“Rent him!” cried Azali’s pal, Mark Furstenberg, the proprietor of the beloved Bread Furst bakery, after tasting the chef’s tombik pide and lavash, recent from the oven.
The candidate, 35, got here to the audition with an admirable résumé, having cooked at Nostos in Tysons, Kazan in McLean and Zaytinya in Washington and having labored in eating places since he was 14. Making meals was virtually in his blood. Gulyiyen’s late father served as chef for Tansu Çiller, the primary feminine prime minister of Turkey, and taught underlings to prepare dinner for ambassadors and others. But it surely was bread that first seduced Azali’s meeting that day greater than a yr in the past and bread that launches dinner at Namak, whose identify is the Persian (and Hindi) phrase for “salt.”
In historic instances, says Azali, “salt was costly.” Hosts supplied friends salt as “an indication they actually favored them.”
Namak opened in March, changing the decade-old Mintwood Place with a menu gathering concepts from Turkey, Greece and Azali’s homeland of Iran. As you would possibly count on of such a union, dips occupy prime actual property. Namak’s hummus emphasizes lemon over garlic, a element Gulyiyen says he picked up whereas cooking in Greece, and a whip of goat cheese, cream and milk makes use of a swirl of honey to steadiness the tang. The drama award goes to a pink-purple puree of beets and yogurt blended with garlic and lemon that eats like a cloud. A paper sleeve of heat, bun-shaped pide accompanies the spreads. One tear of bread results in one other, and all too quickly, the roll and the dips are gone.
You could be sorry to see them go, however different appetizers vie to your affection. Octopus, as an illustration. Gulyiyen bakes it low and gradual with purple wine vinegar, peppercorns and bay leaf, then grills the octopus, arranging bite-size items on a vivid puree of carrots infused with lemon juice, olive oil and a housemade garlic paste that finds its manner into quite a few dishes right here. The appetizer, garnished with capers, swings from candy to bitter and could also be one of the best octopus on the town proper now.
Early-morning walks round Adams Morgan throughout the pandemic put Azali in touch with neighbors, “largely ladies strolling canine,” who he figured would assist fill his future restaurant’s seats. (The restaurateur co-owns Namak with enterprise accomplice John Cidre and in addition runs the Japanese retreat Perry’s subsequent door, the place Azali says ladies are 80 % of his prospects, “even to pull brunch.”) The operator thinks ladies are inclined to eat healthfully, and he knew greens could be an enormous a part of Namak. “The neighbors are crucial individuals,” says Azali, who additionally units apart 12 indoor seats for walk-ins.
In reality, the greens are fantastic. One appetizer particularly would make me an everyday: kuru patlican dolmasi. The chef buys eggplant from Turkey that’s been dried within the solar and stuffs it with rice, lentils and bulgur seasoned with minced purple pepper, dried mint and cumin. The shine and sass on the floor is a luscious mix of pomegranate molasses, tomato and pepper pastes. What’s to cease some enjoyable on the tongue? Even the easier shepherd salad is a pleasure of little gem lettuce tossed with purple onion, feta cheese and cherry tomatoes and dressed with lemon and sumac — sunshine on a backyard. And the aspect dishes embody an excellent spinach cooked with onion, nutmeg and butter, and inexperienced beans cooked the Greek manner, sautéed to break down and flavored with onion and tomato sauce.
The one dish on the menu each Azali and Gulyiyen grew up with is the zucchini cutlet, which each their moms made at residence. Shredded zucchini is seasoned with herbs and scallions, certain with egg and flour and pan-fried to a light-weight crisp, then displayed as 4 savory pancakes over a carpet of yogurt, lemon and garlic confit.
The dish dearest to Azali is kebab torsh, a reminder of travels to northern Iran along with his father, a Christian missionary physician. Image chunks of beef tenderloin lined up beside an equally neat row of a shiny pepper, cherry tomatoes and a little bit nest of shaved onions spiked with sumac. Higher but, style the meeting. The bites of meat, tender and calmly charred, burst with taste from their paste of floor walnuts, herbs together with cilantro and mint, and pomegranate molasses. When Azali, who roams the restaurant like a goodwill ambassador, tells me a fellow Iranian cried after consuming the dish, I nod in understanding. The kebab of floor lamb additionally demonstrates the chef’s talent. Gulyiyen butchers the meat himself, utilizing fats close to the tail and leg of lamb, which he combines with paprika and peppers. The completed product lounges on flatbread, which absorbs the juices of the kebab. All sponges ought to style so good.
Azali went to Turkey half a dozen instances earlier than opening Namak, as a lot to eat as to buy. The design at their new restaurant advantages from his many souvenirs: good-looking tiles, lamps and woven rugs. Thick ropes and what seem like slender wooden beams adorn the ceiling. Appears to be like are deceiving, although. The explanation you may hear your self suppose is as a result of the homeowners paid $100,000 for acoustic panels disguised as rafters. The prized seats are the white banquettes nestled within the entrance home windows, which permit for each privateness and people-watching. The massive script on the wall is a Persian toast: “To your well being,” it reads.
Essentially the most intriguing fundamental course is blanched cauliflower whose florets are plucked from the pinnacle, fried to a pale golden shade and reassembled like a puzzle. A dusting of za’atar and turmeric and an underliner of tahini, golden raisins and tart barberries makes for distinctive consuming. However what’s easy can be elegant. Roasted rooster, with its whisper of oregano and crisp, lemon-kissed potatoes, tastes like Sunday supper on the Aegean.
Braised lamb shank, in distinction, is the shock bore on the desk. The fist of meat, draped in a posh cloak of saffron, garlic, cinnamon — a spice cupboard, actually — rises from a mattress of chickpeas and beans and falls simply from the bone, simply as a server promised. However the dense lamb is the one occasion the place salt appears to be absent. Right here and there, the open kitchen seems to over-promote the restaurant’s identify. One night time it’s grilled marinated shrimp that suffers from an overdose of sodium. One other dinner, a dip of whipped fish roe and olive oil has us chasing it again with oceans of water. A correct taramasalata ought to recommend the ocean, not a deer lick.
The chef retains regulars coming again with specials that benefit extra play time. If the entree returns, scallops bedded on orzo, yellow with saffron and wealthy with cream, deserve your consideration. So do the desserts. They embody a nice, syrup-soaked semolina cake and a rice pudding whose brown pores and skin offers technique to a cool, snow-white inside of rice suspended in milk and cream. From the bar — my vacation spot once I stroll in with no reservation — circulation distinctive drinks. Namak 75 is a very refreshing swirl of gin, lemon, apricot and fizzy wine, whereas the intelligent Saz’arak (get it?) — bourbon, dates, arak and toasted sesame — packs the punch promised by our server. “Mediterranean moonshine,” she described the cocktail.
Azali says he’s been ready to open a restaurant that displays his a part of the world for so long as he’s been within the enterprise. The one factor conserving him from what he calls his legacy restaurant was the correct chef. Gulyiyen seals the deal, and the neighborhood — certainly, the town — is healthier for Namak.
1813 Columbia Street NW. 202-234-6732. namakdc.com. Open for indoor and out of doors eating 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday by Thursday and Sunday, and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Costs: Appetizers $5 to $16, kebabs and fundamental programs $18 to $35. Sound verify: 70 decibels/Dialog is straightforward. Accessibility: A door to the best off the doorway admits wheelchair customers, and 7 indoor tables can accommodate them; restrooms are ADA-compliant.
