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Café Anatolia
Mediterranean motif
BY NINA MACLAUGHLIN
Previous Columns

From Inman Square, head east on Cambridge Street. Pass the Overdraught Pub. Pass the Hair Wiz. Pass the nail salons and the bridal boutiques. Pass the mysterious toy store where you have to ring the bell to enter. Pass a curtain shop that stays open late. Right before you get to the divey Courtside bar, you’ll see Café Anatolia. It used to be the Old Firehouse Grill; a banner covers the old awning. The new place — it’s been open a little less than six months — suits the varied neighborhood. Two pals from Turkey started Anatolia as a way to combine flavors familiar and foreign while extolling the Turkish virtue of hospitality. And that shines through in word and deed.

On the menu cover, there’s a quote from Rumi, the poet-philosopher who spent most of his life in Turkey: "Come, come again, whoever you are, come! ... Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are." And indeed, everything about the place invites: the warm yellow walls, the smiling guys behind the counter, and especially the food.

Anatolia offers classic low-key pizza/sub-shop fare: BLTs ($5), pesto-chicken calzones ($5.50/small; $8.50/large), eggplant parmesan ($5.25), and caesar salads ($4.50). But you can find that stuff on every city block. The sun-dried-tomato paste on the Anatolia panino ($5.95) gives the sandwich a sweet tang, but allows the other flavors — grilled chicken, caramelized onions, and provolone — the attention they deserve. The Agora panino ($5.95) includes prosciutto, tomato, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil — a Mediterranean marketplace of tastes. The goat-cheese-and-sun-dried-tomato salad ($5.50), with black olives topping a mesclun mix, is generous to the point of meal-size status. Anatolia also gives sandwich combos local names. Grilled portobello, roasted red peppers, and goat cheese make up the MIT Special ($5.75). Substitute eggplant for portobello, add pesto, and you’ve got the Harvard Special ($5.75). The Red Sox ($5.95) includes smoked turkey, ham, coleslaw, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing. And to get back to basics, the onion rings ($2.99) are world-class.

Café Anatolia, located at 251 Cambridge Street, in Cambridge, is open Sunday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, until 1 a.m. Call (617) 492-7232.


Issue Date: January 7 - 13, 2005
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