Isot Mediterranean Cuisine

On one fair night, some of my friends and I gathered at Isot (622 S. 6th Street) for an Ugly Sweater Party. The restaurant was cozy with a classy vibe to it. See pictures of some of the decor on the first floor. This establishment actually had a second floor that fitted two middle size tables, making it great for big parties. Hence, that was where we were seated. After most of the people arrived and mingled, we ordered food.

Some of the first floor decor

Mixed Meze

I shared the Mixed Meze (combination of Abugannush, Acilli Ezme, Haydari, Saksuka, Hummus, and Russian Salad) with a friend. Starting from roughly at 9PM and going clockwise, there was the Abugannush, Saksuka, Acili Ezme, Haydari, and Hummus. In the middle was the Russian Salad. Abugannush is char broiled eggplant and tomatoes with thinly sliced green peppers garlic, parsley in a special pomegranate sauce. It was okay. I had this at other Mediterranean restaurants. In comparison to what I had in the past, I thought this was a little bland. I would have prefer if the eggplant's char broiled taste was a little stronger. The Saksuka is fried vegetables topped with tomato garlic sauce. I actually never tried this appetizer before. The waitress told us it was her favorite and was basically eggplants and fried eggs with tomato sauce which is a little different from the description on the menu; nonetheless I found it quite delightful and flavorful. The Acili Ezme is fine chopped tomatoes, green pepper, onions, garlic, and parsley in a special spicy sauce. Although the waitress warned us about the spiciness of this appetizer, I found it less than mildly spicy (but than again my tolerance for spicy is pretty high). Overall, I was not really fond of the Acili Ezme. It mostly tasted like sauteed onions with a tiny little kick to it. Haydari is fresh dill with strained yogurt and garlic sauce. The Haydari was good. It was creamy and tasted tarry like greek yogurt with lemon; however, it was not something I would binge on. The Hummus is mashed up chickpeas with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and garlic. I thought the hummus there was average. It was very creamy, but I did not think there was anything special about it.  The Russian Salad is boiled potatoes, carrots, peas, pickled jerkins, salt, black pepper with mayonnaise. Per the waitress, it was the Turkish take on the Russian salad. It was good and tasted like potato salad. I love potatoes so I have nothing bad to say about the potato starter.

Warm pita bread

To accompany the Mixed Meze dish, there was pita bread. The bread was delicious and tasted fresh. It was soft and fluffy. There were lightly warmed from the grill.

Vegetarian Delight

For my main course, I got the Vegetarian Delight (sauteed seasonal vegetable served over an omelette,  topped with feta cheese). The dish was quite good, but nothing spectacular. The omelette was placed on the bottom of the plate and covered with different kinds of vegetables. Initially, not remembering the description of the dish, I thought on the bottom was pita bread, but the more I ate of it, it resembled texture of fresh mozzarella cheese. I still thought it was mozzarella until I saw the description again. It did not taste like eggs to me. Maybe they added something to eggs to give it a different texture. The vegetables which include cauliflower, red pepper, green pepper, broccoli, mushrooms, and onions were tendered and well seasoned. I would rate this dish average based on the fact that I thought it could be replicated at home especially the sauteed vegetables. Maybe I should have chosen something else on the menu.

Overall, the food was okay. It would not be my first pick for Mediterranean food, though.