June 12, 2013 Anatolia Restaurant and Dinner – PPI MaPo Dofu

June 12, 2013 Anatolia Restaurant and Dinner – PPI MaPo Dofu

Michael, Davida, and I went to Anatolia for lunch today.  Anatolia is located at
521 Central NW Suite I (between Central and Copper)
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102  Its telephone number is (505) 242-6718.

We all ordered the lunch special for $6.49 instead of the menu price of $8.50.  The Lunch Special today was Beef Doner Kabob.   I have eaten at least five times at Anatolia and the beef doner kabob is the best tasting dish I have had.  It is marinated pieces of beef that are seasoned with spices and grilled and then placed on a bed of rice on a plate with a salad that is dressed with a light vinaigrette and topped with pickled onions.    I loved it.    Lunch Specials used to be $5.99 but have recently gone up to $6.49, which is okay with me because the quality of food has remained the same.   I especially love the cacek? or herbed garlic yogurt sauce that is served with almost everything

According to the menu Anatolia is the only Turkish restaurant in New Mexico.  Thank god it is only seven blocks from my house.   For a really unique and wonderful food experience at a really reasonable price I recommend Anatolia, if you are short of the cash necessary to fly to Istanbul.

Dinner was easy.  I meditated and arrived at home at 8:30 and saw the last 12 minutes of the third period of the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks.  When Boston scored twice in the last ten minutes, I was thrilled because I was going to see some overtime hockey.   I heated up the PPI Ma Po Dofu mixed with white rice, made Sunday or Monday night with a one lb. fresh eggplant  (Lowe's $1.99/lb. for beautiful eggplants), fresh shitake mushrooms (Ta Lin $3.99/lb.), dried black wood ear, onions, ginger, garlic scapes, green chili, Mexican squash, a little pork steak, and tofu, seasoned with Chinese Rice cooking wine, a bit of soy, garlic chili sauce and sesame oil.  It was delicious with a cup of hot green tea.

Suzette called a little later to tell me her plane from Florida would be arriving at 11:05 p.m., so I had another cup of tea around 10:00 during the second overtime.  We agreed that I would leave when she called me when her plane arrived in Albuquerque.   I thought I would miss the end of the hockey game because it went until into a triple overtime and became the fifth longest game in NHL history, but at about 11:03 Chicago scored on a ricochet shot off two Chicago players that sailed high over the glove hand of Rask, Boston’s goalie and the phone call from Suzette came about a minute later.  I said her call was perfectly timed, but she did not know what I meant.

Bon Appétit