive:

I ordered a beef shish kebab wrap:

Yes, it came with french fries. Yes, that was a major reason why I ordered this meal. No, french fries are not Turkish. No, I am not seven years old. But yes, they were delicious. A shish kebab is typically cubes of grilled meat served on a wooden skewer:

But that option did not come with french fries. So I ordered the same meat, but in a wrap.

For dessert, we ordered baklava. This baklava was about 100 times better than the baklava I ate with Liz in Greektown (sorry, Liz...):

Despite the beautiful picture of Wednesday's baklava so generously provided by Google Images, Wednesday's baklava was kind of dry and not very sweet. Today's baklava was very moist and very sweet. In addition, this was Turkish baklava, not Greek baklava. So Wednesday's baklava had cinnamon in it, and today's baklava did not. I think I prefer baklava without cinnamon. Cinnamon tends to be a strong spice, and the honey can somtimes be overpowered, and even absorbed by the cinnamon if too much is put in.

Our total bill came out to $34 for two people, but part of this is a large tip because they were so nice and told us all about the differences between Greek food and Turkish food. That was probably the best part about this experience (other than seeing Linnea, of course); the waitstaff was very nice. Our food came out quickly and tasted very good, and it was not super expensive like the Greek Islands was.

Since tomorrow is the weekend, and the weekends are my days off, I will be fasting over the next two days, meaning there will be nothing to write about. And then on Monday I have choir all day, so I my billions of fans will have to eat TV dinners until I return on Tuesday with a lovely review about Wicker Park. Lida, my fellow food blogger, tells me there is an awesome ice cream place there called iCream that I will be testing. Although I would love for that to be an entire meal, it probably shouldn't be. Thus, I need suggestions about where to eat in Wicker Park. Until next time, happy eating!