Kebapçı Osman Usta 1976 is located in the crowded neighborhood of Şirinevler, a corner of Istanbul that has fascinated us for years. Separated from the idyllic upper-middle class, tree-lined suburb of Ataköy by Istanbul’s main highway – but linked with a pedestrian footbridge built above it – Şirinevler is the polar opposite of its southern neighbor: dense, working class, chaotic, and lacking in green space.
Nevertheless, it is a lively, bustling center of interactions and transactions, loaded with cheap fast food restaurants, bookstores, clothing shops, and dodgy nightclubs. Şirinevler is also known for a cluster of grillhouses where the skewer slingers all hail from the district of Suruç in the province of Urfa, one of Turkey’s kebab capitals.
Diving deep into the neighborhood, we were delighted to find a spot tucked into its own corner away from the competition. Here, they are grilling up kebab classics that truly represent Urfa and cater to people who are missing a taste of home. Osman Serçek is one of those people. He came to Istanbul as an infant not from Suruç but from the central district of Urfa.
The name of his shop, Kebapçı Osman Usta 1976, pays homage to the usta, or master, who trained and worked side by side with Serçek. This usta happened to also be named Osman, and got his start in the grill game in 1976. The two Osmans toiled at a well-known grillhouse in the Aksaray neighborhood for some time before opening their current place in Şirinevler five years ago. The elder Osman succumbed to a heart attack not long after, leaving the 53-year-old Serçek as the usta in charge, with his younger brother Ferdi running the front of the house.
We initially stopped in for a portion of Adana kebab, which was delicious, served alongside a simple affair of sliced onions sprinkled with sumac, acılı ezme (a slightly spicy pepper dip), ayran aşı (a cold, refreshing soup with yogurt and wheat berries), and the mandatory grilled tomatoes and spicy red peppers. But the Serçek brothers said that next time we would have to try the true Urfa specialty, patlıcan kebabı, in which a whole hefty eggplant is sectioned and layered alternately with meat (a mix of ground beef, lamb, and lamb tail fat). This dish can be tricky, because grilling the eggplant to smoky, creamy perfection can result in the meat becoming dry. Not the case at Kebapçı Osman Usta.
Like us, they were not afraid to make a considerable trek for the right kebab.
During a busy dinner rush, the Serçek brothers welcomed us with a cup of tea. The grill was full of sizzling skewers and most tables were occupied. Ferdi double-checked that we wanted patlıcan kebabı, and boy did we ever. After a half hour or so, the plate arrived covered in plastic wrap, and we were told to wait several minutes before removing it.
“The most important secret is that the tail fat must be top notch. The eggplant must be very good. While cooking, the tail fat needs to merge with the eggplant. The purpose of having it rest is so that the eggplant and the tail fat nicely coalesce,” Serçek explained. He showed us how to strip the succulent eggplant from its crispy charred skin, which is not eaten.
The combination of ingredients was heavenly; the tail fat shone through and gave the meat a juicy, delectable quality that stayed on our palate hours after our meal. Turkey’s most prized eggplants come from Urfa’s Birecik district, and in the off-season, Serçek gets his from the nearby province of Balıkesir, insisting that the quality is the same. He didn’t have to convince us.
The group of diners at the table across the room included three men originally from Urfa, who currently live in Cologne, Germany, and were visiting Istanbul, staying in the far-flung western suburb of Bahçeşehir. Like us, they were not afraid to make a considerable trek for the right kebab. They graciously asked Serçek if they could pay our tab, but the generous usta told them that it was already on the house.
These gentlemen were serious eaters, and we traded recommendations about where to get the best pide and döner in Istanbul. Serçek himself waxed poetic on the differences between kebab from Adana and Urfa, the former of which is slightly spicier. He insisted that his restaurant was different, adding that bulgur rice was not available, nor chicken wings or chicken shish. This was an exclusively red-meat operation. Large slices of white onion are served alongside the patlıcan kebabı, while green vegetables are paired with grilled liver. Serçek is still feeling the pain from the loss of the man who taught him the trade, and he doesn’t give himself enough credit for adhering to a perfect system.
“His absence saddened me, but he is always by my side. The flavor of the kebab you are eating is the flavor he created. There is absolutely nothing I have added,” Serçek said of his mentor, emphasizing that they have not strayed from the late Osman usta’s path in any way.
After a long conversation and at least half a dozen cups of tea, we parted ways. Night had fallen in Şirinevler, but the buzzing energy of the neighborhood showed no sign of dissipating. We hopped on a bus that travels in its own lane and quickly zipped to the center of the city. We’ll be back next summer when the prized eggplant from Birecik has arrived, but it will be tough for the masterful Osman usta to top what he served us this evening.
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