070 Sinan Camozu of Sultan Döner Kebab and Baklava

(01:08) As we step into Sultan Döner Kebab and Baklava on 6th Street in downtown Pittsburgh, owner Sinan Camozu moves with practiced precision as he operates a specialized machine imported from Turkey—one of a kind in our region. From it emerges impossibly thin sheets of phyllo dough, translucent enough to see your hand through, destined to become his extraordinary baklava.

(07:43) "Nobody does this other than us," Sinan explains with justified pride. While most restaurants use frozen phyllo, Sinan creates his from scratch in a temperature and humidity-controlled room. The results yield pastries with a remarkable puffiness and delicacy that simply can't be achieved with mass-produced ingredients. The vividly green pistachios nestled within come directly from his wife Fatma's family farm in Turkey, where they tend hundreds of trees.

A commitment to authenticity extends throughout the menu. The restaurant's namesake döner (meaning "spinning" in Turkish) features house-marinated meats being stacked and slow-roasted on vertical spits. Even the pita bread receives special attention, baked fresh twice daily rather than just once in the morning.

Sinan came to America in 2009 simply to improve his English. "I wanted to explain my foods when I'm cooking to my guests," he shares. What was meant to be a one-year stay evolved into a permanent move and, eventually, the realization of an entrepreneurial dream—opening during the challenging days of the pandemic.

Now, with a growing reputation among downtown diners, cultural trust visitors, and sports fans crossing the Clemente Bridge, Sinan has his sights set on expansion. His goal? Selling his handcrafted baklava across the United States. 

(31:24) Later in the episode, Catherine Montest recommends Albarino as the perfect summer wine for picnics and porch sipping, and Rick Sebak shares his special cowboy cookie recipe featuring ancient grains from Weatherberry Farm. Bring your appetite. 

Transcript

Meet Sinan of Sultan Doner Kebab

Doug 0:01

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. Have you ever seen phyllo dough made from scratch? Probably not. This week we visit Sinan Camozu of Sultan Döner Kebab and Baklava downtown on 6th Street to experience the process. What refreshing wine has crept into your picnics or porch sipping this summer? Catherine Montest shares one of hers and if you want a cookie, that's got it all. Rick Sebak stops by to share his cowboy cookie recipe. All that ahead, stay tuned. The Pittsburgh Dish is supported by Family Table mom inspired chef prepared meal delivery. Visit their website at familytablepghcom to see their weekly menu and use code DISH20 to save 20% off your first order. That's familytablepghcom and code DISH20. Now on to the show, and this week's lead interview is on location. Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and the name of your business?

Sinan 1:13

Absolutely. My name is Sinan Camozu and we're running Sultan Döner Gyro and Baklava downtown Pittsburgh.

Doug 1:20

Yeah, right here on 6th Avenue, on 6th Street. Right, 6th Street, that's right.

Sinan 1:24

Yes, that's 6th Street.

Doug 1:26

The 6th Street Bridge and Sinan. How long have you been open?

Sinan 1:31

We opened during the pandemic. You did 2021. Yes, everything started opening again the capacity, 25 capacity. You know, you remember those stuff. That's why we opened.

Doug 1:42

What a time of life to open a new business.

Sinan 1:45

It's a big risk, but we did it. Yeah, yeah.

Doug 1:50

Now, what is this Sinan?

Sinan 1:51

This is butter, clarified butter we use for the baklava.

Doug 1:56

This is like a couple of gallons of clarified butter and it is completely clear, beautiful, it's clear yeah, beautiful.

Sinan 2:03

That's why everything makes us special. Usually the butters they mix with margarine.

Doug 2:11

We just use pure water, pure butter, and can you tell me again what you were sharing about? When you get to making the baklava and the pistachio, where do the pistachios come from?

Sinan 2:22

So my wife's family has a pistachio farm back in Haas, which is a town named Antep In Turkey, in Turkey.

Doug 2:30

How many trees by the Syrian waters they have a couple hundred trees there A couple hundred pistachio trees.

Sinan 2:35

Pistachio trees they harvest there and I bring it here to use for my art.

Doug 2:39

Amazing. It is amazing. What a great in-law resource right Absolutely Amazing. It is amazing. What a great in-law resource right Absolutely. We pay for it, of course. Yeah, yeah.

Sinan 2:47

It's fresh from tree. Oh my gosh.

Doug 2:50

Amazing, it is amazing. And before you came from Turkey, you were telling me you were a chef, right I?

