His father, mother and grandparents all were acquainted with the kitchen, as they were chefs. So Karatas, following in his family’s footsteps, made food preparation his profession.
Karatas, who got training at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City and also worked for Turkish Airlines, has been in the food business for 10 years. He operates Istanbul Cuisine in Flower Mound, which opened in September 2019.
The restaurant also has a location in Southlake under the direction of Karatas’ uncle, Cengiz Yumrutas, who is also Karatas’ business partner. That location opened nine months ago, Karatas said.
Istanbul Cuisine offers an array of dishes, including some featuring beef, chicken and seafood, and the menu features Greek and Mediterranean options. The chicken shish kebab and lamb shanks are two popular items on the menu, Karatas said.
The menu also features cold and hot appetizers, gyro meat dishes, desserts and vegetarian dishes. Gyro platters and sandwiches are also popular items on the menu, Karatas said. An entire portion of the menu focuses on kebab platters, such as the kofte kebab, described as a “ground beef skewer seasoned with Turkish herbs.” The menu also includes moussaka, which is a Turkish lasagna plate.
“We make everything fresh daily,” Karatas said. “We are not keeping anything frozen.”
Also on the menu is a family platter, which includes six kinds of kebabs: gyro, chicken gyro, chicken kebab, beef kebab, chicken adana and kofte kebab. They are served with rice pilaf, Greek salad or hummus, baba ghanoush, tzatziki sauce, and four types of pita breads. Salads and soups are on the menu, as are Turkish tea and Turkish coffee. The restaurant is BYOB.
“Also, we have a stuffed cabbage my mom used to make,” he said. “It is so delicious.”
Istanbul Cuisine offers lunch specials daily from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The restaurant has a lot of regular customers, Karatas said, and he appreciates the community; in a show of support one day during the winter freeze in 2021, he gave free soup to visitors.
“[We gave out] a thousand cups for anyone who [needed] it,” he said.
Istanbul Cuisine
2911 Cross Timbers Road, Ste. 103, Flower Mound
214-513-1333
Hours:
Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m; Sun. 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
