CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/31068
f ood Turkish Cuisine serves a delicious mix of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food | By Jason Brady TURKISH DELIGHT I Above | Gul Mabrey and Ayla Fickett’s familial ties bring forth great business opportunity Left | Traditional food like Falafel, lamb, sausage and veggies blended with unique spices are served with Turkish rice and shepherd’s salad f you go into Turkish Cuisine on Yadkin Road expecting to find hookah pipes filled with aromatic tobacco and waiters serving exotic Mediterranean dishes while wearing Fustanellas, the traditional kilt-like garb of the Balkans, you might be disappointed. But if you’re easily satisified with a down-home atmosphere in a place where the food is good and plentiful and the prices are reasonable, then this mom and pop style eatery is just the place to get your Turkish food fix. Formerly the Turkish Grill, the restaurant at 5044 Yadkin Road is situated in one of those parking lot mini-malls so common along the routes into and out of nearby Fort Bragg. It’s a small establishment, with roughly 10 tables hiding under plastic table cloths with flowery designs. It’s the kind of family- owned restaurant found from Adana, Turkey, to Eden, North Carolina. What it lacks in fake franchise-style décor it makes up in good food. Sisters Gul Mabrey and Ayla Fickett, along with Ayla’s fiancée, James Parham, run the little restaurant. Gul is the people person, always out front meeting customers; Ayla is the financial wizard; and James, when he’s not donning a parachute at his day job in the 82nd Airborne Division, does everything in between, he said. Gul and Ayla hail from Izmir, the third most populated city in Turkey. Nestled along the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea, the region is noted for its blended use of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern spices in the preparation of meals. The menu is divided into appetizers, kebabs, salads, mixed grill, desserts and beverages. Among appetizers are Dolma, grape leaves stuffed with rice and Middle Eastern spices; Ezme, CityViewNC.com | 27