The party is saved!

[muckefuck]

Despite the somewhat unsettled state of things right now, we decided to have a few people over for a first viewing of the new digs. Since we don't yet have a proper dining room set (and won't until I can get mine delivered), the plan was to have only cocktails and desert at the house and in between to jaunt up the street to Sabor Peruano for dinner. One of our guests respectfully suggested that we might want to call ahead for reservations just in case, which was a better idea than anticipated because it turned out that they were closed for their annual anniversary cruise.

Fortunately, this same guest eats out even more than I do, so he had plenty of other suggestions. The one that caught the most people's fancy was Masouleh, a newish Persian place about four blocks from here. Once I discovered that the eponymous town was in Gilan Province, I suddenly realised I knew the place. Not firsthand, of course, but through the restaurant reviews of the Reader, which had praised its emphasis on the hearty stews of northwestern Iran.

I loved everything about the place. A particularly charming moment was when one of the owners came by with something we hadn't asked for. "I noticed that you ordered all the other appetisers except this one," she explained as she set down a dish of mirza ghasemi. "This is from the house." "Oh, and we could use more pita" pointed out Nuphy--mere seconds before the server replaced our empty breadbasket with one full of soft warm bread.

To give you an idea how good that eggplant dish was, even I liked it--and I hate eggplant. So you can only imagine how much I enjoyed the things I already like, like the mast-o-khiar or the fessenjan. Particularly outstanding was the lentil soup, made more interesting by the addition of perfectly-cooked beans. But what really bowled me over were the little touches, like sprigs of lemon basil on the plates of fresh herbs, radish, and feta. Or the small pieces of tah dig (crispy rice) thoughtfully included with each platter of Gilani rice.

The most amazing thing of all? Even with tax, tip, and desert, we didn't crack $20 a person. I was kind of wondering what our fallback "nice" restaurant would be in this neighbourhood--we've been treating Uncommon Ground that way, even though it's much more of a monthly splurge joint. I think we've just found it. I may have liked the skate wing I had last Friday at UG, but not twice as much as I did the much more filling portion of lamb shank at Masouleh.

(If you go, be sure to make room for the homemade rosewater-saffron-orange zest ice cream with crushed pistachios. It's like a little taste of Bombay Ice Creamery back home!)

Comments

[tortipede.livejournal.com]

I'm envious. We used to have a (that is, one) Persian restaurant in Oxford — from the sounds of it, nowhere near as good as your find — and the first time I went there I had faisinjan. By the end of it I was still making those little, involuntary 'mmm, mmm' noises that you tend to make when you first taste something really good, and when I came home I straight away had to see if I could find a recipe for it — the only time I've done that, I think. Good job too: it may not have as been as good as what you're describing, but it was our only one, and it closed years ago. Bah. Still envious.

[wiped.livejournal.com]

masouleh is a beautiful little town, possibly one of iran's most picturesque. i bet the owner was especially keen to bring you mirza ghasemi because while side dishes like mast-o-khiar and tah dig are ubiquitous in iranian cuisine, mirza ghasemi is native to gilan (as is fesenjan, which is one of my childhood favorites). other dishes gilanis are known for are ash-e esfenaj (spinach soup), a variety of torshi (sour) dishes, and of course gilani rice. there's also always ghormeh sabzi, which you're probably familiar with - it's more associated with azarbaijan province, but is popular throughout the northwest and the rest of the country.

i always enjoy your food posts (i'll certainly know where to eat if i end up pursuing U of chicago for grad school!) and i look forward to maybe seeing more about masouleh restaurant in the future. several of my family members are from northwest iran, so i have an especially warm spot in my, eh, stomach, for northwestern iranian food.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Fessenjan and ghormeh sabzi are standard on Persian menus in this town, which is why I personally decided to concentrate on something new. Still, I'll wager that Masouleh's versions kick the butt of everyone else's, so I'm eager to try them when the weather gets a little cooler. And I did like the torshi we got as a side dish; Nuphy thought they were particularly nice added to the soup, IIRC.

BTW, do they not do Nowruz in the northwest? I was trying to remember the word "haftsin" for a recap of our trip to Noon-o-Kebab earlier in the year and asked the server for help, but she seemed to have not the slightest clue what I was talking about.

[wiped.livejournal.com]

that's very odd; nowruz is most certainly celebrated in the northwest, as in the rest of the country. it's by far the biggest iranian holiday. kurds in the northwest call it newroz or newroj and azeris know it as novruz, but i would expect gilanis would call it nowruz unless there's a different gilaki or mazandarani name for it.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

If you can find pomegranate molasses, I'll send you monshu's recipe for a dip made with that and ground walnuts. It's fessenjan sauce on steroids.

[tortipede.livejournal.com]

Mm-hm. We may no longer have a Persian restaurant, but I can think of two places within walking distance that sell pomegranate molasses. Recipe gratefully anticipated... just trying not to link thoughts of walnuts with Question #1 in today's entry ;) I hope you get satisfactory answers to whatever questions you do eventually wind up asking...

[joliecanard.livejournal.com]

I have pomegranate molasses and would love that recipe!

[joliecanard.livejournal.com]

That sounds amazing! I have loved Persian food, ever since the time my mom and I went to some Persian place in Atlanta once.

This reminds me to go to the Persian place in TO. It's very good, but not quite as cheap as the place you're describing, unfortunately. They also have an amazing saffron-rosewater-pistachio ice cream.