Review: At Sofra Restaurant & Bakery, the road to Istanbul begins in Depew

Ending Turkish cuisine drought, owners of Rochester's As Evi open Buffalo beachhead, complete with a boffo bakery case

Beyti kebab, spicy ground beef, grilled, wrapped in lavash, grilled more, and sauced, served with yogurt and fresh chile, at Sofra.

Time to learn Turkish, Buffalo eaters.

Western New Yorkers have had little reason to, lately. One Turkish spot opened on Elmwood Avenue in 2003, closing 18 months later. Two months in 2016 for a Tonawanda outfit.

I did the math. In this millennium, Buffalo’s had a Turkish restaurant 6 percent of the time. 

Eye see you, Karadeniz yagli.

(Editor’s note: This email has a lot of images, so you might have to click “See More” to get the rest of the story.)

In 2021, I finally noticed As Evi, in Rochester. Now the money once spent on gas and tolls can go towards my continuing education in Turkish cuisine at Sofra Restaurant and Bakery.  With As Evi opening a Buffalo terminal just a mile from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, all I want now is a pair of those fluorescent direction-giving batons to wave like searchlights, guiding hungry folks in to disembark.

So here’s my Turkish 101.