The sounds and smells of sizzling meat draw hungry vacationers looking for a reasonably-priced meal near educate stations, hostels, airports, and overdue-night time bar stops to road carriers. The sight of a slowly rotating spit of glistening lamb or hen seals the deal. Thin-shaved meat and tangy sauces swaddled in a heated pita or a comparable flatbread is salvation in sandwich form for the duration of the Mediterranean, however specifically in Turkey, where the vertical rotisserie was invented using Iskender Efendi greater than 150 years ago, resulting in a wave of döner kebab that has because spread at some point of Europe and into the U.S.
We’re acquainted with döner’s close cousin, gyros, from the Greek diners that line Colfax Avenue and dot other older neighborhoods around Denver, or even shawarma, a comparable configuration differing especially in the seasonings, served from spits in the city’s Middle Eastern kitchens. But Turkish delicacies are, however, not possible to locate within the Mile High City. That is until you stop at Bosphorus, the tiny Turkish eatery that Melih Cingilli opened at 3493 South Downing Street in Englewood on August eight.
Built right into an area that previously held a hair salon, Bosphorus serves döner in addition to a selection of other Turkish sandwiches, soups, salads, appetizers, and entrees from an open kitchen that offers a full view of two rotisseries, one loaded with flagrant foul and the other retaining a lamb-beef blend. Cingilli has been called the handiest Denver domestic because in 2015, however, he’s been in the U.S. In vieGiven whilst he moved to Minnesota to attend university. He commenced cooking early, learning the circle of relatives dishes from his father and grandmother in Ankara, and helped run a small Turkish restaurant. He’d been out of the meals-provider enterprise for a while, even though he saw the vacant area on South Downing (right next door to Cochino Taco and close to Swedish Medical Center). Then, suddenly, he was stimulated to open his eating place.
Iskender Efendi did more than popularize vertical spit-roasting; he lent his name to a dish, Iskender kebab, which is now one of Turkey’s most famous food items and is served in many other locations, at the restaurant run by using Efendi’s descendants in Bursa. Cingilli gives Iskender kebab at Bosphorus; it is his favorite dish on the menu. The components are familiar to fanatics of döner kebab sandwiches, but this is served as an entree, with shaved bird or the lamb-pork blend topping fried portions of pita. A beneficiant drizzle of tomato sauce and yogurt makes it fork-and-knife fare. Cingilli’s tomato sauce is silky and mild, with a plummy sweetness and natural notes that he says come from the addition of mint and basil.
That sauce additionally balances the bitterness of eggplant in an appetizer called pelican Davis. This dish is often served as a stew similar to French ratatouille, but at Bosphorus, it arrives as thick, velvety slices of fried eggplant sided with triangles of pita. Other appetizers familiar from Mediterranean cuisine encompass stuffed grape leaves, falafel, hummus, and spinach börek, a puff-pastry pie that incorporates feta cheese, not unlike Greek spanakopita. The spit-roasted meats show up in various formats, from sandwiches and Iskender kebab to the Sultan Platter, which may be ordered for two to 4 visitors and is served with an assortment of meats and grilled veggies. Köfte — referred to as Turkish meatballs right here — additionally take a look, as do the cubed and marinated red meat or bird that many of us think of while we pay attention to the word “kebab.”
On the complete, the menu will no longer be unexpected to every person who frequents Middle Eastern, Greek, or different Mediterranean restaurants, with possibly the purple-lentil soup status out as special. Still, the particulars of cooking style and seasoning make Bosphorus surprisingly Turkish. Lunch or dinner for the duration of peak hours is not a rushed affair because the kitchen is small, and the proprietor does much of the cooking and table provider himself, with the assistance of one other cook. The decor inside the eating room contains Turkish flags, art, and adorns, in addition to Turkish soccer club memorabilia. It’s comfortable and alluring, with the best six two-top tables, so lingering over robust black Turkish tea or coffee and a slice of baklava isn’t always out of the question.
Cingilli moved to Denver to start a family with relatives and his spouse, Lauren, from Colorado. They selected Bosphorus, the slim waterway straddling Istanbul that divides Europe and Asia, as the restaurant’s call to represent the connection between the 2 continents, the ties between East and West. That connection now extends to Denver, bringing a taste of Turkey to the suburb of Englewood. Bosphorus is open day by day from 11 a.m. To nine p.m. For lunch and dinner. Neighbors and clinical professionals will welcome the takeout-friendly menu; call 303-942-1267 for more details or to location an order.
