Perhaps it’s the proximity of the waters of the Golden Horn or the weathered wood interior, but we get a distinctly maritime feeling at Köfteci Arnavut, a tiny köfte joint in the historic Balat neighborhood. The members of the İştay family, who opened the place in 1947, seem to think the same thing, running the place with ship-shape efficiency.

For almost a year we’ve been sorting through comments and suggestions from readers of IstanbulEats.com to help us develop the ultimate iPhone application for eating locally and authentically in Istanbul. We know Istanbul is a tough city to navigate, so our app’s mapping system will steer you to your destination lunch with GPS. With the “Nearby” feature, you’ll find the kebab, mantı or baklava nearest to you all over the city.

A visit to Bursa İskender Kebabı® feels as if you’ve stepped right into the war room of the İskenderoğlu family’s never-ending quest to establish ownership over the İskender kebab, a plate of döner laying on a bed of cut flatbread doused with tomato sauce and butter and served with a scoop of cool yogurt on the side. The tables and walls of the restaurant are covered with literature about what the owners see as their family’s inheritance, but the rest of the world seems to consider public domain.