« Assorted links | Main | Medicare and the new voodoo economics »
How to think about Iranian food
Sadly, I've never been to Iran, though I would love to go. Here are a few tips for the Iranian food I've had elsewhere:
1. A good koresh (stew) almost always beats a good kabob. Ghormeh sabzi and bademjan are national treasures.
2. The choice of rice is a central decision. Get zereshk polo -- barberry rice -- as much as you can. Or get cherry rice, rice with pistachio, etc. All those choices are winners.
3. Lamb shank can end up being dull in a Persian restaurant. If served with dill the dish is often too dry.
4. Fesanjan, fesanjan, fesanjan. In Iceland I once ate fesenjan guillemot. The fesenjan in a can that you find in Persian groceries is actually pretty good.
5. Don't be afraid to smear mast-o-moseer (or musir; the spellings and transliterations vary, as with many of these dishes) into your rice. Always order mast-o-moseer.
6. Soups are excellent, especially if they are fragrant and have noodle-like entities. Soups without barley are usually better than soups with barley.
7. In this country Westwood, Los Angeles has the best Iranian food overall. Check out Westwood Ave. and also Pico.
8. If you are in a country where you do not expect to see Persian food, and you see Persian food, it is usually very good. As a partial exception to a rule of good eating, a single Persian restaurant can be very good even if there are not other Persian restaurants around.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 14, 2009 at 07:30 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
Can we generalize rule 8? Walking around in the centre of Stockholm, Sweden you'll find another sushi bar every 30 meters. Out of the appr 5 bars I visited, 1 served reasonable food.
In Utrecht, the Netherlands, there's just a few restaurants serving sushi. Out of 2 I visited, 2 where delicious.
Adverse selection, right?
Posted by: myshkin, p. at Jun 14, 2009 9:19:34 AM
My nephew took us out to a Persian restaurant in his part of Philadelphia called Shundeez (SP?). I was skeptical as I never thought of Philly as a good place for Persian food, but it was a very enjoyable meal. The rice in particular, was very good. We each got a different kind. We split on the barberry vs cherry as I recall, with the wife going back again just to get the barberry.
Steve
Posted by: steve at Jun 14, 2009 9:26:19 AM
When my Iranian roommate came home with an impossibly huge amount of parsley, I had no idea what he was going to do with it - then ghormeh sabzi came out, and I was enlightened.
Also, this calls for more tabbouleh song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FaNzrtu0KM
Posted by: Bill Mill at Jun 14, 2009 10:46:10 AM
A very timely post
Posted by: anon at Jun 14, 2009 11:47:25 AM
You forgot one thing, tah dig, the bottom of the pan, crunchy rice that is a classic of Iranian cuisine.
Posted by: Alex Tabarrok at Jun 14, 2009 12:08:28 PM
Timely yes:). Next time you come to LA you will have to travel to another country, the Valley, for Persian. With your Fesanjan, Tadik of course.
Posted by: edwardseco at Jun 14, 2009 12:38:55 PM
Right on. Here is Seattle, the best Persian place is "Caspian Grill", vouched for by a couple of Iranian friends, and I've had every dish you mention there. I always have to loosen my belt. My wife loves the "rose rice" (or "candy rice"). And I've definitely had good Persian food in SoCal.
Posted by: Joshua Allen at Jun 14, 2009 2:10:41 PM
I've heard that tomato jam is a popular specialty in Iran. Bleccch!
Posted by: Peter at Jun 14, 2009 2:53:51 PM
As a persian, I have to disagree a little bit:
1. Stews are delicious, but a good kabob certainly hits the spot more often than not.
2. Zereshk polo is my favorite. You should try tachin if you can find it...it's labor intensive so few places have it.
3. I disagree, especially if you get the lamb shank as part of a stew.
6. I prefer the the soups with barley. Reza's in chicago used to have an excellent one about 10 years ago but they changed it at some point since.
8. This rule doesn't hold true in the US however. I've had some amazingly bad and overpriced persian food from restaurants with no competition.
9. You have to try the saffron, pistacchio and rose water ice cream with a dallop of sour cherries on top.
10. never ever ever order bomieh or zulbieh (persian desserts) from a restaurant. they are always old and dried out. most persian restaurants have a store close by...go there and get dessert as it's much fresher. and if you do get dessert, always get the tea to go with it.
Posted by: BK, MD at Jun 14, 2009 2:55:15 PM
You should somehow aggregate these posts that are guides for particular cuisines or evaluating the caliber of a restaurant of a particular cuisine. You have the food and drink label, but something more specific would be nice, as they're the kind of thing I might refer back to, if I could easily find them.
Posted by: Justin at Jun 14, 2009 4:11:31 PM
Here is the Persian category on Tyler's Ethnic Dining Guide.
Posted by: chug at Jun 14, 2009 9:48:47 PM
Mmm! I'm lucky enough to live a mere block away from a fine Persian restaurant. Anyone in NYC will not be disappointed by Pars, on 26th between 7th & 8th. (I think it superior to Ravagh, although have heard that Colbeh may be even better.) They have a great albaloo polo (cherry rice) and fine adas polo and a very good kabab; alas, I seem to be addicted to the ghormeh sabzi and cannot get anything else.
For apps, their mast moosir is superb with all rices, and their kashkeh bademjan (smoked mashed eggplant app - like babaganoush on steroids) is unmissable. It has fesenjan and walnuts on the top. Possibly the single best thing there (edging out the ghormeh sabzi very slightly!)
Posted by: Michelle at Jun 14, 2009 10:07:18 PM
Mmm! I'm lucky enough to live a mere block away from a fine Persian restaurant. Anyone in NYC will not be disappointed by Pars, on 26th between 7th & 8th. (I think it superior to Ravagh, although have heard that Colbeh may be even better.) They have a great albaloo polo (cherry rice) and fine adas polo and a very good kabab; alas, I seem to be addicted to the ghormeh sabzi and cannot get anything else.
For apps, their mast moosir is superb with all rices, and their kashkeh bademjan (smoked mashed eggplant app - like babaganoush on steroids) is unmissable. It has fesenjan and walnuts on the top. Possibly the single best thing there (edging out the ghormeh sabzi very slightly!)
Posted by: Michelle at Jun 14, 2009 10:07:26 PM
Can you (or someone) explain #3 in more detail? In particular, that lamb shanks with dill tend to be too dry...
Posted by: mkamdar at Jun 14, 2009 10:52:59 PM
Can you give some recommendations for which restaurants are good in Westwood?
Posted by: mike at Jun 14, 2009 11:37:13 PM
Has anyone ever had a kind of tapenade called zaytoor parvadeh?
Posted by: Robert Bell at Jun 15, 2009 7:56:37 AM
Can you give some recommendations for which restaurants are good in Westwood?
shamshiri and sharazad are the two places i frequented.
Posted by: BK, MD at Jun 15, 2009 3:05:24 PM
Actually, it's not a persian category that I want. It's a category of "how to think about food x" for all x that Tyler has commented on. (Maybe I'm misremembering how many times he's done such posts, but I thought there have been several).
Posted by: Justin at Jun 15, 2009 9:55:54 PM
