Excerpt from Pure Wow on December 18, 2012
It seems Fort Worth’s Magnolia Avenue corridor offers endless permutations of enjoyable food experiences. If you’re not interested in eating at a high-end gastropub (Brewed) or a vaunted vegan venue (Spiral Diner), then wait just a moment for another promising entry for entrées.
Witness the Flying Carpet Turkish Cafe, a three-month-old restaurant that’s already garnering praise for its stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh and falafel sandwiches.
But this isn’t your ordinary hummus-and-hookah standby. The restaurant has a retail component with more than 500 Turkish rugs, piled waist-high in some areas and draping from the walls in others, in this log-cabin-esque 1909 building.
Owners (and sisters) Callie and Devon Doyle have the food cred to complement the carpets (which range from $250 to $10,000). Chef Callie’s résumé reads like a who’s who of American kitchens, with stints at Thomas Keller’s Per Se and David Chang’s Momofuku in New York and, more recently, as sous chef at Oak Cliff’s Bolsa. Devon is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Austin and a former pastry chef at Cafe Modern.
At a recent lunch in the bright, inviting space we couldn’t get enough of the delectable Australian lamb shoulder sandwich with pickled radish, prune and olive jam, tzatziki sauce and toasted almonds ($10).
For the inventive renditions of Middle Eastern food alone, we’ll fly back in a hurry–even if our house is mostly carpeted already.
Flying Carpet Cafe, 1223 Washington Ave., Fort Worth; 817-877-1223 or flyingcarpetcafe.com
