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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Comfort food in Balad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Louie Favorite / AJC |
| Cafe owner Sami Atilan greets each customer with a wide smile. |
Balad, Iraq — The Saddam Hussein-era building sits just behind the cinema hall at the sprawling air base here. It was once supposed to house a Popeye’s Fried Chicken and one end is wall-papered in bright reds, oranges and blues, depicting the jazz scene of the Crescent City.
No one here knew why the New Orleans-style fried chicken chain bailed. But for two years the building at Camp Anaconda sat empty save the pigeons who roosted inside. It fell into disrepair; the walls and floors were caked with filth.
The muraled wall stands out now not just for its gaudy hues. The rest of the building’s interior is decorated with woven Turkish Kilims and oversized platters made from hammered brass and copper.
The man behind the cashier counter, owner Sami Atilan, is always busy. But he takes time to greet each customer with a wide smile as if to say, “Welcome to Sami’s.”
Sami’s Turkish Café opened in Balad in January. Without advertisement or fanfare, it has easily become the most happening place around.
On a Saturday night, the line to order snakes around the restaurant. Soldiers and airmen are in love with the lamb tawa (grill), chicken kebabs, bread, humus and even pizza. Then there’s Turkish coffee and chai.
“No. 14!” yells the waiter at the counter. A soldier raises his hand and the waiter runs over to his table with a grilled chicken dish and heaps of fresh bread.
Atilan is a successful businessman who’s a construction engineer by trade but dabbles in a variety of other enterprises like restaurants and jewelry.
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| Louis Favorite / AJC |
| The post chaplain, Capt. Fouvale Asiata of American Samoa, is a regular at the cafe. |
His wife is English. They have two daughters and have made a life for themselves in the United Kingdom, though they spend quite a bit of time in Adana, Atilan’s hometown in Turkey.
Though Turkey is one of Iraq’s neighbors, Atilan, 59, had never visited here before. So why would such a man think to open a café in the midst of war?
“Well, since 1966 I have worked with the Americans,” he says launching into a history of his life at military bases.
Adana, is of course, adjacent to Incirlik Air Base. As a poor student who needed some extra cash, Atilan began working at the dining hall as a dishwasher. Within a short period, he shot up the ranks and was promoted to community liaison officer.
That launched a management career at various military posts both in Britain and America. His non-military ventures took him across the world, too. Atilan even spent a year and half in Atlanta in the mid-1980s working at a country club.
He fires off a flurry of questions about Atlanta and then recalls with fondness his younger days when he and his friends rented a limousine for the evening and barhopped in Buckhead.
In 1990, he opened a restaurant at Incirlik called “Turkish Café.” Photos of the place adorn the walls at Sami’s in Balad, a cruder extension of what he has in Turkey. He even brought along a few of his staff from Adana.
If you ask Atilan how business is here, he smiles and simply points to the crowd behind him.
A group of soldiers walk in with balloons to celebrate a birthday. Others hang out at the wooden tables savoring the food or drinking a chai, talking away the day’s worries.
For most, it’s a break from the dining halls; as good as they are at Camp Anaconda, the repeated menus can become monotonous.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Roderick Jones was stationed at Incirlik once and developed a taste for Turkish cuisine. He has brought along a friend to try out Sami’s tawa dishes.
But for most of the men and women in uniform here, Sami’s is the closest thing to the neighborhood hangout in their home away from home. It’s a restaurant-size room, not a giant cafeteria with blinding fluorescent lights. It’s a place to just “hang out” when they have down time.
Even the post chaplain, Capt. Fouvale Asiata of American Samoa, is a regular here. “In the middle of war, this is like being at home and having a meal with your family,” Asiata says ordering a second plate of chicken wings.
“It’s getting away from the norm — which is sleeping, working, sleeping some more and then eating at the military dining facility.”
Asiata, whose job here is to counsel and comfort service members, says Sami’s is a fantastic stress reliever. Even for him, apparently. Asiata had just arrived from Balad’s combat hospital where he visited victims of chlorine-laced bombs. It was a “tough day,” he says.
The good news at Anaconda is that Atilan plans to stay open until he “gets kicked out.”
“Wherever America goes, I go with them.”
Permalink | | Categories: Moni Basu, Reports from Iraq
