Healthyish Republic serves keto crowd, but surprise draw isn’t zoodles

S.F. restaurant’s secret brunch serves sweet and savory Turkish dishes on weekends

I did not anticipate reviewing a keto restaurant. But here we are.

My philosophy around diet is that having too firm of a philosophy around diet is a pathway to unhappiness and potentially unhealthiness. I’m lucky to not have allergies or health issues that require restriction. Vegans, I respect you and thank you for your climate service, but it is not my path. And diets like keto, paleo, Atkins, fruitarianism, that deranged thing Jordan Peterson did where he ate only beef and salt? Hard pass.

And so why, you may be wondering, am I shining the spotlight on Healthyish Republic, a 2-yearold “lifestyle inspired” restaurant in the Mission District that caters to restrictive diets? It’s not because of the zoodles. It’s because, Fridays through Sundays, Healthyish Republic quietly serves the best Turkish breakfast in San Francisco.

I first heard about Healthyish Republic from Emrah Kilicoglu, the owner of Kitchen Istanbul, a favorite among wine insiders. Was his restaurant open during the day, I wondered, dreaming of the bountiful breakfast spreads I’d experienced in Turkey? “We used to be,” he told me, wincing, the memory of brunch services past flickering across his face, “but now I just go to Healthyish Republic.” Kilicoglu intuited my skepticism when he mentioned the name. It’s a keto restaurant, he explained. But the owner is Turkish.

Healthyish Republic is in fact much more than a keto restaurant — it also services those following paleo, vegan or glutenfree diets. Owner Ömer Sincer, who is from Istanbul, adhered to a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet for many years, and his partner Paul Sayegh began baking sugarand wheat-free treats like cookies and cupcakes to satisfy his sweet tooth. During the pandemic, they developed an entire keto menu and launched Healthyish Republic out of a ghost kitchen.

Then Sincer’s mother died. Grieving, he turned to her recipes — for lentil soup, the tomato and scrambled egg dish known as menemen, beef kofte. He was about to take the next step with his keto business, launching a brick-and-mortar location on 24th Street. But maybe there could also be space for Turkish food.

The corner storefront feels like the type of bright and airy all-day cafe commonplace in Los Angeles. Set into a wall of fake greenery is a neon sign that reads, “Don’t be selfish, be Healthyish,” a sentiment I choose not to think

too hard about. The atmosphere is warm and casual. Sincer is likely to greet you at the counter. Gülden Er Çoban, another owner and a friend of Sincer’s from high school, may take your order and deliver your meal. If you have a baby with you, the baby might end up giggling on Çoban’s hip.

Remove every superfluous item from the table before the Turkish breakfast for two ($59) arrives in a dozen dishes of various sizes. Its sturdy centerpiece, which can also be ordered separately for $20, is a large plate featuring two eggs over easy, a whole charred Anaheim pepper and morsels of soujouk, or dried beef sausage. Aside from the soujouk, the rest of the breakfast sampler is vegetarian, with an assortment of cheeses, vegetables, spreads and dips — my favorite food group.

Highlights of the feast include the muhammara and the çeçil, a cow’s milk string cheese made inhouse, but I always bogart the kaymak, thick clotted cream served in a pool of honey, dusted with pistachio. On the “Is this brunch or dessert?” spectrum, it’s anchored firmly on the latter end, with a texture that lands somewhere between Greek yogurt and cream cheese. Slather it on rectangles of warm pita or slices of toast.

The breakfast for two can easily be converted into breakfast for four with the addition of one or two other dishes. Another dessert item masquerading as breakfast is the pistachio French toast ($19). Two inch-thick slices of battered brioche are topped with caramelized banana, an ice cream

scoop of kaymak and finely ground pistachios from Gaziantep, a Turkish province renowned for the nut. There’s maple syrup on the side. You could also opt for the shareable pastry basket ($26) of kıymalı börek (ground beef-filled flaky pastry), pisi (fried dough served with quince jam) and simit (sesamecrusted, ring-shaped bread).

If your tastes run toward the savory, there’s the colorfully named “butt into my sausage” platter ($19), which is divided into thirds. One portion is home fries, another is salad and the last is a stew of spicy tomato sauce — Sincer’s mother’s recipe — and rounds of beef sausage. It reminded me, in appearance if not in taste, of German currywurst. Also excellent is the melted mushroom ($20), served in a petite castiron skillet. Petals of roasted oyster mushrooms surround a runny-yolked

egg, which quivers atop a bed of melted feta, çeçil, Parmesan and mozzarella. It comes with simit to sop it all up.

When I visited Healthyish Republic on weekends, there were usually one or two other tables tucking into the Turkish breakfast spread. The rest of the clients were sticking to their diets. A woman ate a lettuce-wrapped burger alone at a table in the corner. A couple, potentially on a first date, made small talk about how difficult it was to find good keto options in the city.

In the name of journalism, I sampled several items from the non-Turkish-breakfast menu. I had them delivered, since Sincer says this accounts for the majority of Healthyish Republic’s business. Although the keto zoodle Cobb salad ($19) was joyless, the two cauliflower rice bowls I ordered weren’t half bad. Sincer sources his spices from Turkey and isn’t afraid to use them. The garlic shrimp in the paleo shrimp rice bowl ($20.90) were stained red with paprika, and the thigh meat in the keto chicken burrito bowl ($20.90) was a step up from Chipotle. The gluten-free bun on the burger ($21.90) was crumbly and oddly sweet, but the burger itself was loaded with caramelized onions, grilled mushrooms and cheddar. It would have been better if it had been spared the trek across the city; I’ll bet that solo diner with her lettuce-wrapped burger was pleased.

These options are available via Healthyish Republic’s website or any of the usual delivery apps, but the Turkish breakfast is only served at the restaurant on weekends. This is as it should be. A paleo burrito bowl is something you order from your phone and shovel into your mouth, camera off on Zoom. You’ll find errant grains of cauliflower rice in between your laptop keys days later. But Turkish breakfast for two, by its very nature, is something that must be shared, ideally at a leisurely pace in a friendly setting over a small cup of frighteningly strong Turkish coffee ($5).

And if you’re keto? You’re in luck, Sincer says. Skip the pastries and the honey. Aside from that, Turkish breakfast won’t break your diet.

Photos by Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Healthyish Republic is much more than a keto restaurant, also servicing paleo, vegan and gluten-free diets. On weekends, come for a bountiful Turkish breakfast.

Ömer Sincer taps into his late mother’s Turkish recipes for memorable dishes beyond the keto-friendly offerings.

The pistachio French toast boasts caramelized banana and an ice cream scoop of kaymak.