Uskudar from Cafe Orchid

Eggplant is the Rodney Dangerfield of vegetables. Honestly, beyond the occasional baba ganoush, how often do you see this purplish, bulbous ingredient – looking like something from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” – star on a menu? Thankfully, the Turks know how to exploit the aubergine, and at Cafe Orchid, in Lake View/Ravenswood, it appears frequently on both the lunch and dinner menus. One of my favorite ways is in the uskudar, a hearty dish containing cubes of sautéed lamb, that have been enveloped in long slices of cooked eggplant. A pool of homemade tomato sauce is there for dipping, and the restaurant’s beautiful, homemade bread is always there for backup.