Tuesday, December 11, 2012

with a pencil and an appetite



Be warned, my friends, this post may make your stomach groan. The first sketch was a random stopover before hitting up the Archaeological Museum, but the second was penciled at one of my favourite dürüm places, Dürümzade. Anthony Bourdain likes it too. A dürüm is a wrap sandwich which is pretty hard to get wrong in Istanbul, but there are certainly some places which stand out above others. The crew at Dürümzade know how to season their kebabs to perfection, and rub their lavash (the bread component in this equation) with a pleasantly spicy paste before loading it up with onions, parsley, tomatoes, and the meat. The greatest part of the dürüm is that last five centimeters, where the meat juices lovingly mix with the tomato and the spices— I can't resist flipping my dürüm over to skip ahead to this part.

That night, while attempting to lick my fingers clean with as much grace as I could muster, I debated over whether or not I should sketch the man across the tiny room, who was dining on a bowl of soup. He was out of his mind— barely present, and this worried me a little as his reaction to being sketched might not be positive, if I was discovered.

He was so stratospheric, he never noticed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely, and finally some sketch.

Unknown said...

I find I make a better sketch when the person doesn't know what i am up to. when people become self conscious they become less natural and some how more trouble to draw.
And when they don't know, I feel a warm sense inside, like I am getting away with something. Though I will typically ask for there first name when I am done.

and thanks for the lunch idea. I was going to do meatball sub, which is perfect for a overcast grey Los Angeles but Josh, the owner of the excellent Park restaurant, also makes a really amazing lamb gyro. It has its own similarly excellent flavored juice pocket in the last two bits.

And thanks for the sketches!