At Konak, Turkish food made simply

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What do you know about Turkish food? It's possible THOUGHTS OF Istanbul conjure up impossibly exotic images. But though Konak may be the only Turkish restaurant in Philadelphia, the menu here will probably not be entirely unfamiliar to those who have tasted other Middle Eastern or Mediterranean food.

Konak, meaning "mansion" in Turkish, opened in November in a space next to the Painted Bride (formerly the bar Cecilia's and, before that, the Italian restaurant Marco's). Owners Melek Basaran, who is also the executive chef, and her daughter Ayse Atay originally from Istanbul - moved their restaurant from Voorhees, N.J., where it was called Authentic Turkish Cuisine, a BYOB.

Here in Old City, they have a liquor license and a larger space, which Basaran has decorated to resemble a mansion courtyard, with family heirlooms as ornaments. The main dining room has IS-foot ceilings, and walls painted a light yellow.

Tables are decently spaced, and on a Friday night, a duo on violin and oud (like a lute) enlivened the atmosphere. Atay said that the restaurant has found favor with the area's small Turkish population, as well as Israelis; but American fans who enjoyed the restaurant in Voorhees have also followed the team here.

The appeal of the cuisine seems to be its simple, clean tastes - tart chopped salads, grilled meats and fish, kebabs - not dissimilar to Greek cuisine. Being unversed in Turkish cuisine, I was expecting the more sophisticated, complex spices that I associate with Middle Eastern food. In truth. I was a tad let down.

But the flavors here do have their appeal. Atay describes Turkish food as having a "basic, plain taste," with lots of vegetarian choices - eggplant lovers', this is your place! Parsley, dill and tomato are used for flavor.

For an appetizer, my husband Stephane had one of our favorite dishes of the evening, called Priest Fainted ($5.95) - you can read the amusing story on the menu. The cold dish was made with roasted eggplant stuffed with tomato, onion, green pepper, large slices of garlic and pine nuts. (Moussaka was another excellent eggplant dish I had during a lunch here.)

I started with the sigara borek ($4.95), filo "cigars" stuffed with feta and parsley and fried. I liked the idea better than the execution. The feta, milder than the Greek version, was blighted by the taste of the oil the rolls were fried in, and the fIlo was not uniformly crisp.

Stephane's adana kebab ($14.95), skewers of ground lamb, served with rice and two sauces, came out of the kitchen lukewarm and would have been nicer with more of a grilled flavor. My whole striped bass special, though, was lovely, grilled in a pomegranate sauce, which gave ita slightly sweet, slightly tart flavor. At $24.95, it was the priciest thing on the bill.

Desserts aren't usually the highlight at a Middle Eastern restaurant, but two I would recommend are the kasefe ($5.50), dried apricots reconstituted in syrup, with chopped walnuts and little blobs of whipped cream; and a special I had with lunch called Pistachio Lovers ($6.95), not dissimilar to baklava but made with a simple syrup, not sticky-sweet honey. *