Pinar specializes in two Turkish interpretations of pizza as well as shish-kebab. I've only had…read morethe two versions of pizza. The first, Lahmacun, is better described as a wood fired taco rather than a pizza. It's prepared on a tortilla thin crust. Raw minced meat, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, parsley, and chopped green peppers are blended and spread over the dough and the whole ensemble is baked in the wood fired oven. The result is a tasty slightly crispy thin crust and a hot spicy topping. Wood firing isn't such a bad fate for a taco. Cheese is a notably missing ingredient from Lahmacun.
The other interpretation of pizza and in my opinion much closer is Pide. The dough is formed into a boat shape rather than a circle and is topped with a variety of toppings of your choosing. I got the "mixed Pide" which consisted of dough topped with raw minced meat, cheese, mushrooms, and a raw egg. The full complement is baked in the wood fired grilled and comes out a hot, steamy, gooey, delicious mess. Imagine a pizza without tomato sauce and you'll have a sense of what Pide is. The crust is similar to a thin crust pizza. The toppings are fresh and well suited to each other. I really liked how the egg cracked over the top tied it altogether. Enter with an open mind and don't get hung up on the comparison to pizza and you'll discover a whole new class of food.
The restaurant is clean and the staff is friendly and attentive.
