Had lunch for the first time today at Istanbul, in the bottom of the USX building. All my coworkers have been raving about this place for weeks. My boyfriend brought up the idea of Turkish food to me just yesterday and I was super hesitant. But I'm so glad I decided to give this spot a try.
I went with my more seasoned coworker (I heard the ordering process was.... confusing, at best.... for newbies) and kind of watched how he ordered. They had choice for hot plates (if you wanted chicken you had to go outside - guess they're selling it out on the plaza), cold plates, etc. I went with the cold veggie plate and I made sure to mention it was my first time dining there.
The woman behind the counter was super great and kind of led me along all the food stations, asking if I had food allergies and inquiring what I liked. I'm not typically a fan of grape leaves but I found myself actually enjoying the one she gave me.
I think by the time she loaded up my container, I had some great salad, a grape leave, some orange rice-looking stuff that was great, killer hummus, some eggplant, a bean salad, some green bean stuff, yogurt sauce, beets and probably some other stuff I'm missing.
I forced myself to only eat half.... and trust me, I could've wolfed down the whole plate without stopping. Most of the time I didn't even know what I was eating, I just knew all the flavors were fantastic. I'm intensely looking forward to lunch tomorrow because that means leftovers. The whole meal cost me $9 - which for me, is a little high. I don't think I could make this a weekly stop.... but probably a once-a-month treat.
Check it out, even if you're hesitant. It was fabulous.