Cafe Divan

Introduce your preschooler to Turkish cuisine in a friendly atmosphere. Located in Georgetown, Café Divan is a laid back and casual restaurant.

There’s no kids’ menu at Divan. However, there is an extensive selection of meze, Turkish for appetizers, that can make a meal for a preschooler. The meze are reasonably priced and you may find your preschooler ends up with some new favorite foods. In Turkish cuisine, your preschooler will find some foods that are familiar, like yogurt, but prepared in ways that will be new and different for them. All meze are served with fresh pita bread. Try the eggplant salad, where the eggplant is smoked and roasted, then mixed into a puree. Your preschooler might also like cacik, fresh yogurt with cucumber, mint, and garlic. You’ll both have fun scooping your meze onto the bread and eating it finger food style. Sigara borek, cheese wrapped in deep fried pastry, will probably be a big hit as well. Think of it as Turkey’s answer to the mozzarella stick.

 

If you do go for a main dish, Your preschooler might like a pide (pronounced pee-day). It’s like a pizza with rolled up sides. Be a little wary of the ones with meat if your preschooler doesn’t like spicy food. They also might like the shish kebabs.

Café Divan has several fruit juices. Your preschooler will probably like the visne suyu (pronounced vish-nay soo-yoo), or cherry juice. It’s different from most of what you’ll find on American store shelves. Preschoolers might also enjoy trying ayran, a yogurt drink. For grownups, if you like your coffee strong, try Turkish coffee.

Café Divan is casual and family friendly. You won’t find cartoon characters on the walls or anything, but neither will anyone look down their nose at you with your kids. Ask for one of the tables along the windows, which are lined with benches. If your preschooler doesn’t want to sit in a booster, the benches are a little lower than the chairs and should be a more comfortable height for eating at the table. This might be a good place to take your preschooler for a special day, or preparing them to eat in fancier places. If your preschooler enjoys people (or traffic) watching, this restaurant has lots of big picture windows and is a triangular shape between two streets. That should keep your preschooler entertained while waiting for your food (which shouldn’t be long).

1834 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20007

202-338-1747

Hours:

Monday-Thursday: 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM

Friday-Saturday: 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM

Sunday: 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM