Bodrum Bistro’s Turkish Delights

Remember when Seattle’s most distinctive restaurant type was the small global storefront cafe? They were scattered across the neighborhoods, run by expats adept at presenting far-flung cuisines as home cooking. Over the decades other dining genres have become a bigger regional signature—cough farm-to-table cough—but new boites like Wallingford’s Bodrum Bistro remind us how enduring are their charms. All the ingredients are in place—home-painted sign, black-and-white, framed family photos of the old country on the walls, owner Sedat Uysal (who also owns Cafe Paloma in Pioneer Square) holding forth with friends on the front sidewalk. Best is the food, an Anatolian assortment of mezes, salads, and veg-heavy mains—börek to falafel to zucchini pancakes with yogurt—made with freshness and care and priced in the $15 range. Of special note are the full-bodied hummus—brilliant lavished on the fat, yeasty housemade pide bread—and the tavuk bohça, folded phyllo packets of savory leeks and chicken freshened with walnuts and pear, alongside a wild salad fruity with pomegranate molasses.  1712 N 45th St, Walllingford, 206-454-3193