MEET THE MAKER: HE’S QUITE CONTINENTAL

At Anatolia Turkish Cuisine, Mahmut Elbasi proves to be in tune with his continent- straddling homeland and with North American tastes.

calgary isn’t exactly a mecca for Turkish food. In fact, since Istanbul restaurant closed its doors, the last bastion of Turkish cuisine for those craving kebabs, borek and baklava is Anatolia in the Crossroads Market. It’s run by chef Mahmut Elbasi, and named for the region where he lived in Turkey before the Canadian West seduced him.

Rewind the clock two decades. Elbasi was a culinary student in Kayseri, Turkey. He went to class in the mornings, and got hands- on experience at the famous 2,000- seat Elmacioglu Iskender restaurant in the afternoons. When he graduated, he stayed on as a chef at the restaurant. It was a good gig, but Elbasi craved international experience. When an opportunity came up to work at Istanbul restaurant in Calgary, he jumped at it, even though it meant leaving his wife, Selma, and their young children behind. It was supposed to be a two- year adventure, but there was a problem: Elbasi fell in love with Calgary. So he returned to Turkey to convince Selma to move their family halfway around the world.

Surrounded by her family and friends, Selma was less than eager. “She ( didn’t) want to come,” Elbasi recalls. “She said, ‘ If you’re done ( in Calgary), just come back here.’” But he persuaded her to move, and soon, she too fell for the city.

“It was a hard experience for us,” Elbasi says. “I was making more money there than here.” But the family adjusted and eventually Elbasi decided it was time to strike out on his own. Enter a food stand tucked away in a corner of Crossroads Market.

It was slow going at first, as Calgarians weren’t familiar with Turkish food. “First year, nobody knows ( about Turkish food),” Elbasi says. “Just our customers who had been to Turkey.” Sales were sluggish, and it took time and some menu adjustments before business began to pick up.

Responding to local tastes proved to be the answer. Take Anatolia’s spinach pastries: popular in Turkey, where the pastry is shaped as a bun and filled with feta, the idea didn’t take off in Calgary until Elbasi tinkered with the recipe. “We cut the bun. We make it look like a small boat, and put spinach and mozzarella on it: Turkish ingredients with Canadian style. It’s really popular right now.” So popular that Anatolia sells 250 to 300 per day.

“Our customers are different. I never had this kind of experience before,” Elbasi says. They bring gifts to the Elbasis, blog about Anatolia’s food, and request new recipes. “Calgarians created our menu. They ask us ‘ I ate this food in Turkey. Could you make it for me?’”

Elbasi obliges—“I just want to make them happy”— and, while adapting recipes is expensive and time- consuming, these requests often wind up on Anatolia’s menu, and some become bestsellers. Anatolia also offers catering on non- market days. It’s another way of keeping the regulars happy, and increasing Turkish cuisine’s presence in Calgary.

Eventually that might mean a stand- alone restaurant, but until then the Elbasis are keeping Calgarians happy with their Canadian twist on Turkish classics.