Rudy's Mediterranean Grill - Columbia, MD

2 Dudes and Rudy, the owner.

There's a new restaurant in our town and it's bringing more culture to Howard County...Turkish culture!

Thanks to Rudy's Mediterranean Grill,  we now have more Turkish delicacies to eat in our town. We visited Istanbul, Turkey last year, so we know what good Turkish food tastes like.

As we walked in, we saw the owner Rudy talking to his customers. It's always good to see an owner being friendly. The waiter seated us at a booth and gave us menus. The menu offered a combination of American and Turkish cuisine.

Humus

We couldn't believe how many great Turkish choices there were to choose from! Plus, Rudy and the waiter gave us some pointers on the best dishes! Rudy also informed us that there is one cook solely dedicated to making just the Turkish items- now that's authentic.




We ordered two Turkish appetizers: humus, a  blend of chick peas, herbs, oil and tahini, and patlican salad. My mother makes a similar version of humus, but this one was just a little more on the spicy side. Each humus we try is a little different. The patlican salad consists of smoked eggplant, grilled peppers and tomatoes, lemon and oil. We didn't try it but our parents did. They concluded that it was "good".

Patlican salad 

While the rest of my family ordered Turkish food, I (Thomas) had my own agenda. I was in the mood for a classic American Turkey BLT. It came with home fries. What are home fries? Home fries are kind of like a french fry, but they are smaller and hand-cut into a square shape. The BLT included tomato, lettuce, bacon, mayo, white bread, and a boatload of turkey. It was delicious.

American Turkey BLT

Izgara Kofte- Minced lamb with onion, parsley and Mediterranean spices, cooked over charcoal

Here are the two Turkish dishes we ordered below.

Famous Iskender Kebab- Thinly sliced döner (gyro) over homemade pita bread, dressed with tomato sauce and homemade garlic yogurt sauce.

The meats were tender, seasoned pieces of juicy delicacies. Amazing! The homemade garlic yogurt sauce, salad and rice were great accompaniments to the meats. Really made us feel like we were back in Istanbul.

For dessert, we ordered some Turkish Coffee. It's similar to Italy's espresso but stronger. In fact, it is VERY, VERY STRONG.  

 My family also ordered some homemade Turkish rice pudding.  It had a hard sugary crust then creamy soft rice inside.  It wasn't as thick as its American version but we liked it just the same

 We could definitely tell that everything we ate was made with fresh ingredients. Rudy's is great because with a combination of Turkish and American foods it gives everyone in our family a chance to order something different.  Plus, the owner has a fun personality and was helpful ordering.