Served in a traditional Turkish tulip glass, the smoky flavoured black tea comes from an old kettle and costs as little as 1 Turkish Lira.

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Dale, operating in a modern stone-and-wood restaurant designed by New York's AvroKo, plays with classics, grilling the romaine in a deconstructed Caesar salad, adding Cherry Coke to the sauce in a duck tamale, and marinating sushi-grade tuna in smoky Lapsang souchong tea with, respectively, good, bad, and indifferent results.

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In high school he discovered chamomile tea in smoky, cool, dark coffeehouses.

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