Leyla, Manhattan, New York City, New York

Nancy gave me a weekend in New York City for Christmas and we recently hopped on a train and headed to the Grande Pomme. We arrived at Penn Station and strolled up to our hotel, then checked in. We toured the Morgan Library before returning to unpack and then head to dinner before a performance of Turandot at Lincoln Center.

I’d been to easily 200+ theater and concert performances in my Newark days courtesy of the US Army, when I could take the PATH over to Manhattan and go to the USO and get free tickets to plays, concerts, and the occasional baseball game, so I had extensive experience with pre-theater dinners. My budget then, however, limited me largely to pizza slices and, when I was feeling flush, deli sandwiches.

No more. I sent out a plea for advice on Hungry Onion and the winner, once I’d dawdled too long to get an indoor reservation at Bar Boloud, was Leyla, a Turkish restaurant at 108 West 74th, just a short walk north of the Lincoln Center Opera House. We took a cab up and arrived during what turned out to be the 5:30-6:30 pm Happy Hour, and were pleased to see knowing patrons eagerly wolfing down collections of appetizers at the jammed bar. Nancy commented that they looked like Happy Hour professionals. Here’s the bar area after the Happy Hour dust had settled.

We were seated at a table well beyond the bar area. Leyla’s offers a few outside tables, the bar seating, an outside patio that was in use, and a main seating area. The last, situated between the bar and the patio, was very loosely divided into three areas.

As at the Salt Line, the result was, as Nancy noted, an unusually low noise level and easy conversation. There was a brief interruption of Happy Birthday, but it was dominated by a nice soprano instead of the usual cacophony. The lighting was soft, and further lowered around 6:00 pm. It was a comfortable and pleasant place for a meal.

Nancy ordered the branzino off the main menu, and asked for a simple green salad to start. The menu doesn’t include a simple green salad, but our server, Alex, took heed and the kitchen whipped up this mixture of arugula, cherry tomatoes, julienned carrots, dressed only with lemon juice ($10).

The salad was a delight. It was a very generous serving, and I had some to start my own meal. I’ve heard that it’s good to start your meal with a vegetable, and while I usually ignore that advice, the allure of the pretty salad won out.

I ordered the Meze Trio ($13),

separate containers of, from left to right, a fava bean puree, hummus, and muhamarra, all accompanied by those lightly toasted bread fingers. The muhamarra was especially flavorful. It’s a blend of roasted red peppers and walnuts seasoned with olive oil, garlic, and that great Aleppo pepper plus, I think some cumin and a sweet element. The fava bean puree included garlic, onion, lemon, a light touch of cumin, and dill. The hummus was a lightly seasoned, straightforward version that was good, but the fava puree and especially the muhamarra stood out. This was a winner that we both enjoyed.

As I mentioned, Nancy chose the grilled branzino filet ($31) for her entree.

What a lovely hunk of fish. Again I had a taste and it was cooked just through, and had an appealing texture and a slightly sweet taste. This was a big winner. It sat atop those great Middle Eastern style potatoes mixed with roasted peppers that I’ve eaten mainly at Greek restaurants, but they may have been invented in Turkey or anywhere else people aren’t getting along with the Greeks these days.

I thought about getting the lamb shank. I’m a huge fan of lamb shank. When we were tasting dishes for Liza and Michael’s wedding reception, I knew we’d get the rockfish topped with crab, but I had the caterer prepare a lamb shank just so I could taste some. This time, though, I knew that I would linger over the lamb shank and possibly make us late for the opera, so I ordered a lamb burger ($17) topped with emmentaler.   

The lamb burger came medium rare, as ordered, and had that good lamb favor. I suspect that it was made with an 85-15 meat-fat ratio rather than 80-20. That seems to happen more and more now. It came with lettuce and tomato, along with some very good pickles that added a lot of flavor and texture to the burger. It wasn’t a lamb shank, but I enjoyed it, and we ended up having to hustle to get to the opera house in good time.

I’ll have to add that the opera, a revival of the Zeffirelli production of Turonadot, of which I retain a VHS, was spectacular in the way I’ve only seen at the Met. The sets! All of the performers were in grand voice, especially Liu, and Nancy and I both were wowed. You should hustle to see it, and you should plan on dinner at Leyla beforehand. It was a great recommendation and a great choice, and very easy on the budget at Happy Hour. Just make sure you allow plenty of time so you can fully savor the lamb shank.

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