Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
12 May 2018
09 February 2017
Pars Grill House
IRAN
Like most Persian restaurants in the area, Pars Grill House is a little more upscale than most places written about here on these pages. Tables are preset and have white tablecloths, wine glasses are at the ready. Service here is basic and efficient, but one older gentleman made up for this anonymity with constant smiles and friendliness. He seemed to be doting on our table, but closer inspection showed he did it for everyone.
The music soundtrack comes and goes between traditional and non, while the decor is sparse, a few plates are mounted on columns and some unused hookah pipes color an otherwise white room. The restaurant has the look of once being a Greek taverna that had its upholstery updated to become a Persian restaurant. And surprisingly for a Persian restaurant, there is a full bar.
Taftan can come in a few different ways, sometimes with sesame seeds or topped with saffron and/or cardamom, but is always enjoyable. Pars' relatively plain version of the Persian bread is served with any order, and came to the table at the same time as the appetizers. Breaking off small pieces affords the opportunity to dip and collect the maast o moosir ($7.95, above left), a yogurt blend with shallots, and kashk-e bademjan ($8.45, above center), eggplant with walnuts, garlic, mint, and topped with whey.
We also tried the torshi ($7.95, above right), mixed pickled vegetables in vinegar. Overall the sizes of these appetizers were fairly small, and the restaurant does not seem to refill the basket of taftan, so the table of six was quite eager for the next rounds to arrive.
The list of kabob options runs for a page and a half of the menu, giving choices for almost any meat. The table looked fondly at the soltani-joojeh ($25.95, below), which had cornish hen and one koobideh, ground beef and lamb. Any grill plate comes with a healthy portion of saffron basmati rice, and a couple grilled vegetables.
The koobideh stands head and shoulders above the competition, full of onions and spices minced with the two meats. It was a wise decision to include it in the second plate as well, the soltani-lamb shish kabob ($24.95, below). The lamb paired very nicely to the green pepper sauce.
One of the most unique dishes in Persian cuisine is fesenjan ($17.95, below), a walnut and pomegranate stew often served with chicken. It is always sweet by nature, but the version here was even more so. This was not a negative, and the stew tops a healthy portion of the saffron basmati rice very well.
Bademjan ($17.95, below) was new to me, an eggplant stew with beef cubes that has a lot of sourness from both lemon and sour grapes. The eggplant was whole and required a knife to cut up parts for sharing, but also paired well with the rice. Stews are good options for diners who come solo.
The friendly man brought some of this sauce out and said it goes well on the meats. He was spot on, and the tastes from this little cup included green chilis, cilantro, garlic, scallions, olive oil, and lemon. He also brought a plate of delicious spicy olives (above, left) as we were starting to dig in.
After the meal, the table ordered some coffee (poor) and a pot of saffron tea (good). Saffron is always a theme in Persian kitchens, and shows up a lot despite its expense. Cubes of sugar are plentiful if you prefer your tea as they would in Iran.
The baklavah ($7.95, above) is good but very heavy with honey. The falludeh with ice cream ($9.95, below) is worth an order if you are new to ice cold noodle desserts. Lemon and cherry syrups are brought to the table for use with the falludeh, while the Persian ice cream can stand on its own with a strong rosewater taste.
12 February 2016
Taste of Persia NYC
IRAN 🇮🇷
Many Midtown locations might seem difficult for grabbing a quick but interesting lunch and staying away from the chains, but the city thankfully does afford opportunities of discovery for those looking a little more closely. Take this block of West 18th Street and its immediate surroundings for example, littered with fast food pizza, chopping block delis, and unfresh sandwich shops. Inside one of these pizza joints however lives Taste of Persia NYC, basically a permanent popup in one front corner of the store.
The counter has limited space and for this reason a very limited menu that rotates daily, so check the board before getting to the front of the line. Some selections are crossed out as they run out, but there were four "stews" and two soups on this chilly Thursday return visit. Nearby office workers tended to favor the soups and vegetarian options, but for tasting a couple dishes they do offer a combo for $12 that offers two stews with rice.
The rice is given a squirt of saffron water and makes up a bulk of the final portion, possibly too much as stews are easily gobbled up with rice to spare. The top portion in the photo below is gheymeh, a stew of beef and yellow split peas that relies heavily on sauteed onions and turmeric. Also watch out for the chunks of lemon skin, not to be eaten.
Try the karafs as well, a stew named for celery that also contains beef and the sourness of a lot of artichoke. The two dishes could not have been more different, and offered a very pleasant combination. The sights and sounds (and smells) of a pizza parlor only make the experience that much more unique if you decide to dine in. You would not expect to be eating Persian "fast food" in the first place, so why not do it here?
