Meat cone. Yes MEAT. CONE. Yummie ground curry lamb stuffed into phyllo dough and deep fried. MEAT. CONE. Yes I guess I should find out the official name for this deep fried yumminess. So where can one find this meat cone? At Damascus on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn. They also sell pitas, falafels, hummus, cheese, other fried pastries but everytime I go into Damascus I only have 1 thing in mind, meat cone. There’s also a plain cheese version but no thanks! What’s more fun than walking down the street holding and chomping down on a meat cone? The only thing you need to worry about is that if you want these nice and hot and crispy you gotta go there earlier than say…..2pm. They’ll gladly reheat it for you in the microwave but it just becomes soft and not crispy.

- Damascus 195 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn

So remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about a new Turkish restaurant coming to Park Slope? It opened a couple of weeks ago. Above you see the cold mixed appetizer plate ($8.50) — that’s the medium size (they offer only medium and large). It’s easily enough food for two people (I managed to put away 2/3 of it, and then the waiter asked me if I wanted to order an entree), and it’s served with a basket of warm bread. The hummus and babaganoush tasted generic, but the tabouli was fantastic and fresh tasting. Another highlight: the stuffed grape leaves, slightly sweet with raisins mixed into the rice. Also eaten (on other visits) but not pictured are the “fried” phyllo rolls stuffed with cheese, not crispy enough but with a wonderful lemon flavor. The felafel wrap ($7) was not as successful; it took almost 10 minutes to prepare, and although I asked for “no tomatoes” I got plenty of tomatoes in the wrap. The felafel themselves were highly spiced but under seasoned. Still, during a busy lunch service with my back to the open windows and the sun bearing down on me, I did experience a reminder of what it felt like when eating in one of Turkey’s open air cafes.

Istanbul Park — 293 7th Ave, Brooklyn

Over the weekend a new sign appeared over the former NoNO Kitchen space — Istanbul Turkish Cuisine. No date is listed, nor is their any indication of whether it will be authentic Turkish food or an Americanized version. Looking forward to finding out.

The Sahara is the world’s largest desert, stretching almost the entire width of Northern Africa. Sahara is a Turkish restaurant in Gravesend, Brooklyn. I’m not sure how to reconcile those two facts. I’m also not sure how to reconcile the fact that the restaurant, despite it’s noisy interior and almost insistent family-friendliness, is pretty darned good. Not necessarily authentically Turkish, but good.

Click to continue…