Pure Wow

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

Designed By Karen Ferguson at Internet Media Mix | All Rights Reserved.