Lale Turkish Restaurant opens in Lindenhurst

Long Island’s Turkish restaurants are generally of a very high caliber, but Lale stands out both for its renderings of standards (eggplant salad, doner kebab, etc.) and its commitment to daily specials drawn from the repertoire of home cooks. You might happen upon braised flat beans with bits of beef, or delicate fingers or stuffed cabbage or a crackling sunburst of fried anchovies.

I’ve been meaning to write about Lale since it was recommended to me by a Turkish acquaintance in the summer of 2024, a few months after it opened. Back then, it was a handful of tables jammed into the front of a market called Hanedan ("dynasty" in Turkish) and the owner, Tugba Kahveci, suggested I hold off until she created a proper dining room in the adjacent storefront and hung up the new sign, Lale ("tulip"). Last year, the sign went up but the dining room was still not finished exactly to her specifications.

Lale now comprises a market with a takeout counter and a modest but attractive dining room. It is as ready as it’s going to be and is well worth the trip to Lindenhurst from anywhere on Long Island. The extensive menu is the work of Kahveci’s two colleagues: Chef Mustafa Aydim is a veteran of many Turkish restaurants and handles the kebabs and the baking. Fatma Kahveci is Tugba’s mother and an accomplished home cook.

Aydim’s kebab production starts on the cutting board, where he takes apart a fresh leg of lamb (from a halal butcher in New Jersey): The leanest parts will become shish kebab, the shank will get braised, the trimmings will be ground, extravagantly seasoned and finger-pressed into spicy Adana kebabs. Some of the fat will be layered with slices of beef for doner kebab (gyro) that can be enjoyed as a sandwich or platter or draped over homemade bread and covered with yogurt and tomato sauce for the great Iskender kebab. (Because Lale only has one vertical rotisserie, beef-lamb doner kebab alternates with chicken.)

Aydim is also responsible for that homemade bread (tirnak pide), for the long, open-faced calzone-like breads (also called pide) that are filled with various combinations of meats, vegetables and cheese and for the lahmacun (think ultrathin Turkish pizzas) topped with ground meat and spices. Lale is the rare Turkish eatery that also makes gozleme, griddled flatbread wrapped around meat, potato or cheese. There is also a full breakfast menu that includes su borek, a noodle kugel made with feta cheese.

Mama Fatma makes the manti, impossibly tiny meat-filled pasta, that are sauced with garlic yogurt, smoked-pepper-infused butter and tomato sauce. In addition to red lentil and chicken soups, she prepares a few more daily soups and stews, perhaps those flat beans or chicken with vegetables or braised beef patties with potatoes. She stuffs the cabbage leaves and collard greens, and these are so popular that her daughter has a list of customers to call when they are on the menu.

Lale brings in baklava from a specialist bakery, but Fatma makes the rice pudding and the kunefe, a toasty disk of shredded phyllo enclosing melted cheese and topped with chopped pistachios and aromatic syrup.

Tugba and her mother moved from Turkey to Queens in 1994 to join her father. The family moved to Lindenhurst in 2005. For 10 years before opening Hanedan/Lale, Tugba drove a taxicab in New York City, but her dream was always to open a restaurant. "The money is the hard part," she said. "Some people invest millions, but I don’t have millions. This is my first step."

Starters, salads and sandwiches range from $8 to $15; mains, $18 to $28; lunch specials (11 a.m to 3 p.m.), $13 to $14. 

Lale Turkish Restaurant, 60 W. Montauk Hwy., Lindenhurst, 631-592-4550, instagram.com/lalerestaurantny. Open daily 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.