January 2006 100 Very Best

THE SCENE. Owner Nizam Ozgur has kept watch over the dining room and kitchen since the earliest days of the Carter administration--probably why this Vienna restaurant turns out some of the area's best Turkish fare. Expat families and foreign-service types who gather in the ceramic-filled dining room revel in good food and surroundings that never get too loud or chaotic--this is one place where you can actually converse over dinner.

WHAT YOU'LL LOVE. Too often Turkish cuisine is lumped in with Lebanese and Greek, obscuring its particular charms. The cooking here reminds you that not all stuffed grape leaves are created equal. A helpful waitstaff only adds to the appeal.

WHAT YOU WON'T. Mr. Ozgur can be a forbidding presence, especially for first-timers. Chatting him up usually takes the chill off.

BEST DISHES. Sigara borek, thick phyllo "cigars" filled with feta and deep-fried; imam bayildi, meltingly tender eggplant with tomato, pine nuts, and onions; stuffed grape leaves with a filling of rice, currants, and pine nuts; tavuk hunkar beyendi, smoky eggplant whipped with béchamel and mounded with chunks of chicken breast; doner kebab, thin slices of leg of lamb roasted on a vertical spit--order it plain or tossed with toasted pita, fresh tomatoes, and house-made yogurt; manti, tiny boat-shaped pasta filled with meat, steeped in broth, and finished with yogurt; apricot baklava.