But enough grousing. The food at Efes is worth the bother. Ingredients are fresh; recipes are traditional. The brothers are originally from the city of Giresun, on the Black Sea in Turkey, from which they emigrated with their family as children, said Mr. Bodur, who has worked in Turkish restaurants since 1992.
Standout starters (salads, soups and appetizers) included a generously portioned shepherd salad that would have been sublime if New Jersey’s juiciest, most flavorful tomatoes had been used along with the mix of cucumbers, onion, parsley and feta, instead of the rather hard and mostly taste-free ones that were in my portion. Others, in addition to the aforementioned Turkish lentil soup, included a small plate of hot fried pancakes made with mashed zucchini, scallions and dill, and also a small plate of dark brown falafel, hot and crisp on the outside, steaming and tender inside.
The hors d’oeuvres platter, which comes in small or large, turned out to be a collection of cold appetizers, generously portioned even in the small version and separated from one another by slices of those extremely firm tomatoes. It included a classic hummus, with chickpeas, lemon, tahini and garlic; little cubes of fried eggplant mixed with a tomato sauce; baba ghanouj, with mashed eggplant and garlic; spinach with yogurt, sour cream and walnuts; mashed fresh tomatoes with walnuts and onion; white kidney beans cooked with scallions and tomatoes; and yogurt mixed with cucumber and dill.
As for main dishes, the stars were three charcoal-grilled items: domestic lamb chops, beautiful to see, with a dark brown exterior opening to reveal a perfectly cooked interior; and two whole fish, a sweet branzino and its equal, a dorado, both served with salad. The aforementioned lamb and okra casserole, basic and satisfying on its own, hinted at other possibilities for meals that might center on lamb and are on my list to try.