Antepli Turkish Gourmet

Antepli Turkish Gourmet opened, apparently in late January, in the strip mall where Sahar International Market is. The storefront previously housed Kabab House, Karam Grill and Kang Nam Galbi in reverse chronological order. The dining area has minimal change from the previous two incarnations except for cases for Turkish desserts. I suspect there were some major kitchen changes as they also seem to have a wholesale bakery business.

My wife and I had lunch there today. Our small sample makes us want to return. We both had lentil soup, which is a fairly thin puree with a yellowish color. The accompanying lemon slice helped brighten the flavor. This is not the hearty lentil soup with lots of whole brown lentils common in Middle Eastern restaurants but was quite enjoyable on its own terms.

The menu shows names of dishes with no descriptions of the dishes. The selection is not large but has a pretty good assortment. We eat at Cafe Orchid fairly frequently and so were not out at sea but others might have some problems.

I had the adana sandwich ($7.99). The meat was suitably peppery with some red onion and pepper slivers also wrapped in the lavash. There were some forgettable tomato slices and chopped lettuce on the side. My capsaicin-averse spouse had the doner sandwich. She said that we could not share because she did not want adana and did not even offer me a taste as she ate the whole thing. Clearly she liked the doner. Unlike Cafe Orchid these sandwiches do not come with hot and white sauce on the side. There was no need for hot sauce, but a little white sauce would have been good.

The restaurant was much busier than I ever saw at its two predecessors. The lone waitress was quite busy. Food came out of the kitchen pretty quickly in sharp contrast to the two earlier restaurants.

They have quite a selection of baklava and other Turkish desserts including ice cream. We got four pieces of baklava to go: two each of pistachio and chocolate. I will update this thread after we have eaten them.

Antepli Turkish Gourmet
Baklava Kunefe Kebabs
4849 N. Kedzie Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
773-942-6300
https://anteplichicago.com/

Hours 10:00 am to 10:00 pm seven days a week

Having eaten the baklava for dessert this evening, I summarize by saying yum. The pistachio version has finely ground nuts, almost as fine as almond paste, with good pistachio flavor. The chocolate baklava uses walnuts chopped at usual size for baklava with chocolate on top. Price is four for $5.00 to go or for eating in the restaurant.

I'm glad this is getting some attention. I was at Sahar last weekend picking up lamb shanks and saw Antepli and wandered in. I didn't have a chance to eat but picked up a menu. Upon arrival, it definitely gives you the sense that it's a bakery-focused business (much of the area near the doors is given over to display cases). But here is something that seemed mighty promising - the slightly hazy waft of smoke and grill smell that suggested some serious meat sizzling was happening in the kitchen. I didn't see any food come out when I was there, but the smell will get me coming back.