Sinan 2:56

graduated hotel management. Yes, so I worked with the different departments in the hotel industry, hospitality industry, so I like the kitchen is better yeah, so I start my career in the kitchen and I've worked in different hotels in istanbul and some uh, the cost of the hotels, like resorts.

Sinan 3:17

and then, for the learning better english, I decided to come to united states 2009. Wow, that's what brought you here. That's why I came here. I want to explain my foods, when I'm cooking, to my guests. Usually my guests in the hotel industry are Europeans or Americans, so they were watching and asking me a bunch of questions I can't explain, so I was like I should better learn English.

Doug 3:42

That's why I'm here. And when you were working in those coastal hotels back home, you were telling me off microphone that one of them was sort of like an open window concept, like an open kitchen, and that's why they would ask you so many questions.

Sinan 3:54

So I had a work in a hotel in Istanbul. Has an open kitchen with windows. The guests can see us when we are cooking or preparing our foods.

Doug 4:03

And you love that now here at Sultan Döner and Gyro I like it.

Sinan 4:07

that way, people are more comfortable and they can see everything happening in front of their eye and all the delicious seasoning adding your skills and fresh products. They're seeing it. So it's a quiet experience. I want to continue doing the same thing.

Doug 4:26

Yeah, yeah, that's what you're doing right here out front. We can see the, we can see the donor spinning. We can see you making the fresh pita this morning, the turkish pita. It's delicious and I I can't explain it, but it's different than any other pita that I've tasted. There is a taste to the outside of it that reminds me of like a childhood memory, for me of like a soda cracker oyster crackers. It's great, but it's still soft and pillowy inside.

Sinan 4:49

So what? I tried to make that pita. So my mother, when we were little, she was making a bread from the oven stone oven, and it reminds me here with like pizza crust, yes. So I try to do the same thing. I get the crust, make a pita, then I can fill with my delicious meats in it to serve. It still puffs. It's beautiful, it does. Yeah, it's supposed to be, yeah it has an opening space in there.

Sinan 5:18

Yeah, the softness, and you just fold in somebody. We do falafel chicken don, which is lamb and beef mixed gyro meat.

Doug 5:27

Can we talk about doner for a second, because one of your taglines is authentic doner and I don't know if a lot of folks know what that means. Does that mean the meat on the spit? Does it mean the spit itself and how it's cooked?

Sinan 5:42

So the meaning of döner is spinning, spinning. So in Greek they call gyro. Yes, so, uh, Pittsburgh called gyro, of course we do so, and the Arab uh middle eastern country is called shawarma so all meaning the same thing. When you translate to English, it's spinning, okay.

Sinan 6:03

And that's what we do in rotating the cook. So my dinner is why it's different is so we use fresh source meat from local and we get our own lamb from the local farm. We slice it really thin and we stack it our own. We don't buy frozen no, not ready from the restaurant, we just grab it and put it in a spinning. So we just do everything in our house, back in the house, and when we get the meats we marinate it two days to get the old flavor soak in and get the tenderness and we have a 70% beef, 30% lamb lamb.

Doug 6:44

So you're stacking the beef. The beef is the majority, but the lamb gives it that flavor, right Flavors inside.

Sinan 6:50

So that juice, so good. The fat from the lamb coming, perfect Juicy tenderness. Yes, smell, tasty, authentic taste.

Doug 7:00

I will say too, the chicken one. It was delicious.

Sinan 7:03

So the chicken I have my own recipe, a marination system. We use again thigh and chicken breast.

Doug 7:11

The thigh and the breast.

Sinan 7:13

Correct, that's why we use the thigh juice.

Homemade Phyllo Dough: A Rare Craft

Doug 7:16

So much fattier and richer. Exactly, doesn't dry out, exactly, but then the breast lightens it up. So it's just this beautiful color Combination. Yeah, juicy, nice breast and thigh mixture and when I've had it, the spinning, there is a crispiness on the outside which actually reminds me of the best crispy chicken skin, even though that might not really be what it is, but it's so good, you got it. It's a beautiful. Yes, so we've moved to the back. This is where you make phyllo.

Sinan 7:46

You eat my phyllo's though bacon in this backside.

Doug 7:50

You insisted that I come back To your restaurant to see how you make phyllo, because you you were telling me that this is not something people do.

Sinan 7:58

Yeah, this is one of a kind Nobody does that other than us. Yes, so you you getting the chef the feel of those from the chefs than us. Yes, so you're getting the filo dough from the chefs, the grocery places Usually frozen right, this is how they make. Yes, You're doing it from scratch, from scratch. The flours came from Turkey because there's some constant. It doesn't have the flowers in here, so we bring the flowers from the back of the house, the machine I bring it from Turkey.

