Fresh from winning Montgomery’s 2023 award for best restaurant, Mehmet Coskum had this to say: “It was a big deal. I was very pleased. It kind of tells us we’re on the right track and it motivates us a lot.” Coskum, you’ll recall, is owner/operator/often chef at Artemis Mediterranean Bistro. The award of which he spoke is doled out each year by the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, and the competition is stiff, with eateries such as Forno, Stone Creek, and European Café in the fray, along with a slew of ethnic, pizza and specialty dining spots vying for the distinction. “We’re just very proud of the accomplishment,” Coskum added.
And why not? At Dining Out, we’ve followed the Artemis story almost from the beginning. Certainly, there is an ethnic quality about this place, with its Turkish antecedents evident in the wait staff, the kitchen, and the front of the house. But mostly from Coskum and his wife Serpil, both natives of Turkey, who work hard at making Artemis a success.
That Turkish heritage influences more than the dishes coming from the kitchen. There is warm, engaging hospitality at this restaurant, which diners-out have a right to expect, but do not always receive. The ambiance of the place, even when all seats are filled, is pleasantly on key. Have you ever been in a restaurant where the clang and chatter are so raucous that you cannot carry on a normal conversation with the person across the table from you? I have, and recently, at a local restaurant where the food is excellent, the service is satisfactory, but the noise level would bring a citation from OSHA, if that agency did that sort of thing. Too bad.
But back to Artemis, where the ambiance is just right for the likes of me, along with the food. On our last visit, we had lamb chops, prepared for the grill in what Coskum describes as a simple marinade. That prep includes olive oil, salt, and pepper, which helps flavor and tenderize the chops. Lamb chops are already tender meat even before the marinade, so there is that. The chops are “marked” on the grill, and then placed in a 350-degree oven for a number of minutes, depending on how you want them. In our case, we wanted the chops rare, so perhaps a 2-minute stay in the oven, more to warm them through than to further the cooking process. We loved them! Tasty, perfectly rare, an excellent entrée for those who enjoy protein on the hoof but may be out of sorts with beef these days. In any event, delicious.
Coskum explained that the grill-to-oven chain is how the kitchen — any kitchen, including ours at home — achieves the outstanding finish to many dishes. “Grilled” salmon is one of these he cited as an example. “If you put (salmon) on the grill with lemon, salt, pepper, olive oil marinade, it (the marinade) goes away. But if you mark it (on the grill) and finish in the oven then all that flavor stays (on the fish),” he said. In short, the directional heat of the grill will cause the seasoning to drip off, while the ambient heat of the oven bakes those flavors into the item.
Also, we enjoyed the kibbeh, the semi-football shaped finger food made in Levantine, Middle East, and Mediterranean locales. This regional favorite is made with bulgar wheat mixed with tomato paste, and finely chopped onion. The wheat shell is pressed around ground meat flavored with pine nuts, herbs, and spices. The deep-fried kibbeh is served with tzatziki sauce, which features yogurt, so kosher-style diners out should skip the sauce. But the kibbeh is great on its own, and three kibbeh is a meal by itself. Loved every morsel.
Our meal included a Fattoush salad, which most food historians believe originated in North Lebanon. Farmers there were frugal, and wanted to do something with leftover, stale flatbread. So, why not slice it into chip-size pieces, season and bake it, and add the chips to greens to create a salad with added nutritional body? I’m glad they went to the trouble. Our salad, aka a bread salad in the Levantine, was delicious. Coskum said he tosses the pita bread chips in olive oil, salt, pepper, and some sumac, which is a tangy, smokey, earthy, and slightly sour astringent spice. All this is done at the time of order, and the chips are placed in the oven at that time. This extra-step approach makes the Fattoush salad special. The ingredients in our salad included mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, and parsley, all with a light, tasty dressing of olive oil and lemon.
See you at the award-winning Artemis Mediterranean Bistro!
