Monday, October 4, 2010

Turkshish Kebap Replaces Cazbar in Columbia

The Cazbar Kebap House in Columbia appears to have been replaced by a new restaurant -- similar Turkish menu, but a new name Turkshish Kebap House, reports Kyle.

Turkshish appears to be a similar Mediterranean menu with an emphasis on Turkish food, but the new menu has different items and prices that are about 20% higher, says Kyle.  He couldn't tell if there was new management or not.

The Cazbar in Columbia had some relationship with the established Turkish restaurant in Baltimore.  The original Cazbar still has Web pages describing a Columbia location.  So I'm still figuring out what has happened.

9 comments:

  1. I ate in the restaurant under the previous name and the current name - it seemed to be pretty much the same to me - I think they have been adjusting the menu based on what seems to be working - also this restaurant is connected with Roma's pizzareias

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  2. I believe they just changed their name. I was in there about a month ago and heard one of the employees talking about it.

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  3. The (Turkish) fiance and I tried this last weekend. I hated it as Cazbar, mostly because the hummus was nearly inedible. Under the Turkshish name, the hummus was far better. The bread was okay. My veggie wrap was decent, and the boy liked his doner kabob, though he said something was unusual about the spices. Not bad, just not what he's used to.

    Cacik (my favorite part of Turkish cuisine) is no longer on the menu, which is unfortunate because that was the only thing from Cazbar that was really edible. The lack of cacik makes it feel incomplete.

    Admittedly, our standards for Turkish food are very high. I'm not sure we'd go back here since Maiwand is so close and the food is so similar. But it wasn't terrible. Better than Mimi's Kabob, but still not something we'd add to our rotation.

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  4. the chicken doner was very nice, almost melt in your mouth. wife enjoyed the beef a lot. the owner was very enthusiastic about explaining his ideas. a pleasure to talk with. he described making changes based on customer feedback and offered us a sample of something new he plans to place on menu. he has been running the place as is for 3 months now. different option from maiwand if you don't want kabobs (since they have the doner). nice interior ambiance for a carryout - clean with colorful decor. i also tried the 'pizza' - very good clearly with fresh basil. i plan to go back.

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  5. Oh, and the spiced fermented carrot juice.... no thanks.... i didn't last past 3 sips. not too spicy - just not a flavor that appeals to me.

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  6. I loved it. Doner was great with cacik. I didnt like fermented carrot juice too. not for me:( Good like them.

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  7. they dont have turkish chef anymore. i went there 2 days ago. food was terrible.

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  8. The name has changed again. The new (third!) name is Kebab House. And apparently new management, too. But not necessarily new employees -- the lady working the cash register has been there under all three names.

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  9. My husband and I got carryout there tonight. The owner was on site busily cooking and putting together orders, in addition to bussing tables and chatting with new customers. :-) Not long after we got the food home and dug in, we decided that Kabob House was now part of our regular mix of restaurants. My husband enjoyed his falafel sandwich and the "spiced" fries, which are basically french fries with ground sumac sprinkled over them. So good! We're going to sprinkle that stuff over our potatoes from now on! I really enjoyed the lamb shank platter with rice. The salad with mint yogurt dressing was just ok; lentil fattoush is my go-to Middle Eastern salad and that was not on the menu. One surprise was the baba ghanoush and acili esme. We ate those spreads together on the bread and my husband -- the eggplant hater -- said that THIS was the eggplant he was happy to eat. The baba ghanoush was oh so smokey and smooth, while the acili esme by itself was a bit spicy. We'll be definitely going back to Kabob House!

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