lokma

https://www.lokmasf.com/


Place: lokma

Location:  1801 Clement Street 
(on the corner of 19th Avenue)

Hours: open Tuesday - Sunday at 9:00am for "Brunch"

Meal: (as a brunchified appetizer) Warm Mediterranean Olives; (for my mainer) Menemen ~ Turkish egg scramble, tomatoes, sweet peppers, Feta[1] cheese, fresh fruit & warm pita; to drink with the meal a demi-cuppa Turkish Coffee; and, beforehand, I stopped at home once again for another truly amazing cuppa Lavender Latte

http://home-cafe.cafes-city.com/

(I have no idea whether Amanda Bergman[2] likes either Menemen or Turkish Coffee, but the last time that I ate at lokma, I posted a few songs by her ex-husband, the Tallest Man on Earth, so I figured it was her turn now.)


Trying to keep it as local as possible on this very fog-infested weekend, I simply went back to lokma (see initial 'blog-entry from Sunday, June 10th, 2018). This restaurant is only three blocks away from where I had breakfast yesterday morning.

They now have some sidewalk seating. There are five small, round tables for two ~ three along the Clement Street sidewalk side and two along the 19th Avenue sidewalk side. However, it was wayyyy too chilly and foggy for this idiot to even think about sitting out there this morning. The only idiots braving the fog and cold were a couple with their pupster, so they did not really have much choice.

lokma does not really offer a whole lotta stuff on their "Brunch" menu (be you a stupid vegetarian or one of them kinda people that partakes in eating the dead, decaying flesh of various animals), but there are still a few other ideas that are worth a look-see:

(a starter/appetizer) Bal & Kaymak ~ honey, clotted cream, & house made (well, restaurant-made) pita; 

Breakfast Porridge ~ coconut milk, bulgur, granola, almonds (this sounds interesting enough, but if I were to order it, I am sure I would have to supplement it with some of their house potatoes); 

Greek(Nasıl?) Yogurt Pancakes ~ seasonal fruit, honey, blueberry compote, almonds (again, I would probably have a side of house potatoes with this one, too);

or maybe

Presidio Salad ~ mixed greens, chickpeas, tomatoes, olives, walnuts, Feta & red wine vinaigrette (I would probably have them lay... well, place... a poached or over-medium egg on top to make it a bit more breakfastarily sound).

(Now, I coulda really used some of these authentic Kalamata olives in yesterday's omelette.)

It musta been a Feta kinda weekend for me (I always say: "Mo' Feta, mo' betta!", anyway.) This version of Menemen was not quite as soupy/stewy as a few of the other versions that I have had in the past and it did not include any onions in it (or none that I could discern). I suppose, like tiramisù and chilaquiles, the recipe can vary from family-to-family or restaurant-to-restaurant. I really liked all of the julienned light-green peppers in it; they were not spicy in any way, just adding lots of flavour.

I have no idea what lokma might have had to offer in the way of condimentary supplements. I did not bother to ask, nor really need any. I did once again use several grinds from my grains of paradise-grinder all over the main dish (and even some on the grapes ~ for which, I hope I do not incur the wrath of any of you purists [or Klingons] out there).

(not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude

As I had done the previous time that I had visited 
lokma (because they do not open until 9:00am and I had time to kill), I stopped by home for another cuppa one of their specials. I reverted back to one of their stranger concoctions (and one of my recent local favourites, anyway). What can I say? Lavender Latte 
really seems to work for me. There are still several other completely-ridiculous-sounding Lattes on their menu that I need yet to try: Sea-Salted Caramel Latte; Chocolate Mint Latte; Hazelnut Latte; Holy Cow ~ a condensed milk Latte; Birthday Cake Latte ~ a rainbow vanilla Latte; and even London Fog ~ Earl Grey Latte with vanilla (where I bet this would also be great with some of the lavender syrup in it). 

Yeah, I know what you are thinking, "Hey, Brian, if'n you already done had you a Coffee afore breakfast, why come you ordered a Turkish Coffee with the meal?" Well, I will give you a two-part answer there: 1) When in Istanbul, do as the Istanbulans do; 2) You can never have enough Coffee in the day; 3) (okay, so it was a three-part answer) It was only a demitasse-worth, anyway; and 4) (okay, that makes it a four-part answer... in harmony... with feeling) Mind yer own bees-wax, d*mmit!

Even with the Latte beforehand, this was still a lot less caffeine than I had yesterday morning. However, during the past two days, my Coffee-intake was probably the equivalent of two normal weekends worth.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Lavender Latte ~ 7.4;
Menemen ~ 6.7

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-sociological pointer of the day:

The work "Feta"/"Φέτα" is the Greek word for "slice" (as in "gimme a thick 'slice' of that good ol' Feta cheese on toppa my χωριάτικη σαλάτα"). I just think it is strange that this Turkish restaurant is using this specific type of cheese. More than likely it is easier to procure imported Greek Feta than the similar Turkish cheese beyaz peynir (literally meaning "white cheese" ~ which you can consider as "stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-sociological pointer of the day - part b"). Normally, Turks would not admit to anything of Greek heritage.

https://www.cheese.com/feta/

https://www.cheese.com/beyaz-peynir/

(By the way, I just want to point out yet once again that I absolutely love that there is a web-site called Cheese.com.)

I know that there are also several food-words of Turkish/Arabic origin that are used in everyday Greek (although Greeks are just as vice-the-versa to admit it, too); ferexample: dolma/ντολμάδες; baklava/μπακλαβά, cacik/τζατζίκι, et cetera/και τα λοιπά.

2. http://www.amandabergman.se/

and

http://www.amasonband.com/