Issue:
July
2008

By Barbara Penny Angelakis

Pera Mediterranean Brasserie
303 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212.878.6301
www.peranyc.com

Pera, a true Mediterranean Brasserie, representing the best of cuisines, wines and music from the near-eastern cultures fronting the fabled sea, is gaining favor and a loyal following in midtown Manhattan. Pera is the Mediterranean’s answer to an American steak house with infinitely more diversity and an extensive wine cellar. Here you will find no folksy, white washed walls, hanging prayer rugs and scenes of the Bosporus to transport you visually to Pera’s namesake, a trendy neighborhood in Istanbul known as a meeting place for the upwardly mobile. Pera’s young partners Cem Erenler and Burak Karaçam, along with their engaging support staff, hope the salute “let’s meet at Pera” translates well from Turkey’s most cosmopolitan city, to their stylish restaurant on the east side of Madison Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets.

A discrete glass walled facade, marked simply with a stylized flame, enters into a classically handsome room with one wall devoted entirely to a cleverly constructed hanging display for bottles of red wines sold by the glass. The opposite wall is mainly dedicated to an elongated banquet flanked by enclosed cabinets containing wines sold by the bottle. The earth-toned color scheme, soft ceiling lighting, marble floors, and an exposed working kitchen at the far end of the room, complete the tasteful décor of this chic restaurant. The background music is just that, an unobtrusive but charming blend of songs from throughout the Mediterranean, woven together especially for Pera and changing throughout the day to keep pace with the activity in the restaurant. But, Pera really shines when it comes to service. Our waiter had infinite patience in describing the menu and adding his enthusiastic commentary on the dishes that he found particularly appealing. It is in fact the philosophy behind Pera, to demystify the exotic nature of the cuisine of the near-eastern Mediterranean and help their clientele to develop a comfort level in ordering and eating the less well known dishes.

Brunch is offered only on Saturday from 11:30AM to 3:30PM with a prix-fixe special or ala carte menu choices. We began with specialty cocktails of Pera Royale, made with Moet & Chandon Champagne, Pera’s homemade sour cherry syrup and lemon thyme, and a Bloody Marytini with Ketel One, seasoned tomato juice, pickle shish and izhot pepper rimming the glass, and a Pastry Basket. The basket contained a simit (a street-bread, like a large, very thin bagel, heavily covered with sesame seeds) with cheese pastry squares accompanied by Cem’s Mom’s homemade fruit jam… what a treat. We moved on to Feta Stuffed Dates wrapped in aged Pastirma (an air-cured, spicy beef, similar to Pastrami but chewier) and the Brunch Salad. The dates were tidbits of flavor… the sweet dried fruit, creamy slightly salty cheese, and sharp spicy meat, each enhancing the flavor of the others… a definite must-try. The salad was a masterpiece of chopped asparagus, parsley, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers, and walnuts and topped with crumbled Tulum Cheese (like Feta but dryer and more highly flavored) washed with a citrus vinaigrette. It was a most unusual combination of tastes and if you are a salad lover as I am, highly recommended.

“Chilbir” Poached Eggs over sautéed fresh spinach, served in an iron skillet topped with yogurt and Turkish paprika came next and is Turkey’s answer to poached eggs on toast -- no use in taking up stomach space with bread when you can have spinach and still leave room for desert. This dish is also served with a mixed green salad that was made special by the vinaigrette dressing. Less successful was the Pastirma Reuben, with Kasseri Cheese and homemade pickles on a simit bun. The idea was great, but Pastirma becomes dry and chewy when cooked, even though the meat was top quality as was the Kasseri Cheese. We tried the Mediterranean Fries and they were terrific, fried crispy and flavored with sea salt, pepper and oregano and the Grilled Soujouk, a peppery beef sausage heavy on the garlic and cumin and wonderful with eggs fixed any way.

Chef Jason Avery is the genius behind the inspired menu, which was developed in conjunction with Turkish Chef Sezai Çelikbaş. Chef Avery joined Pera’s creative group early-on, and went to Turkey to explore first-hand with Chef Çelikbaş the culinary traditions of the cuisine. His challenge was to adapt that training into recipes that would appeal to a broad audience and he has succeeded admirably. A case in point is the desert choices that we had left room for… we tried three and they were all winners. One of my favorite all-time taste treats is Kadaifi (traditional Turkish shredded filo and chopped walnut sweet) with Kaymak (a triple condensed cream, resembling Devonshire cream) and Chef Avery’s version is drop-dead delicious. The Kadaifi was oven-baked in a small cake shape, stuffed with a small amount of sweet cheese, and topped with the cream and a sprig of fresh mint; it was sweet without being cloying and rich without overwhelming the taste buds. The most unusual of the three was the Warm Semolina Dome, another small cake-shaped confection that was stuffed with vanilla ice cream, to create a truly unique desert. The final desert was an individual-sized Chocolate Soufflé served with three dipping sauces, whipped cream, warm chocolate sauce, and vanilla ice cream. The soufflé itself was more like a flourless cake then a soufflé but was nevertheless delicious, and any of the three would be a good choice to end a meal.

Before eating at Pera Mediterranean Brasserie, I was curious how a restaurant could survive in the evening and weekend no-mans land of commercial midtown, but afterwards it was clear that it has developed into a “let’s meet at Pera” destination restaurant that people would travel to, just like it’s namesake in Istanbul.
 

© January 2008 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.