TURKEY 🇹🇷
The only thing missing seems to be the Black Sea, the northern border of Turkey that everyone seems to agree has the most delicious (and first) pide restaurants lining its southern shores. That, and some outdoor seating overlooking the beauty.
A proper pide experience can mirror those found in a good pizza shop. A wood-fired oven should be around but we'll accept gas in a pinch. When someone orders, flour is spread out on the table, dough is rolled out, toppings added. The pide goes into the oven with the help of an elongated wooden paddle, comes out piping hot and is cut up and served. It is best shared with groups.
In many full-service Turkish restaurants, they do not have a proper oven and/or skilled cook, but in a place dedicated to the craft you know they will. Their ease with the paddle, which resembles the oar you would use in a canoe, is almost like a show.
There are many options for your pide, but why not try the super karisik ($25, above), cut up and stacked in three rows in the photo but actually made as a five foot long boat. "Karasik" is just mixed and includes ground beef, pastrami, sausage, potato, and cheeses.
On the side a nice dish of red tomato relish and some pickles show up, the former for folks who want to add some spice to their pide. Each piece has a slightly different feel, the ends are more doughy where the pide comes to a point while the interior has thinner crust and more ingredients.
The refrigerator case facing the dining room holds some really tasty sütlaç ($5, above), a Turkish-style rice pudding with slightly burnt top layer. The version here is creamy, rich, and delicious.
The oven in the back also churns out popular lahmacun ($4 each, minimum order or 2, not shown), thin, round discs covered in ground beef cooked in peppers and spices.
Star Pide Salonu has been around well over a decade, was renovated late last year, and is still going strong on Paterson's Main Street. Stop in and tell us what you think.
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