Boston Kebab House

Published Oct. 7, 2009 at 9:23 p.m.
An oasis of fresh Turkish and American food in the Financial District desert
...Dozens of lousy fast-food chain outlets dot the Financial District. (If I worked there, I'd frequent Chinatown for lunch.)...

Dozens of lousy fast-food chain outlets dot the Financial District. (If I worked there, I'd frequent Chinatown for lunch.) But a few independently operated restaurants — like Boston Kebab House — serve reasonable, tasty food. Turkish cuisine stars here, notably the eye-popping "meze bar," a self-service cold buffet where, for $6.99 per pound (up to a $9.95 maximum), you can load a container full of Middle Eastern spreads (hummus, baba ghanoush, muhammara), whole-legume salads (white bean, black bean, red bean, green lentil, chickpea), and other salads (string bean, tabbouleh, artichoke, falafel, red-lentil fritters). The same box can be loaded with "hot station" entrées like roast lamb, moussaka, and pastizio. A variety of savory pies (spinach, lamb/beef) and fritters (zucchini, artichoke, spinach) are available for $1 each. You could mix it up at this station every lunch for months without getting bored, and it's all quite good and relatively healthy.

Turkish kebabs and fritters are another solid bet, wrapped in pita ($6.90-$8.43) or served as plates ($8.81-$11.19) with mounds of shepherd salad, two kinds of rice, and cucumber/yogurt sauce. Chicken, lamb, steak tip, and swordfish shish kebabs are flavorfully marinated and perfectly cooked, while kofte (ground-meat patties) of chicken, tandoori chicken, and beef/lamb are likewise delicious. But doner kebab, the famous Turkish analogue to Greek gyros, was inedibly salty on one visit and off-tasting on another — a disappointment. Chickpea falafel is better, nicely crunchy and un-greasy. Both wraps and plates feature thin, flavorless pita bread.

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