Beyti (Lodi)

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Beyti is a Turkish-American restaurant located on Passaic Street in Lodi, Bergen County, New Jersey. Established in 1979, it is one of the longer-running Turkish restaurants in the state, built around the Beyti kebab — a dish of seasoned ground lamb or beef wrapped in lavash bread, grilled, and served with tomato sauce and yogurt. The restaurant operates as a family-owned business and draws diners from Bergen County and the broader New York metropolitan area.

History

The restaurant was founded in 1979 by Beyti Kroqi, a Turkish immigrant who drew on his family's culinary background to build the menu. Kroqi had operated a smaller food establishment before settling on the Lodi location, which offered a commercially active street and reasonable proximity to the densely populated communities of northeastern New Jersey. Early growth came largely through word-of-mouth among the region's Turkish-American community and neighboring residents who weren't familiar with Turkish food but returned after a first visit.

The restaurant takes its name from both its founder and the Beyti kebab, a dish that originates in Istanbul and is named after Beyti Güler, the celebrated Turkish restaurateur whose eponymous Istanbul restaurant popularized the preparation in the mid-twentieth century. Kroqi brought a version of the dish to Lodi that became the kitchen's signature item and the centerpiece of the restaurant's identity.

Over the following decades, Beyti remained family-owned and -operated, with members of the Kroqi family continuing to manage day-to-day operations. The restaurant held largely to its original menu through shifts in the surrounding dining scene — including the rise of fast-casual chains and the expansion of competing ethnic cuisine options across Bergen County — and built a loyal customer base that valued its consistency. It has operated through multiple recessions and the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced temporary closures or reduced capacity across New Jersey's restaurant industry beginning in March 2020 under state executive orders.^[1]

The restaurant's history is part of the broader story of Turkish immigration to New Jersey. Bergen County attracted a notable Turkish-American population during the second half of the twentieth century, and establishments like Beyti provided both a culinary and social anchor for that community.^[2]

Cuisine

The Beyti kebab is the restaurant's defining dish. It's made from ground lamb or beef — seasoned with garlic, parsley, and spices — shaped around a flat skewer, grilled over an open flame, then wrapped tightly in lavash, a thin unleavened flatbread. The roll is sliced into rounds and plated with a tomato-based sauce and strained yogurt. The preparation requires a particular technique in both the seasoning of the meat and the grilling, since the mixture must hold its shape on the skewer without drying out. Done correctly, the exterior is lightly charred while the interior stays moist.

Beyond the Beyti kebab, the restaurant's menu includes other Turkish grilled meats — among them shish kebab, adana kebab, and lamb chops — as well as cold and warm appetizers common to Turkish cuisine: hummus, ezme (a finely chopped tomato and pepper relish), sigara böreği (fried cheese-filled pastry rolls), and lentil soup. Bread arrives at the table fresh from the kitchen. The menu isn't large by the standard of some Turkish restaurants, but it doesn't try to be. The focus is on a core set of dishes executed reliably.

The restaurant's portions are generous, and the dining format tends toward the unhurried. Large groups and extended family meals are common. Turkish tea is served, and the menu includes baklava and other traditional desserts.

Geography

Beyti sits in Lodi, a borough of approximately 25,000 residents in the southeastern corner of Bergen County.^[3] The borough borders Hackensack to the east and Garfield to the north, and its commercial corridor along Main Street and Passaic Street hosts a range of small businesses, restaurants, and retail shops. The area is flat, consistent with its position at the edge of the New Jersey Meadowlands — the low-lying wetland and industrial zone that stretches across parts of Bergen and Hudson counties along the Hackensack River.

Lodi is accessible from Route 46, which runs through the southern portion of the borough, and from the Garden State Parkway via nearby interchanges. New Jersey Transit operates several bus routes serving the area, connecting it to Hackensack, Paterson, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. That accessibility made Lodi a practical location for a restaurant drawing customers from across the region.

Bergen County as a whole is among the most densely populated counties in the United States and has a diverse population that includes substantial immigrant communities from South Asia, Latin America, Korea, and Turkey, among others.^[4] That demographic reality has shaped the county's restaurant scene, and Beyti operates within a broader context of ethnic cuisine establishments that serve both immigrant communities and the general dining public.

Culture

Beyti's dining room reflects the informality of a neighborhood restaurant that has been in place for decades. The décor incorporates Turkish design elements and artwork, though the overall atmosphere is practical rather than decorative — the emphasis is on the food and the table, not the surroundings. The restaurant has long served as a venue for family celebrations, large group dinners, and community gatherings, a function that fits the Turkish cultural tradition of hospitality and extended-table dining.

The Beyti kebab itself has become recognizable to a generation of New Jersey diners who may not otherwise have much exposure to Turkish cuisine. For many, it's the first Turkish dish they tried. The restaurant has been covered in local food writing and referenced in online dining communities as a reliable destination for the style of cooking it represents.

Turkish cuisine occupies a distinct place in the broader category of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking — it shares elements with Greek, Lebanese, and Persian food traditions while maintaining its own character, particularly in its use of charcoal-grilled meats, yogurt-based sauces, and bread as a central component of a meal. Beyti's menu introduces that tradition to diners who arrive with little prior knowledge of it, and the restaurant's longevity suggests it has done so effectively.

Economy

Beyti employs kitchen staff, servers, and support workers drawn from Lodi and surrounding communities in Bergen County. As a small independent business, it contributes to the local economy through direct payroll, purchases from local and regional food suppliers, and the secondary spending of out-of-town diners who visit Lodi specifically to eat there.

Small independent restaurants face consistent pressure in New Jersey's competitive dining market, where labor costs, food costs, and commercial rents have all risen over recent decades. Bergen County's cost structure is among the higher ones in the state. The fact that Beyti has sustained operations since 1979 — through recessions, changing consumer habits, and the disruptions of the pandemic period — is itself a measure of its economic stability within the borough.^[5]

The restaurant draws visitors from outside Lodi, including from New York City and other parts of the metropolitan area, which contributes spending to the local commercial district beyond what a purely neighborhood-serving business would generate.

Nearby Attractions

Lodi's surroundings offer a number of destinations within a short drive. The Hackensack RiverWalk runs along the Hackensack River and provides walking and cycling paths through the Meadowlands corridor. Saddle River County Park, operated by Bergen County, covers several hundred acres across multiple municipalities and includes trails, picnic areas, and athletic fields. The Van Riper-Hopper House, a historic property in Wayne managed by Passaic County, is within a short drive and provides context for the region's colonial-era history.

The Meadowlands Sports Complex — home to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, which hosts the New York Giants and New York Jets NFL franchises — is approximately five miles southeast of Lodi.^[6] American Dream, the large retail and entertainment complex adjacent to the stadium, opened in phases between 2019 and 2020 and draws significant visitor traffic to the Meadowlands area. Hackensack's downtown, with its own concentration of restaurants and shops, is directly adjacent to Lodi's eastern border.

Getting There

Beyti is accessible by car via Route 46, which connects the borough to the broader highway network including Interstate 80 to the north and the Garden State Parkway to the south. Street parking and lot parking are available near the restaurant on Passaic Street.

New Jersey Transit bus service connects Lodi to Hackensack, Paterson, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, making the restaurant reachable from New York City without a car.^[7] Riders coming from Manhattan can take a bus to Hackensack or directly through Lodi depending on the route. Travel time from Midtown Manhattan by bus is typically between 45 minutes and one hour depending on traffic conditions.