Café Mediterranean is getting a lot of media coverage outside the pages of The American Israelite. A recent piece in the Cincinnati Enquirer showcased the restaurant’s chicken kebab as a go-to favorite at the Café. Shortly after that, the local CBS TV channel 12 featured the freshness of the food at this venerable Turkish-inspired eatery. And coming soon Fahri Ozdil, owner/operator of Café Mediterranean, will appear on the very same TV 12 slicing and dicing some of the dishes he offers on his menu.
Dining Out asked Ozdil why all the recent interest in his restaurant, and he offered this response: “We use all the Turkish seasonings, and it makes a difference (in the taste of the food). And we are making sure that everything is fresh and the best local produce all the time we are having here. People know this about us, and they are coming here, and they are telling their friends about what they are having here. A lot of new restaurants, they are opening in this area, but it does not hurt us because of our reputation. People are loving the food here.”
The chicken kebab entrée with rice and veggies
We tried the chicken kebab that was lime-lighted in the Enquirer. First and foremost, the chunks of chicken that form the kebab are large, perhaps an inch and a half square, cut from breast-meat chicken. Why the breast? “It cooks up nicer and stays more tender and juicier when we are grilling it,” Ozdil stated, adding that only plump, fresh chicken breasts of the finest quality will do for his chicken kebab. Before the chunks of chicken are skewered, they are seasoned with a Turkish array of herbs and spices. “We are using (dried) oregano from Turkey, and the dried red (bell) pepper, and the tomato and (red bell) pepper paste, and salt, and pepper, along with the olive oil and the corn oil. All of it is making a wonderful flavor for the chicken, and it is like nothing you have had before because it is so much flavor, and the chicken stays moist and juicy when we are serving it.”
We concur. The chicken chunks are large enough so that we were able to cut each of them into three or four pieces, each a nice fork-sized bite of chicken. The entrée meal included a side sauté of green beans and carrot spears, along with a mound of flavored rice, which is delicious in its own right. Asking about the rice, Ozdil said that it was not ordinary long-grain rice used by most eateries. Instead, he uses jasmine rice, also known as fragrant rice, because of its aroma and better taste. That is one reason Ozdil uses it exclusively in his dishes. Another is that it tends to absorb seasonings and flavors better than more common rice varieties. To enhance the flavor, Ozdil’s kitchen cooks the rice not with water only, but in chicken broth, then seasons it to broaden and layer the flavor even more. In short, the kebab meal was delightful. For Jewish diners-out who enjoy a good chicken dish, the chicken kebab at Café Mediterranean is a winner for sure.
A fresh-baked pan of baklava made with pistachio nut filling and dusted with the same
In the course of our interview, Ozdil said that he is very “hands-on” in procuring the ingredients he uses in his menu items. “I shop my own stuff. Always I am touching what I am buying, making sure it is fresh and the best quality. I am having the produce coming from an Amish farmer north of here (near Middletown, Ohio). He is bringing the fresh tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, (bell) peppers both the red and the green, and the cabbage, cherry tomatoes and parsley. What he is bringing, it is all fresh (picked) from his farm, and we are having all that in the kitchen and in the dishes we make.
Outdoor seating at Café Mediterranean
“The lamb we are buying from Michigan, where the lamb is raised in a special way that is giving us the best lamb we are putting in our dishes here. And we are getting the true Turkish spices and the herbs so what we make is just like it is in Turkey. People are loving all these dishes because they are fresh and the flavor is so perfect,” he said.
Since meals are prepared fresh and from scratch, Jewish diners are encouraged to ask for dishes prepared in the kosher style, though most of the items on the menu already meet that standard.
See you at Café Mediterranean!
Outdoor signage at Café Mediterranean in Hyde Park
