The Flying Carpet Cafe is on the mellow side of West Magnolia Avenue.
The south side of Magnolia has coffee cafes, a busy burger grill and a frenzied taco stand.
But the north side of the street is more laid-back: a vegan diner, a homestyle Italian cafe, a martini lounge and now, a Turkish restaurant.
The Flying Carpet is a sleepy ride to another land. The Doyles' new menu features a few entrees and salads, all fresh and accompanied by Turkish teas or coffees.
The new menu this week adds a flatiron steak with caramelized fennel. But the features remain a leg of lamb with Moroccan spice, a roast chicken with local stewed okra or a traditional Turkish dish made from stuffed eggplant with garlic and herbs ("Ýmam bayildi," "the imam fainted").
Chef Callie Doyle also offers dolmades, hummus, tabbouleh and two above-average salads: an organic-greens salad with feta, cantaloupe and candied walnuts, and a roasted beet salad with radish, arugula and yogurt.
Sister Devon Doyle's desserts include baklava or muhallebi, a Turkish milk pudding with currants.
The Flying Carpet Cafe is open Tuesday through Saturday nights for dinner only. A weekend brunch will begin soon.
It's a half-block north of Magnolia at 1223 Washington Ave.; 817-877-1223, flyingcarpetcafe.com.
Nearby, Mijo's Fusion has updated its menu and now offers more Asian flavors than Tex-Mex.
Owner Connie Sheen originally turned a former Thai restaurant into an Asian-Texan fusion cafe, but diners wanted table service and more Asian dishes, so Mijo's has adjusted.
It's still one of the few restaurants where you can get nachos or chips and queso, then a tinga-chicken noodle bowl with sriracha. Or, at one lunch last week, a tuna stack followed by coconut-mango tres leches cake.
If you have already tried Mijo's, take a second look. It opens daily at 10:30 a.m. (for early lunches) and serves lunch and dinner; 1109 W. Magnolia Ave., 817-921-3905, mijostx.com.
The Pour House, a Fort Worth mainstay for more than 15 years as a sports grill and weekend brunch cafe, has expanded to Dallas.
The newly abbreviated PhD -- Dallas already had a bar named Pour House -- opened this week and will serve its first brunch this weekend at 1300 W. Davis St., near the Bishop Arts District.
The new PhD serves the familiar chicken dishes, pastas, burgers and King Ranch chicken; open for lunch and dinner daily, phdallas.com.
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