A Taste of Turkey

Posted: February 3, 2009

New York City-Plenty of restaurants bottle their barbecue sauces, salsas, or salad dressings for retail sales, but meat is another animal entirely. Yet meats are the main draw at Pera Mediterranean Brasserie and are what customers have been continually asking to take away. So it only made sense to start packing and shipping such Turkish signatures as hand-minced and hand-marbled lamb adana (the meat and fat is separated and chopped, a portion of the fat is mixed back in, and then it's seasoned and skewered), lamburger patties (stuffed with feta), and chicken shish kebabs (marinated cubed chicken).

The lamb adana, made according to the traditional Turkish method of hand chopping with a pala (a curved Turkish knife), then marinating, and finally grilling on two-foot-long skewers, is the most unusual offering. In the restaurant it's served with sumac flavored onions and parsley on lavash flatbread.

Six ready-to-cook meat preparations, flash frozen and vacuum-packed, are currently available, priced from $6.95 to $13.95 for seven to 16 ounce portions. To order: www.peraonlinestore.com. -Beverly Stephen

Club Med Reinvented
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic-Since its opening in the 1950s, Club Med has been known for expansive buffets similar to the all-you-can-eat Las Vegas variety. All-you-can-eat? Yes. All-you-want-to-eat? Not necessarily.

Vacationers at Club Med locations around the world have been clamoring for more. More refined food, that is. Enter Erik Peters, corporate chef for Club Med, who has transformed about 75 percent of the buffet-style meal service into individual cooking stations at Samana at Club Med Punta Cana as part of a massive renovation of the resort and one of the property's three restaurants. No longer is food prepared hours in advance, only to languish on steam tables, but it's cooked à la minute according to each guest's preference.

Here comes the major question: Is it really possible to serve the hundreds of people who troll through the buffet line every night in such a personal manner? With a list of equipment a mile long and access to some of the best local food in the Dominican Republic, the answer is yes. Peters, along with Club Med Punta Cana executive chef Bayram Ozhan, has created a rotating menu that includes shrimp and vegetable napoleons, Turkish pizzas, short ribs with blue cheese risotto, and seven hour lamb with creamy polenta. With more than 10 food stations, each with its own prep area and cook, the service is indeed personalized, as each guest can participate in the creation of his own dish, sometimes building omelets, crêpes, Asian stir-fries, or noodle dishes from scratch. Behind the counters are Hobart slicers and Electrolu xpanini grills for gourmet sandwiches, Frymaster pasta cookers and a Rosito Bisani pasta maker for homemade Italian creations, Ricemaster rice cookers and custom-made Raven Range woks for every type of Asian dish. Buffets are still maintained for breads (13 different varieties), cheeses, charcuterie from around the world, and multitudes of house-baked pastries, cakes, and cookies.

While Samana is branded as an upscale buffet with white tablecloths, linen napkins, Dudson china, and goblets filled with South African Bergwater Vineyards wines, a family-friendly atmosphere is kept kindled with a kids' corner and plenty of food choices for the little ones.

Management intends to eventually apply Samana as a template worldwide. -Diana DeCicco