Doug 8:26

This is an incredible-looking machine. It has rollers, and you were showing me that the rollers get hot. So even in the back there's a cooler and then there's a whole other device there to keep the rollers cool, so you get the perfect consistency the sheets are paper-thin, exactly.

Sinan 8:46

So it's really important that the beams when they circling, when they're taking the filo out, it's get heat and warmed. So if it gets too warm the phyllo is going to cook and dry. So that's why they put a chiller inside to make the cool the beams with the cold water circling in there, then keep continue getting the same dough from beginning to end all right.

Doug 9:05

Well, let's let you go, because I know you want to get started.

Sinan 9:07

Yeah do you want to see the dough?

Doug 9:10

yes, it's for to give our listeners a visual. It's quite crumbly. I'm surprised at how Less water. Less water than you expect.

Sinan 9:18

It has to be tough, like a pasta.

Doug 9:21

Yeah, almost like a meal, More than a. We don't have a ball of dough, no, no, no, not at all.

Sinan 9:29

It's like a, it's like scrambled little tiny pieces. Yes, so now I'm going to set up my machine to run it. So then we're going to see in a soon. The phyllo is coming out.

Doug 9:39

All right, I'm going to take some pictures too, absolutely Okay. So right now he's about to drop some of the dough into the hopper. We're in a temperature controlled room where he also controls the humidity, so he gets that perfect consistency of that paper thin phyllo dough oh here we go. Paper thin filo dough oh, here we go. Okay, so Sinan has turned on the filo dough machine and it's beautiful, like this wide ribbon. You can actually see your hand through it and there's this continuous sheet. You can tell he's done this probably hundreds of times.

Doug 10:22

I used two tons of flour already, oh two tons Since I bring this machine here, and how long have you had the machine? Uh, over a year now. Okay, so, as the machine is going, he's adding like new dowel rods to collect the dough and it's just spinning up We've already done about three or four and then from there he's going to cut it into the smaller pieces he needs to make the baklava or whatever else is being baked for the day.

Sinan 10:56

For baklava it's like thinner. When we Spaniko pita it's a little thicker. So we first get the baklava and then I'm gonna change the level size to make for the Spaniko pita.

Doug 11:14

You can tell you've had a lot of practice.

Sinan 11:16

It is a lot of practice. So I believe that 10 bags of flour with the garbage.

Doug 11:22

Oh, just practicing, just practicing making mistakes and doing again yes it's frustrated.

Sinan 11:28

Two, three batch of dough are made and throw garbage.

Doug 11:32

Uh-huh, how stressful like but it's a learning process it's a learning process yes, and nobody else has this machine in Pittsburgh. No, no.

Sinan 11:41

Even in the region. Anyone in the region making. I believe that they have. One guy has it in Cleveland.

Doug 11:47

Okay, so you don't have any close by competition making homemade filo, it's not a competition. No no.

Sinan 11:58

It's a lot of work and not many people want to do it, so I love doing it. This is my passion, this is what I want, this is my dream. So, even if we make a little money, that's my something. I want to do you love doing it.

Doug 12:13

Yeah, when we go out to the sweets bar and the coffee bar, like the baklava and all the other pastries, they're so puffy. And you were telling me that the reason they're so puffy is because this is the homemade dough. It allows it to get more airy, and our technique.

Sinan 12:33

So instead of brushing it, we're spraying the butter You're spraying the butter.

Doug 12:37

So when you?

Sinan 12:38

brush the butter on top the layers. You stick each other so we spray the butter to make them raise inside.

Doug 12:47

They're so puffy, they're so rounded and delicious.

Sinan 12:50

Different techniques. We have to show them one day.

Doug 12:52

Yes, I'll bring a film crew with me next time Hopefully. When the Pittsburgh dish goes to video. Alright, he's starting next time. Yeah, when the Pittsburgh dish goes to video, all right he's starting the machine back up.

Sinan 13:04

And then next step, we're going to go start layering in the face.

Doug 13:09

He's taking the sheets and he's folding them into squares with such a delicate touch and he's weighing. You have to feel this. Yes, oh my gosh, it is like paper, it's kind of like fabric. It feels like those disposable gloves or something. Oh, my goodness.

Sinan 13:26

That's crazy. So even if you put it together, it comes back apart.

Doug 13:31

But it hasn't ripped at all either.

Sinan 13:32

The reason is the starch we're using. It's make them stop stacking each other Amazing.