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FLATIRON Manhattan
FLATIRON Manhattan
03 November 2014
[CLOSED] Cafe Nadery
IRAN 🇮🇷
[UPDATE: CLOSED]
The city is not awash in Persian restaurants by any means, so the opening of Cafe Nadery last year was very welcome amongst eaters and especially by the Persian community, who now use it as their event hub. The place was absolutely packed this summer for Iran's World Cup games, and their event schedule always seems full.
My first meal here was in spring and alone in the long space with a long bar in the back. The place has a calm minimalist feeling and the music follows that pattern, at least in the afternoon. Small and large wooden tables, some with crazy tabletops fill the space and any size group could be well accommodated here.
Whenever possible, I grab a salty yogurt drink like the one above to go with my meals. If you are in the mood for a very different type of salad, grab the Iranian garden salad ($10, below). Selected herbs and leaves are arranged in piles, accompanied by feta cheese dribbled with a little oil, a small tin of walnuts, and a few slices of radish. Mix and combine any way you like.
Another appetizer is the torshi ($2.5, below), sold as a side and served with the flatbread called sangak. The dip is a soupy mix of pickled vegetables that is not for the faint of heart. The sourness is quite extreme, and I had to temper it with bites of the other items we had.
The ghormeh sabzi ($14, below) is a beef stew that has a distinct lemony flavor and beans. It appears to be a small portion when presented, but is actually quite filling. The bowl is surrounded by a nice amount of saffron rice, one of many types of rice that is used in Persian cooking. The north of Iran is a rice-growing region, and rices most desired have strong aromas. It is unclear where this rice comes from.
Lubia polo ($13, below) is a simple dish that usually pleases its eater. Consisting of rice cooked in a tomato sauce and cinnamon, the main components are beef and string beans, possibly not in that order. It is also served with a side of torshi if you desire that sour kick.
On both of my visits here to eat, they were out of fesenjan, my favorite Persian dish of pomegranate, walnut, and chicken. I look forward to finding it here one day.
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GREENWICH VILLAGE Manhattan
GREENWICH VILLAGE Manhattan
25 October 2011
Ravagh Persian Grill
IRAN
As our boat skimmed across the Hudson River en route to docking in Edgewater, we were giddy at the prospect of eating some delicious Persian cuisine at Shahrzad, a restaurant with good reviews and a fun "destination" location. Checking Google Maps for its exact location, a bright red "PERMANENTLY CLOSED" appeared with the name of the restaurant, and a quick call was greeted by a message of disconnection. The boat bounced over the waves regardless of this news, taking 20 or so New Jersey residents home from work, and two sad diners. Fortunately it only took a few minutes more of research of the area to find out that the restaurant was now part of the Ravagh chain [This seems to be a trend, as I saw another Persian restaurant open on 1st Avenue in the East Village and almost immediately get swallowed up, and as of August 2015 the Edgewater location is indeed permanently closed], and still serving Persian food. The emotions of a ten-minute boat ride have never run such a gamut, thankfully ending on ebullience.
It takes only six or eight minutes to walk up the hill and come to the restaurant, an understated facade and calm dining room run by a friendly, if overworked staff. The place definitely has its fair share of idiosyncrasies, but taken with a calm manor and patience, its quite pleasant.
Dumplings always pop off a menu for me, and the sambuseh ($6.50, above) were no exception. Filled with a chickpea puree, the crispy triangles were a bit on the dry side, and our table was not given either the tangy chutney that the takeout menu calls for or the sauce described in the table menu. They definitely could have used one or the other, but were tasty in their own way regardless.
A closer look at a sambuseh.
All of the choices in the stews section of the menu looked terrific, but the khoresh fesenjan ($14, below) is an absolute game-changer. This is one of the most unique dishes I have had, and completely made the meal worth it. In a paste of pomegranate and crushed walnuts sit mighty chunks of chicken that seem to have been cooked in the sauce for days. The paste is astounding and good for use with the rice that comes with most dishes, including this one. You are well-advised to go for the specialty rice upgrade of zereshk polo ($3), which adds barberries, currents, and saffron to your basmati.
It was impossible to skip the kebob section, and a final decision was made in favor of the barg kebob ($15, below), which is plated with a mountain of white and yellow rice as well as a grilled tomato and onion. The juicy strips of sirloin are said to be marinated in a "special age old recipe," and we will not question this, as they are very good. The meat is tender and the spices are just right.
Ravagh has three locations in Manhattan and another in Roslyn Heights, NY, making it a family of four. The prices seem to be the same across them all.
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