Neighborhood Side Streets

Pierre loti 258 West 15th StreetWine bars were a relatively new trend in the early 2000s when Orhan Cakir and Burak Argun met at language school after emigrating from Istanbul. With a third partner, they opened one of the city’s first wine bars, Turks and Frogs in the West Village, then Pierre Loti in Chelsea, Midtown and Union Square.

Pierre Loti, a fictional character created by French novelist Louis Marie-Julien Viaud, was a French naval officer who traveled to Istanbul and fell in love with the culture. Burak says the character exemplifies the cultural mix of French wine and Turkish cuisine in his bar.

For more photos and side streets, go to sideways.nyc.