Doug 13:39

You had virtually no waste here today.

Sinan 13:42

No, there's no waste. No, we don't waste much as soon as you learn the technique, as soon as you know what to do.

Doug 13:48

And what will you bake? Uh, what will you bake next? What will be the next thing?

Sinan 13:53

It's gonna be nice fluffy baklava we're gonna come out from that. So now we're gonna just layer all those goods and then we're going to cut it our style and then we're going to bake that in the oven. So while we put it in the oven, we have to make a syrup ready. That syrup has 4 kilograms water, 5 kilograms sugar and fresh lemon juice 2 lemon juices. We use 2 lemons to get a juice. That is your sweet syrup. Sweet syrup and it has to be reached to some temperature.

Doug 14:26

Yes.

Sinan 14:27

So I'm not good with Fahrenheit. I will give you the.

Doug 14:29

Celsius. No, no, no, that's okay, so we reach to 112 Celsius when we boiling.

Sinan 14:36

Then when the bak lava come out, the oven will be hot, so hot soups going on top.

Doug 14:43

Right and it kind of bubbles all around.

Sinan 14:45

Yeah, yeah, it's like you can see, it's like a container boiling.

Doug 14:50

It's almost like a candy making process. In a way, it's similar. Yeah, there's such a timing and science and everything, so much technique to making it and all this includes, again, the temperatures change when the weather changes.

Sinan 15:02

So in the wintertime you reach 112. In the summertime you're okay with 110 or 108. And just one or two temperatures take like 15 minutes, another 15 minutes to add the boiler. It doesn't reach that temperature fast, so you need to time it well while we put the baklava into oven. So, you need to plan when the baklava came out. Soup has to be ready.

Doug 15:34

So, in addition to the baklava, what else are we making with this dough, did I hear?

Sinan 15:39

So we make Spanakopita.

Doug 15:40

Span, I hear, so we make spinach pie.

Sinan 15:42

Spinach pie In the Greek name is spinach pie.

Doug 15:46

Yes.

Sinan 15:47

You can make a lot of stuff. We make cigar bread with it, so make a little bit thicker dough.

Doug 15:52

Cigar bread.

Sinan 15:53

Cigar bread is like phyllo full with cheese and parsley. You fry it Looks like a cigar.

Doug 15:59

Sounds delicious. Yeah, I don't think I've ever had that one. You should try it.

Sinan 16:03

It's so beautiful.

Doug 16:05

Any other savory pies like this that you make, you can do a lot of stuff.

Sinan 16:09

Yeah, so my wife makes a brex, so we're using potato and ground beef. Oh, so some for the vegetable options. You just use just potato and potato.

Doug 16:22

Like a progi. Yeah, this is very Pittsburgh.

Sinan 16:25

It's Pittsburgh. I'm sure the Pittsburgh is gonna like it if they try it. Mm-hmm, the burleks and other savories in the morning time may be baked.

Doug 16:35

Since you have been open since the pandemic, how has your reception to the downtown Pittsburgh been?

Sinan 16:43

So I have to thank my neighbor. The Cultural Trust, the theaters and the cell phone, so those are our.

Doug 16:53

You're right across from the symphony, from Heinz Hall.

Sinan 16:55

Yeah, so we have a lot of guests from cultural events yes from san francisco, the, the theaters, and then it's fans of the team, sport fans yeah, you're right across the clemente bridge exactly, and then we have a beautiful organization. It's like downtown partnership yes so pdp, they are doing always some events here to support the local businesses.

Doug 17:21

Didn't you say Visit Pittsburgh is coming by.

Sinan 17:24

We have partnered with Visit Pittsburgh. They do some food tours and they have stopped by the visitors to our shop to taste the baklava.

Doug 17:35

So if somebody wants to, they should get on that Visit Pittsburgh tour or they should just come visit you.

Sinan 17:39

They should just come and visit us right in the downtown.

Doug 17:42

Of course. What are your current hours right now?

Sinan 17:44

So we open 9 am, start preparing start serving around 10: 30, 11am. Everything is ready to go.

Doug 17:52

So if someone wanted to come early enough and get espresso and a baklava start their day the right way, exactly, but the hot food comes closer to lunch.

Sinan 18:01

Lunch time. We start serving our doner kebab.

Doug 18:03

Yes, are you closed any day of the week?

Sinan 18:07

So we close on.

Doug 18:07

Mondays Okay, mondays are the closed day.

Sinan 18:10

Closed days is Mondays. We have to take a one day off. I used to be not closed at all.

Catherine 18:15

Yeah.

Sinan 18:15

And I figured out I have to do it, you have to. Otherwise, even if I have an off day, I'll be here.

Doug 18:21

Well, we were trying to talk about when you could come maybe interview with me, and you're like you just need to come here, it's better for me. Well, it was. This is so good. I have not seen, I have never seen filo dough made from scratch and apparently not many people have because no one's doing it.

Sinan 18:40

Even not Not many people have. Because no one's doing it, not many Turkish people. No, it's so unique. This is Sinan Camozu of Sultan Döner Kebab and Baklava, and you are listening to Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 18:50

What does your family think of this business?

Sinan 18:53

My parents.

Doug 18:56

They're still back in Turkey.

Sinan 18:58

My dad visited me. He was surprised how I was doing. He didn't know that, so he was surprised how talented and hard work I'm doing. So he supported me. He stayed here and helped me out. Oh yeah, my family always support me for everything I do and I appreciate them. So he sent me in the United States just one year, but I didn't listen to him.

Doug 19:22

Oh, he said you can come here for one year to learn the English, but once you were here you stayed.

Sinan 19:26

Year and year and years. And then he's like I know you're not going to come back, so we give up.

Family Traditions and Turkish Flavors

Doug 19:33

What was food life like at home? You said your mom used to make the, the bread at home. Was she the? Main cook did you cook much as a youngster I?

Sinan 19:42

was always helping her. She was even saying that I have two sisters. She was like you're more talented than them. Oh, so it was. It was a good compliment for me. Yes, I like to watch her learn from her her skill. She's good with the dough. Ah, the baking of bread. Yes, baklava a produce. We had a produce back in the home you did. We call them it's Manti Manta. Yeah, she's strange to feel those and then make a filling with the potato and caramelized onion mixed Delicious, so filling with it and then cooking on the boiling hot water, getting some butter, melted butter, on top and be reading.

Doug 20:28

That's very close to a pierogi, probably thinner.

Sinan 20:31

She has several sheets. The sheets is thicker than yeah, probably thinner. She used several sheets. The sheets is thicker than yeah. So then when I came to United States, first when I was shopping for myself in the grocery shops, I get the pierogis, because it was too kind of like close to me, so I just picked the pierogi box and cook it how we cook in the home, so I eat it so I see your wife has started making the spinach pie, is that right?

Sinan 20:55

No, she started layering the phyllos for the baklava. Oh, baklava. So we're doing everything together.

Doug 21:02

I love it. It's a family affair.

Sinan 21:05

And my kids.

Doug 21:06

I saw your kids running around out in the morning.

Sinan 21:09

Hopefully this week she's going to start doing school.

Doug 21:12

We will have one kid here. Oh, my goodness. Fatma, Sinan was telling me that the pistachios come from your family.

Rick 21:20

Yes.

Doug 21:20

Yes, they're beautiful. She's putting butter down on the pan and she's got this huge prep box of crust pistachio. And the green color is just amazing. It's so vivid.

Sinan 21:35

So I grew up with helping my mom and dad with everything they do. I was the oldest kid in the house, so that's given me a work ethic. So my dad, anytime he was a construction worker, so anytime he's going to work he'd come to my door, the door. He's like I'm ready to go and I just run, get ready to catch him so it's giving me like you have to get up early.

Sinan 22:03

Yes, stop walking, then I get that work ethic from my dad. So that's why I bring my kids here even they're just playing around and hanging out, yeah, or giving them some little jobs. I want them to get that work ethic, work ethic. Yeah, they have to come work, earn. In this way they can appreciate.

Doug 22:24

And it's also family time, though, too, like real family time, you're still together.

Sinan 22:28

I can't forget me and my my dad working in construction, hard work, yeah, I was just giving him a little things like what he needed handy things, yeah, but that was my favorite time. Good memories.

Doug 22:40

Exactly, you know me and my dad hanging out together and you have little kids and they grow up in a flash. So savor the moment, right, do it so we don't have much time.

Sinan 22:50

when you were cooking, you know that yeah always busy, so now I have opportunity to bring my kids here and spend some time with them. It's so great, and then they can get some talent from us. That'd be awesome.

Doug 23:01

Yeah, keep it going. Exactly, Sinan, I know you love this phyllo making. What do you see for the future? You've been open for over four years now.

Sinan 23:13

My plan for the future is to make this baklava a bigger operation, yes, and sell it all over the United States.

Doug 23:23

Become more wholesale.

Sinan 23:25

Exactly, that's what. I'm planning, that's what I'm trying to do.

