A few months ago, much to my chagrin, Osman Kivanc, owner of the lovely (and close to my house) Turkish Cuisine, somehow decided to pick up his digs and take over Café Istanbul, at Easton Town Center. It seems the owner of Café Istanbul wanted to put his focus elsewhere, and was looking for someone competent to take over his operation here in Columbus.
Fie, what a mistake.
For my review of Turkish Cuisine, please click here. Some of this might sound like a rehash. It isn't that the food isn't good at Café Istanbul with Kivanc at the helm, it's just that the new place doesn't have the neighborhood charm of Turkish Cuisine. Located at an outer corner of Easton, Café Istanbul is nice on the inside, in a kind of over-the-top Turkish theme. It was a cool day outside, but the sun was shining; the inside of the restaurant was empty, and stifling, so we decided to sit outside. The patio of Café Istanbul sits in the parking lot and has few decoration; it's one of the barest patios I've seen, especially compared to the warm interior.
We started off with Husband's favorite, of course, the pilaki. A mixture of white beans 
with potatoes, tomatoes and olive oil, it was not quite as good as I remember from Turkish Cuisine, but still refreshing (my apologies if the picture is a little washed out). (I copied it once, here):
Next up, my favorite, mucver - fried zucchini patties with yogurt sauce. These were superior - crisp on the outside and hot and full of zucchini flavor on the inside:
Entrees were shish kebab, lamb on yogurt with bread, which was very good, although they don't fry the bread first anymore:
Husband opted for Iskender kebab, spit-roasted lamb and beef server over the same bread and yogurt, this time augmented with a tart tomato sauce:
All in all, the food was good. As good as Turkish Cuisine, but about 50% more expensive - lunch for these four items was $48. At least we had enough left over for dinner.
Info: Café Istanbul 3983 Worth Avenue at Easton Town Center, northwest corner 614.473.9144
Complete arbitrary grade: C
