Rasim Özkanca: Passionate ambassador of Turkish cuisine

Turkish cuisine has lost a dedicated veteran soldier. Rasim Özkanca was dedicated to serving classic Turkish dishes in the best and most authentic way at Borsa Lokantası for years. He never compromised on the quality and always tried to achieve the best with his tireless efforts to perfect a plate in the kitchen. Rasim Özkanca believed in Turkish cuisine and did his best to bring it to a respectable position among the world cuisines. To be honest, those were the years when most so-called Turkish gastronomy authorities thought Turkish cuisine could not have its place in fine dining as most classics needed long hours of cooking, except for the grills, no plate could be prepared upon order. What a shame! Thanks to winds of change, in today’s diverse gastronomy world, there is a place for any kind of cuisine, as long as it is prepared with passion and quality.

Özkanca’s real adventure with Turkish cuisine began in 1983 when he bought the well-established Borsa Restaurant together with his two brothers, which was in danger of closing down. Before that, he started his professional career by operating the dining car of the State Railways run by the world-famous Wagon-Lit company. After seven years of experience in train restaurants, his move big move was taking over Borsa Lokantası, which was first established in 1927, and though being a famed establishment, was in danger of closing down because of internal reasons.

Borsa, meaning stock market in Turkish, was named after the Eminönü Zahire Borsası, the place for produce exchange. Borsa was revived with the unique efforts of Rasim Özkanca and became the undisputed address of Turkish cuisine over time. Later, in 1996, he expanded the business, first opening another place in Osmanbey, and then finally, he established his most ambitious project, Boğaziçi Borsa Restaurant located in the Lütfi Kırdar Congress Palace. From then on, he dedicated himself to serving Turkish cuisine in the best way possible, while his brother, Tahsin Özkanca, continued the business with self-service eateries, again serving Turkish home cooking. The restaurant at the congress center was soon to become the constant address of state guests and celebrities visiting Istanbul. From Clinton to Bush, Jacques Chirac to Tony Blair and Bartholemeous I. to Kofi Annan, countless leaders got to taste Turkish cuisine through Borsa dishes.

Aside from the leaders, there were celebrated figures such as the late football king Pele. The congress venue was not his only project. There were other locations, such as Kandilli Borsa Restaurant and Masa Restaurant, but his dream became realized when they launched together with his son, Umut Özkanca, Rüya Restaurant (note that “rüya” means “dream” in Turkish) operating in London, Dubai and Qatar. As of 2013, Özkanca merged with D.ream, Doğuş Group’s organization in the food and beverage sector.

From a foreigner’s eye

Those who know Rasim Özkanca remember him as follows. Passionate, perfectionist, focused on details to the point of stubbornness. When I say those who know him, I mean those who know him in his real place, in the kitchen, where he has the best command of the situation. One of those that has witnessed his unmatched work style was Claudio Chinali, now is now the director/executive chef of Eataly in Istanbul.

Chinali was a 28-year-old young chef who had experience in Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy when he came to Türkiye. After an unpleasant work experience, he was just about to pack and leave Türkiye, his path crossed with Borsa and he met with Özkanca through chef Murat Karaduman, who also had a Michelin-starred career in Europe. From the beginning of 2011 to 2013, Claudio worked at Boğaziçi Borsa for three years and he calls this period the years that shaped his life and his view of cuisine. Chinali, decided to stay in Türkiye, thanks to him, now he is one of the most knowledgeable foreign chefs of Turkish cuisine and products. Having previously worked with Michelin-starred chefs such as Bruno Barbieri and Igles Corelli in Italy, it is interesting that Chinali cites Rasim Özkanca as a muse to him, and that working with him was the turning point of his life.

Claudio Chinali remembers one single dish in particular, during his years in Borsa. That dish was “su böreği” the labor-intensive savory pasta dish, with layers of pasta, rolled out, individually boiled, stacked in alternating layers with melted butter, chees, or meat filling, and baked. layered with butter. He says, “I don’t even know how many börek we have tried and tasted. Seeking perfection, Özkanca insisted on trying, inviting sometimes housewives, and sometimes other cooks to the kitchen every day, in search of the most successful recipe. Finally, he proudly served the dish with free-range eggs and clarified butter to the guests at the NATO Summit held in Istanbul.

Research and development was surely his thing, actually in the restaurant, he also formed an R&D team to bring every dish to perfection. His mission was to keep Turkish cuisine alive in its true, most authentic form and to introduce it to the world gastronomy arena with modern presentations. Chinali says, “He wouldn’t hesitate to send us abroad just to
taste a dish, he didn’t recognize any obstacles to achieve the best, and what I learned from him is that a chef should be a true professional first, before being an artist.” From what Chinali tells he was also a workaholic. “When I arrived in the kitchen early in the morning, he was already in the kitchen, and when I left the kitchen at night, he was there again,” he says.

In 2013, in addition to Chinali, the R&D team included chef Murat Karaduman, former Zuma chef Michael Muir, Dimitri Duffour from France, and for desserts and patisserie İbrahim Kılıç and Sandy Abut, who owns Naan Bakery today. He also had Matthew Kenney who was one of the top chefs in New York of the time, as a consultant to bring a new contemporary style to traditional Turkish dishes, plating them apart with fine dining restaurants around the world. The fact that he had established such a research team in those years reveals how passionate and visionary Özkanca was. His legacy continues with his children, who have received the highest level of education in the field of gastronomy, his daughter Bahar Özkanca
graduated from Paris Le Cordon Bleu in France, and his son, Umut Özkanca, studied gastronomy at the CIA Culinary Institute of America in the U.S.and is friends with famous chef David Chang from the same period.

His legacy will continue with them, but he will be forever remembered by the countless culinary professionals who passed through the Borsa kitchens. He will never be forgotten and will always be remembered for his selfless efforts to promote Turkish cuisine.