Doug 23:28

I do see a new oven back here too, so you're expanding operations just here.

Sinan 23:32

Yeah, so we had a front oven. You were making the pita today Making a pita bread expanding operations just here.

Doug 23:35

Yeah, so we had a front oven.

Sinan 23:36

You were making the pita today, pita bread and baklava at the same time. When we make baking a baklava, it takes a couple of hours to finish. So in that time I have to hold other projects.

Doug 23:47

So I find out if you get an oven back so I can continue cooking for the customers in the front and not bother at all and bake baklava in the back and you were also telling me you bake twice a day because you bake pita in the morning, but then you also bake it later in the day because you want it to be fresh. Is that right? That's what we're doing.

Sinan 24:06

So instead of making all pita for a day in the morning, I serve for lunch and then I do it for the dinner.

Doug 24:15

You do another baking batch for dinner, another batch for the dinner. My goodness.

Sinan 24:19

So in this way, my customers get always fresh and soft pizza bread instead of just cold and dry. I love it. It's so delicious. So when we first make our doner kebab, I grab a sandwich from the traditional pizza bread, make a sandwich and eat it. It didn't give me a quiet taste. The traditional pizza bread Make a sandwich and eat it. It didn't give me a quiet test. I wanted to be, so I decided to buy an oven to make my own pizza bread.

Doug 24:43

All of the breads, all of the filo, all of the sweets are all being made here. The donor is all being marinated. You were telling me too, you always have backups, because everything takes two days to marinate. So you were like I've got backups upon backups.

Sinan 24:57

Especially our location. So, I have a few restaurants I know in New Jersey area. They are easy to reach the resources because they are bigger and where everything's happening. So me and like a little bit inside the United States thinks it's a little hard to reach. So I have to have a backup plan for everything. Yeah, backup meat source company. Backup butter company. Backup flours company. Oh, my gosh, so you have to have a plan B, even plan C.

Doug 25:30

Although you have to source those ingredients, any other folks in the area that you've become friends with that also own restaurants so you must know that there's a.

Sinan 25:38

There's a nice french breakfast place in Shadyside, it's Cafe Moulin. Uh, they are my friends. Uh-huh, we came the same time here.

Doug 25:49

He's really a hard-working, good businessman you were also telling me about uh, Jillian's right, you just met the folks at Jillian's the jillian's.

Sinan 25:59

They so sweet, especially the. The chef orders from us and his, his wife he was busy, his wife's come and pick it up, so and supporting our business all the time you were telling me uh, before we recorded that coming here it felt a little harder, a little closed off.

Doug 26:19

But now you know more of a network of other restaurateurs and folks in the food industry.

Sinan 26:25

So when we start looking to start our own business, the Pittsburgh community is really close and people seems like know everybody know each other.

Sinan 26:35

So, if you don't know the right person, it's kind of tough to get in because they don't know you. So what is your skills? You're new here. That's why I think the pandemic give us an opportunity to find a location to start, because everyone is closing. It was a risk for me to get in, but I did take it as a risk, and now it panned closing. It was a risk for me to get in, but I did take it there, and now it panned out. It turns out beautiful and I met wonderful Pittsburghers who helped me out for growing, as our friend Ellen. She came to make a video and just posted on her social media.

Doug 27:13

This is our friend Ellen Kotzin of Pittsburgh Hills, people, might know her from that exactly.

Sinan 27:18

Yeah, she's amazing. She came here once a while when she was around here, always come and dine and try to support me and then she should make a video and post it and that's helped me a lot. And then we have Hal Klein yes so who works in Post Gazette. He came writing a few articles for us, so he sees the potential of the business that time.

Doug 27:41

And that's really helped you kind of with that beginning start. Four years later, how does it feel being part of the community?

Sinan 27:47

So now my guess is they know when they come into downtown they're going to stop by the sultan, our beautiful neighbor, the symphony cultural trust and pdp. Yeah, Hal Klein and then Pittsburgh Hills. They, they shared us and then they people start knowing us. I love that, so I think it's gonna be now easy to reaching my manufacturer in the future.

Catherine 28:16

So that's what's next. Is that?

Doug 28:17

wholesale goal yeah.

Sinan 28:19

I don't know when it's going to happen, but I'm working on to get Nutrition labels for my baklava, my feta and my pita bread and we're going to make a Turkish flatbread. So we're going to make that in factory. You try to give. Hopefully. That's what my goal is. Biggest goal is to give the Giant Eagle.

Doug 28:37

Well, we might know some people We'll have to talk to Giant Eagle.

