Publication Date: Friday Dec 15, 2000

Restaurant Review: A rosy experience

One pleasure of eating out is experiencing new flavors and unfamiliar foods. There's little risk involved; if you don't care for a dish, you're out only some time and a few bucks. The payoff is greater when you discover a new cuisine, and you go back to explore the rest of the menu.

Sitting down to a meal at Cafe Silan in Menlo Park was our first experience eating Kurdish cuisine. Open since October in a sliver of a space (formerly Suzanne's Muffins), the restaurant is owned by Ismail Unlu. Many Peninsula residents are familiar with his other restaurants--La Scala in Burlingame, Silan in Los Altos, and until recently, Scala Mia in Menlo Park (Unlu sold Scala Mia not long ago). Not only do these restaurants have the same owner, they all serve Italian cuisine. So why the switch with Cafe Silan?

Unlu says there's too many Italian restaurants, and he wanted to do something no one else is doing. Inspired by his native Kurdistan (a region covering areas of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria), Unlu decided to open a restaurant that would serve his country's cuisine. He named it Silan--the Kurdish word for rose hips (pronounce it "shee-lawn"), since roses are very common in this part of the Middle East.

Unlu left his native country in 1986, traveled to Istanbul and then went to London, where he attended culinary school. He worked for a while for cruise lines, including Carnival, out of ports in Florida. Unlu came to San Francisco in 1989 and opened Bocce in North Beach. He followed that with La Scala in 1991, then Scala Mia in 1997 and Silan in 1999.

With Cafe Silan, Unlu introduces his native cuisine. The menu at Cafe Silan is printed in both Kurdish and English. Murat Tosan, who fills both server and manager roles, happily helped with pronunciations, ingredients and cooking techniques. You'll notice influences from many Mediterranean countries, including Greece--as evidenced by yogurt sauces, rotisserie lamb and feta cheese.

But some items--thin pizzas, calzones and foccacia--are more Italian. Unlu says the Italian influence on Kurdish food dates back to the days of the Roman Empire, and he remembers his mother making tomato risotto and homemade pastas.

You can tell Unlu spared no expense decorating the tiny dining room-- marble tables, wrought iron bases and chairs, lovely murals on the walls complement the space. In the open kitchen, Chef Shmuz Gokce prepares meals over the grill, on the vertical rotisserie, or in the wood-burning oven.

The menu has grown since Cafe Silan first opened, with the addition of salads and appetizers. A good place to start is the Silan salad ($4.95), a basic Greek salad with tomato, parsley, feta cheese, cucumber, onion and green pepper, drizzled with olive oil and served with a thick round of warm, oven-fired bread.

We preferred other appetizers, ordering the Mediterranean salad ($7.95 for a sampler plate) to taste it all. A tangy hummus was loaded with garlic. Waxy beans formed a Kurdish version of three-bean salad. Grape leaves stuffed with bulgur, pine nuts and other seasonings were a sweet treat. A zesty yogurt and dill sauce rounded out the platter.

Lentil soup--which was the soup of the day ($4.50) on several visits-- was the one dish that fell below par. Although it was a smooth and silky liquid, an overpowering aftertaste spoiled the effect.

As for main dishes, Disk balcanres ($13.95) was served in a clay pot filled with cubes of eggplant, lamb, peppers and tomatoes. Thick and redolent of savory spices, this stew was delicious and hearty.

The Kurdish calzone, lortek ($7.50), was more like a flat bread filled with stuffing and less like the big dough-filled baked puffs served at pizza parlors. Paprika (a common Kurdish seasoning) and red onion blended with feta cheese in light, delicate bites.

Mast u gost ($13.95), toasted bread topped with chopped veal and spices, was a huge platter. This aromatic dish had an unexpected, sweetly caramelized flavor. And the combination of grilled bread and tender veal, topped with yogurt sauce, seasoned with paprika and parsley worked well. A smattering of tomato sauce topped the grilled dish, which seemed out of place.

Lamb is the most common meat served in Kurdistan, and the dinner with two skewers ($14.95) was sheer perfection. Cubes of meat were marinated and grilled with green pepper. Tomato, onion and lettuce salad, along with a yogurt-based sauce, accompanied the meal. There was so much food that we didn't miss the bulgur pilaf that for some reason was absent.

Bulgur, a cracked wheat grain, is found throughout Kurdish dishes. Lopiken savare ($6.50), bulgur balls in yogurt sauce, bowled us over. Sweetened with brown butter sauce, this unforgettable dish looked like a plate of poached eggs smothered in cream sauce. The unusual flavor lingered on the palate, and we thought it would make a good meal on its own when paired with a salad.

Sweetness seems to be one of the predominant flavors at Cafe Silan, and it doesn't stop with dessert or drinks. The custard ($4.75) bore no resemblance to any creme caramel or flan, but was a thin, big, almost gelatinous square of toasty sugared milk. Be adventurous and try one of the "healthful" drinks, such as ava rezi ($2.50), a beautiful clear liquid tasting of honey (though there's no honey in it), flavored by dried spheres of golden apricots, raisins and other spices. It was similar to an iced chai tea, only sweeter, but equally exotic.

Cafe Silan is awaiting a beer and wine license. The restaurant also has a small case of prepared foods for take-out. You can pick up a few lamb kabobs and take them home to grill yourself.

Cafe Silan, 867 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, (650) 326-5404

Hours: Tue.-Sun., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Atmosphere: Petite dining room with high-end touches, painted in warm, inviting colors.

Highlights: This is the place to try new things. Lamb stew in a clay pot, bulgur balls in yogurt sauce and flat bread toasted with veal are tasty adventures in dining. A drink flavored with dried apricots and raisins is a surprise delight.

Reservations - No Credit cards - Yes Parking – Street and lots behind restaurant Alcohol – Beer and wine license pending Takeout – Yes Catering – Yes Wheelchair access – Yes Highchairs – Yes Outdoor seating – Yes Banquet – No Have a tasty tidbit or comment? Contact Food Editor Mary Orlin at 650-326-8210, ext. 312 or email morlin@paweekly.com. 

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