Review: Tarla Mediterranean Grill

Stuffed mussels at Tarla Mediterranean Grill in Napa (Jeff Kan Lee/PD)

Given the long history of strife between the Greeks and the Turks, it’s refreshing to see Greek-Turkish fusion food making friends on a plate at Tarla Mediterranean Grill on First Street in Napa.

Tarla’s is right in the center of Napa’s grand rebirth, two doors west of the lovely Avia Hotel and across the street from Oenotri Italian restaurant and the Norman Rose Tavern gastropub. Besides the locals who eat and drink at these places, the tourists seem to be back and Tarla, Oenotri and the Norman Rose were all packed on a recent night.

Tarla is Turkish for a field of crops, and the kitchen uses organic ingredients from Napa suppliers when possible. That’s why the romaine lettuce in the Greek Salad ($8 ***) was so crackly-crunchy fresh and delicious, even though there’s no lettuce in a traditional Greek salad of onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and feta cheese. Maybe they use lettuce in a Greek salad in Turkey. I was just glad they did, because it was the best salad I’ve had this summer.

There was no problem choosing items from the mezes (appetizers), salads and entrees on the printed menu, but after I had ordered, the server came back to a table of four next to mine and started reciting nightly specials. Who knew there were specials?

Greek Iman Bayildi

The décor, in off-white, gray, black and brown, is classy luncheonette, with seven tables at the long banquette, three free-standing tables and a dozen stools at the full bar. The wine list has 116 selections, chock-a-block with eclectic treasures from around the world. A 2009 Narince, a white grape indigenous to Turkey and grown in the Cappadocia region, produced by Kavaklidere winery, made a perfect companion to a dish of the classic Turkish and Greek Imam Bayildi ($16 ***), which translates as “the priest fainted.” The wine, very much like a light and refreshing chardonnay, lent a tingle to the earthy eggplant stuffed with caramelized red onions, bell peppers, tomato and parsley, all braised in olive oil and served with a garlicky fresh tomato sauce and white rice.

Although this review is based on the dinner menu, Tarla may be a good choice for lunch if you’re in the neighborhood, because the mid-day menu features beef doner, the Turkish version of the Greek gyro, served with a sumac salad and tzatziki. If you are with a companion, you can get the meze plate loaded up with dolmas, tzatziki, hummus, pita, olives, zucchini cake and stuffed mussels.

Istanbul-Style Stuffed Mussels ($8 ***) are a meze on the dinner menu, too. You get four extra-plump steamed mussels perched on shells filled with a combination of white rice, currants, pine nuts and fresh dill that provide a complex of flavors.

Maybe if you grew up with Saganaki ($9 **), you’d pine for it, but I found this piece of Cypriot cheese soaked in fruit syrup and lemon juice and flamed at the table with brandy to be visually exciting but gastronomically bland.