Sinan 28:39

Yeah, that'd be helpful. So I'm going to try to reach them out, show them my products and then hopefully you can get from your local giant eagle store my fresh baklava.

Doug 28:50

Sinan, I love that.

Sinan 28:51

That's my goal.

Doug 28:56

That's my goal. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Hopefully we're going to make it. I think you will. So, Sinan, before we end today, could you remind everyone of your social media handle? I know you guys are active on Instagram, as well as your website.

Sinan 29:08

So they can reach out at sultandonerkebabpitt. com, our website. That's sultandonerkebabpitt. com, our website. And sultandonergyro on Facebook. If they write it there, they will see it and Instagram same thing, sultandonergyro.

Doug 29:23

Your wife is very active on there and I think she likes The Pittsburgh Dish. She likes everything I post.

Sinan 29:28

She follows everybody. She tries to post our foods.

Doug 29:33

You do a great job. She doesn't want to be on.

Sinan 29:35

Without her, I don't think I can reach this point, having a strong wife next to you, yeah, you guys are partners in this, we are partners on everything, yeah, life. So I appreciated her standing with me. She's just always with me.

Doug 29:54

She's busy here over in the corner making pies, so she's not talking to us. I have one final question for you. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. Okay, what's the best dish you've had to eat this past week?

Sinan 30:10

Not gonna lie, I eat best döner kebab in our restaurant. That's my favorite dish and my chef.

Doug 30:18

he start doing bowl with the doner and rice, serving it in a bowl with rice.

Sinan 30:24

That's my favorite because he make a nice hot sauce homemade hot sauce. Ooh, Serve it rice meat, lamb, gyro meat, some salad next to it. That was my best dish.

Doug 30:38

Best dish You're here six days a week. It should be.

Sinan 30:42

I'm so excited Next week I'm going to share with you. The next week she make a Turkish pierogi. We were talked about it. Oh yes, the manti with filling ground beef in it. Yes, I'm so excited. Next Monday she's going to make me that dish.

Doug 30:56

Okay, so that will be the best bite next week, next week yeah, so we schedule our next week dish too. Sinan, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you, Doug. Thank you for being on The Pittsburgh Dish and showing me how to make phyllo.

Sinan 31:11

Thank you being here and I appreciated you supporting us.

Summer Wine and Cowboy Cookies

Doug 31:15

Thanks again to our friend Ellen Kotzin of Pittsburgh Hills for connecting us to the Camozu family and everything they have going on at their restaurant Up next, what wine has become a hit for this summer's picnics or porch sipping? Catherine Montest of your Fairy Wine Mother has a go-to. Hey everybody, we're joined today with Catherine Montest of your fairy wine mother. Catherine, you're always good for giving us recommendations. I was just wondering, as we're in these warmer months of the year, what wine is on your radar.

Catherine 31:47

Well, in the summer months, because we're feeling all hot and sticky, you want a wine that's light and bright and crisp and maybe even has some floral notes, and Albarino is a white wine that you can get from Spain, Portugal or even here in the US. Washington and Oregon are creating beautiful Albarinos. They are fabulous. It is a little citrusy, it's dry, it's got a little bit of minerality or salinity to it, oh yes, and it pairs well with almost everything. It sounds like a great picnic wine.

Catherine 32:24

It really is. If you're eating any kind of seafood, it goes great also with salads and all kinds of fresh vegetables. Really a lot of the way you want to focus on eating during the summer when you're not at a barbecue. Yeah.

Doug 32:38

I think I've picked up an Albarino before and part of the things that I liked about it was that sort of easy drinking and easy pairing with whatever your picnic food of the moment is.

Catherine 32:49

It's just such a food-friendly wine, but it's not a food-only wine.

Doug 32:53

It can really stand on its own as a porch sipper, if you will, oh well we love that Absolutely, so Albarino is on your radar for this summer, you bet it is. Thanks, Catherine.

Catherine 33:05

My pleasure Doug.

Doug 33:07

You can learn more about Catherine and her services at her website, yourfairywinemothercom. When we last talked with Rick Sebak a few months ago, he brought the most delicious cowboy cookies. Since then he's been busy with his next episode of Lucky to Live in Pittsburgh, which features the Weirton Chicken Blast, the Lenten Fish Fry at Community Kitchen Pittsburgh and one of my favorite spots, Bottle Rocket Social Hall in Allentown, and even though he's been hard at work, we were able to catch up and finally get that cowboy cookie recipe. Hey, everybody, we're joined today with Rick Seback of WQED in Pittsburgh. Rick, when you were on the show, you gave me a present which I'm so flattered. It was your cowboy cookies and they were made with the different ancient grains from Weatherberry Farm. We've had a couple people ask, so I was just wondering could we go through that recipe a little bit more?

