A Wood-Fired Turkish Kebaps Restaurant Lands in San Diego's Normal Heights
Turkish interior designer Ilkem Naz Dinç worked with the Bosforo team to blend modern touches with traditional elements of meyhanes in Turkey. The all-white dining room is warmed by dark reds and leather upholstery at the bar, a wall lined with literature and vintage records, and Turkish lamps. The back bar adds a touch of Old World charm with a trio of arches featuring stone wall accents.
The heart and soul of Bosforo's kitchen is a Mugnaini wood-fired pizza oven, ideal for Anlasbay's Neapolitan-style pizzas cooked at 750 degrees, lahmacun (the Turkish spelling of lahmajoun, a flatbread with a blend of minced meat and vegetables), and kebap (the Turkish spelling of kebab). The pizza dough at Bosforo consists of double-zero flour, topped with a tangy Bianco DiNapoli organic tomato sauce for standards like pepperoni, cheese, or mushroom pizzas. The lone Turkish innovation on the pizza menu is the Anatolian, featuring keyseri pastrami (pastirma) from Central Anatolia, Turkish sausages, and white cheese imported from Turkey. While the Anatolian teases Turkish flavors, Anlasbay's lahmacun is an unadulterated taste of home.
Three wood-fired thin-crusted lahmacun come in an order, topped with a delicate layer of a minced blend of beef and vegetables. Slices of tomatoes, onions, sprigs of parsley, and sumac come on the side to dress the lahmacun before rolling them up for eating. 'This is a one and only Turkish experience in southern California,' says Anlasbay, who noted the more substantial Turkish dining options in New York City, Miami, and San Francisco.
Bosforo's elevated menu begins with cold and hot mezze, offering a unique approach to Turkish cuisine. From the cold mezze, standouts include an herbed hummus with beetroot, spicy eggplant atom (eggplant puree), and antep ezme, a fragrant salad of tomatoes, peppers, and onions, which works as a complement to the kebap. Hot starters like Mersin-style crispy potato fries to dip in green yogurt blended with herbs, and Adana içli köfte — minced meat croquettes — home in on the sense of place at Bosforo.
Kebaps are cooked inside the restaurant's wood-fired oven and consist of hand-minced beef, şiş kebap (beef chunks), and chicken kebap made of chicken thigh. All kebaps are served with fire-roasted tomatoes and peppers, and sumac–dressed onions atop toasted lavash. For vegans, there's a Beyond Meat skewer. Another standout on the menu is the grilled fish, prepared with sea bass sourced from Turkey.
No Turkish meal is complete without coffee to sip while enjoying desserts like sütlaç, oven-baked rice pudding, or pistachio ice cream.
On the bar menu, find wine and local craft beer, which are staples of meyhanes. For a modern twist, there are Turkish-inflected cocktails. Midnight in Istanbul features a base of vodka and Turkish coffee sweetened by sutlac (rice pudding) and Kahlua, while the gin-forward Antalya Spritz mixes in raki (Turkish anise), elderflower, and lemon.
Food from cultures like Greece, Turkey, Palestine, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan continues to be popular dining options in Southern California, with no signs of slowing down, and Bosforo promises to bring a taste of Adana to Normal Heights. 'I've been chasing this for 15 years, opening a restaurant that brings the food from my home,' says Anlasbay. 'It's been a long journey.'
Bosforo is located at 3201 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights. It's open Sunday to Thursday from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Friday to Saturday from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.
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