From Guest Blogger Umit Celebi, who also took these photos:

By now you may have heard about Güllüoğlu, Istanbul’s finest baklava bakery, now with a Manhattan location. They also make a mean simit, the crispy halo of sesame-swathed dough sold on every corner in Turkey -- and now available on the corner of Second Avenue and 52nd Street.

The sweets, savories and simits are superb but what steals the show is the tea. From a distance it seems like any other cup of tea, but upon approach you realize it’s anything but ordinary. Brewed in small batches, one part Earl Grey, three parts Black Sea tea and served in the traditional slim-waisted glass cups, this is tea with charisma, stage presence, star power. Your senses delight to the limpid Bordeaux hue, the discreet scent of bergamot orange rinds and the top-flight flavor of authentic Rize province tea leaves. It’s like liquid hope and it comes at just two dollars and change.

Çay – that’s the Turkish word for tea. It’s pronounced exactly like the word chai, and the notes on the palm of my hand remind me that the word originates from the Mandarin Chinese compound word denoting "tea leaves" (茶叶 chá yè). That’s the çay you drink.

And there’s the çay you eat: the traditional dinner that goes by that name – the great improvisation of Turkish cuisine. This is not to be confused with the traditional “tea” in the United Kingdom, served in the afternoon. Nor is it like a Japanese kaiseki or Spanish tapas meal because the one rule is: no cooking allowed. Though it’s more akin to a Scandinavian smorgasbord or an Italian salume, it’s not served in restaurants. It’s a dinner whose components are foraged at your favorite fine food stores and then consumed at home.

As with all improvisations, the possibilities are endless. Every Turkish family has its own way of preparing a çay dinner, but when I was growing up, it invariably involved a wide variety of cold cuts and cheeses, pate, pickles, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, and plenty of bread. This is essentially party food but for a normal night in. And it need not center around tea; wine goes very well with it.

You can see where this is headed – find you inner çay. Since there’s no cooking involved you can trade the time in the kitchen for more extensive shopping. I typically load up my cart with salami, prosciutto and pate. Add to this a flight of cheese (hard, soft, blue and goat). Select a tomato, a hothouse cucumber, cured black and green olives, and a jar of cornichons. Crusty breads like a baguette or a ciabatta add texture to the otherwise mostly soft components. Depending on how many people are dining, a quarter-pound to half-pound of any one item will suffice.

Set all the items on the table with plenty of knives for cutting and spreading, slice the bread, and from there, it’s serve-yourself. The routine is to sample each item plain or on bread for at least one go-around. A rhythm will establish itself, not unlike that of a fondue with diners reaching in at regular intervals.

Çay is not meant to be a “leftover” meal, but if you have a soup from before that can be reheated, it makes a nice match. And, in fact, it’s perfectly okay to include one take-out item as a sort of “anchor” dish. You couldn’t do any better than bringing home some börek (savory pies) from Güllüoğlu to add an authentic Turkish touch.

On my most recent visit to Güllüoğlu, I noticed two men in Istanbul Emergency Rescue jumpsuits ordering take-out. I could think of only one reason why these fellows would be here in New York, and my hunch was confirmed when they told me they had just finished a 30-day mission in Haiti. Their eyes told the whole story and their souls were hungry. They had come to the right place.

Resources:

Güllüoğlu
982 Second Avenue (at 52nd Street)

Çaykur brand Turkish black teas (Rize, Altinbaş, Filiz) and their Earl Grey (Tomurcuk) are available at:

Kalustyan’s
123 Lexington Avenue (between 28th and 29th Streets)

And online at:

Tulumba.com

Umit Celebi is an actor who has lived in neighborhoods all over Manhattan. He currently resides near Ground Zero with his wife, Kate, and their daughters, Ajda and Mavi. His new blog, Eat Me in Manhattan!, appears periodically here on Kitchen Scoop.