Rick 34:03

Yeah, yeah, in fact I sort of know it by heart, I think. I mean and it's funny I've been doing them often now in Chris Fennimore's kitchen at WQED because there's a double oven and I can do four trays of cookies at a time. That's a nice oven in there, yes, so I usually take two sticks of butter and I do a cup of brown sugar and a cup of white sugar, put those together and then add two eggs, sometimes three eggs if I have them.

Rick 34:29

And Chris told me I remember he said let that run for a while, it's always better to get more air in at that point and then you start the dry things and I used to use all-purpose flour and you still could two cups of all-purpose flour. But on these cookies that I've made most recently and I love, I've been using a cup of spelt flour and a half cup each of emmer and einkorn flours, which I got at Weatherberry Farm. I just like the way they taste.

Doug 34:59

They were delicious. They were almost like a—I felt very healthy eating these cookies.

Rick 35:04

Good good, yes, so then I add those flours. Then, after that's incorporated, I usually add a ton of alcohol. Oh, I take a healthy tablespoon of my homemade vanilla extract, which is just vanilla beans. I learned to do this during the pandemic, when vanilla was so expensive. Yes, if you buy the grade C vanilla beans, you can put them in bourbon, you can put them in vodka, whatever, and make your own. And what do you do? Bourbon or vodka? I did both, okay, and I have a little of each left, so I do that. And then I do some Maggie's Farm Rum, yes, and usually a tablespoon of Grand Marnier, just because I love Grand Marnier, and a Wigle Whiskey, because Weatherberry helps start a bourbon at Wigle as well, and it's something valley, I can't remember off the top of my head.

Doug 35:59

I love these Pittsburgh connections though. Yes, yes, I can't remember off the top of my head.

Rick 36:02

I love these Pittsburgh connections though. Yes, yes, and I was surprised that you know, weatherberry had something to do with a bourbon that started at Wigles. So that's like four or five tablespoons. My mom's recipe never called for booze and I think for a long time, the vanilla extract was it one tablespoon of vanilla extract, and now I put four or five tablespoons of some kind of alcohol in the cookies and then some. Actually, this is the only like probably unexpected, I still use a cup or two of crushed frosted flakes. Oh, my mother's recipe says use any cereal that's in the cupboard Way to use up old cereal. But I do that. I still some uh, crushed frosted flakes in, but then I used einkorn uh flakes and uh rolled spelt.

Rick 36:48

Okay, you can also just use rolled oats and in fact they make rolled oats at weatherberry as well, and that's what got me out there. First was rolled oats, then I put all that in, and then I add the fruits and nuts and the ones you brought to me that day had a ton of things.

Doug 37:04

I think you had blueberries and-.

Rick 37:07

Apricots. Actually, that day did not have dried strawberries, which I tried to get at Delalo's and Jeanette, but they require it chopped up and I didn't have the time to chop them up, so I didn't put strawberries in dried strawberries. But, yeah, apricots, raisins and, uh, you know, oh, ginger a candy ginger, which I crystallized, oh yeah, yeah, then I just hope that the uh kitchen aid can take all that together.

Rick 37:34

And then my least favorite part of it all is just rolling it into balls, and then I put those in the fridge overnight, okay, so that they are sort of solidified, and then, uh, using chris's ovens at qed so I can do four dozen at a time, I bake them at 325 for about 15 minutes, okay, and I just you know?

Doug 37:55

quick question do you leave them in that ball shape when they go in the oven or do you have to flatten them at all?

Rick 37:59

I don't flatten them at all. They, they spread out, they spread out, perfect. Yeah, I just watch them a little bit. In all cookies. I tend to like them better a little underdone than overdone.

Doug 38:09

I think that's a trick, and then the ones you brought me. You finished them with a flaky sea salt that I. I think you got it.

Rick 38:16

Steel city steel city salt company in millvale I love, and it's a crystal flake salt, so good. Yeah, really made them.

Doug 38:24

Excellent, Rick. Thanks for the recipe, thanks for the cookies and thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. I thank you, Rick Sebak's latest episode of Lucky to Live in Pittsburgh premieres Thursday,S eptember 4th at 8 pm on WQED. Do you have a recipe? Share it with us. Just visit our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom and look for our Share a Recipe form. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description and if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at DougCooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.