Ephesus in Massapequa Park: Simple pleasures

A simple, fresh salad; good bread. That’s all I want.

Last night at Ephesus, the family-run Turkish restaurant in Massapequa Park, that’s what I got. The bread, the flat-but-puffy Turkish pide, is made on the premises and makes Ephesus’s bread basket one of Long Island’s most appealing. The shepherd salad, $6.50, combines chopped ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, onions, parsley, mint and oregano with lemon juice and olive oil. It is a salad I could eat every day.

I followed up with a beyti kebab, $15.95, one of the glories of the Turkish kitchen. Chopped, spiced lamb is shaped around a skewer and grilled, then the kebab is wrapped with lavash (a thin, pliable Turkish bread not unlike a flour tortilla) and cut into segments — as if it were a maki roll. Each segment is topped with tomato sauce and served with yogurt.

They don’t reinvent the wheel at Ephesus. They just make great food.

Ephesus is at 514 Park Blvd. Massapequa Park, 516-543-4258, ephesusmedcuisine.com