Chicago (Turkish) - Café Orchid

Café Orchid
1746 W. Addison St, Chicago, IL; 773-327-3808
Date of Review: May, 2010
http://cafeorchid.com/

On the heels of a couple of wonderful dining experiences at one of Chicago’s Turkish dining options, Turquoise, and based on a recommendation from a friend, my wife and I decided to give Café Orchid a shot. We are awfully glad we did. On a beautiful Saturday in May after getting a jog in by the lake, we were famished and debating where to go for lunch. As my mind continued to mull over a few options while I drove up Clark street towards Irving Park, I made a turn onto Lincoln Avenue and remembered Café Orchid.

Café Orchid is a cute little restaurant in a small, somewhat dilapidated strip mall near the busy intersection of Lincoln, Addison and Ravenswood. The busy intersection makes it somewhat difficult to pull into the restaurant but there is plenty of street parking around. By the looks of the restaurant from the outside, you would not have any idea that this is any more than a quick carry out spot, but it is cute and romantic inside almost offering an oasis from the busy intersection just outside. The heated and attractively decorated patio doubles the size of the restaurant and is extremely pleasant with small vases containing orchids on each table.

Café Orchid is a BYOB mom and pop spot and you can tell right away that everything here is prepared freshly. As we sat outside waiting for our appetizers to arrive, I could hear the chef at work in the kitchen chopping away preparing made to order dishes. For me, that makes everything taste just a little bit better. For starters, we had hummus and ezme which were both served with Turkish bread. The hummus was ordinary but decent; however the ezme was out of this world. Ezme is chopped spicy roasted red bell peppers and green peppers with tomatoes, garlic walnuts and parsley. It was full of wonderful flavor and we couldn’t get enough of it as we wiped the plate clean. Truth be told, there were a number of tasty appetizers which made it very hard to choose two. I can’t wait to sample some of the others on my next visit, although the ezme will be tough to pass on.

For our lunch entrees, we both went for lamb. Ivy went for the lamb cubes marinated with vegetable oil, lemon juice, paprika, oregano, black pepper and onion. It was served with bulgur and was outstanding. We were both extremely satisfied with the flavor of not just the lamb but the bulgur. I went for the kofte sandwich which is served wrapped in thin Lebanese bread, or lavash, and served with fresh tomatoes and lettuce on top. Kofte is ground lamb and beef with spices. I guess you could say that it is the Turkish version of a meatball and it is very flavorful. Both entrees were served with a crisp salad, of crunchy green peppers, lettuce, tomato and onion dressed with olive oil and lemon.

Everything was high quality with excellent ingredients, tasty and very reasonable as our total bill was $35 with tax and tip. I cannot wait to go back for dinner as I have a hunch that Café Orchid will become a go to place for me and my wife.