Restaurant Review
Acquaint your palate with the aromatic flavors of Iran

By Nancy Leson
Seattle Times restaurant critic

	TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES Despite its Redmond strip-mall location, Alborz offers white-linen, candlelit ambience and traditional Iranian food.
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In Iran, the longest night of the year is cause for celebration. From this night forward the days grow longer, the nights shorter: reason enough — as any cold, wet, Seattleite will agree — to rejoice.

Iranians have a name for their winter solstice celebration: "Shab-e Yalda" (birthday night), when Persian tradition calls for gathering together, snacking on fruits, nuts and sweets, reciting poetry and reveling in the glow of family and friends. With solstice upon us, there's no better time to experience the joys of Persian food.

Greater Seattle is home to several Iranian-accented markets and cafes, but only three local restaurants offer a full Persian menu. Kolbeh (south of Safeco Field) and Caspian Grill (in the University District) have been around for over a decade. Alborz, in Redmond, opened in 2002. Each offers similar menus, whose highlights include fragrant stews, charbroiled meats and heaps of saffron-scented basmati rice. At each, one can raise a glass of shiraz — or the non-alcoholic, mint-flavored yogurt refresher, doogh. All are well worth a visit.

Alborz

Alborz 8461 164th Ave. N.E., Redmond; 425-883-1080 Persian $$ Web site: www.alborzrestaurant.com Hours: lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; dinner 6-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 6-10 p.m. Fridays, noon-10 p.m. Saturdays, noon-9 p.m. Sundays. Wine only / credit cards: AE, MC, V / no obstacles to access / no smoking. Caspian Grill 5517 University Way N.E., Seattle; 206-524-3434 Persian $$ Hours: noon-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; noon-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, noon-8 p.m. Sundays. Liquor, beer and wine / credit cards: DISC, MC, V / obstacles to access: no rail in restroom / no smoking. Kolbeh 1956 First Ave. S., Seattle; 206-224-9999 Persian $$ Web site: www.kolbehseattle.com Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-midnight Thursdays, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Full bar / credit cards: AE, DC, DISC, MC, V / no obstacles to access / smoking section available.

Lucky Redmond gets its taste of Persia via Alborz — an inviting little bistro where owner/chef Ali Rouhfar proves his artistry in and out of the kitchen. Despite its generic strip-mall locale, Alborz offers an eye-catching storefront and white-linen, candlelit ambience, gracefully enhanced by Rouhfar's elegant calligraphy, which hangs on the walls.

In this warm environment, it's easy to acquaint oneself with the traditional foods of Iran, prepared with a pleasingly lighter touch than elsewhere.

An array of small dishes, including salad Shirazi (a fine dice of tomato, cucumbers and onion, $3.95) and housemade pickles (don't miss the baby cucumber-pickle or the blended torshi, $1.95) is a fine way to augment a meal. Ditto for the kaskh-e bademjan ($6.95), sparkling with mint and loaded with eggplant, and for the maust-moosear, thick homemade yogurt with shallots, delicious when spooned over rice. The constant replenishing of our pita basket with warm bread throughout dinner service wins special applause.

The seductive scent of dried and fresh herbs — fenugreek and parsley among them — wafts from ghormeh sabzi ($9.95 lunch/$11.95 dinner). This stew features kidney beans and lamb shank and is not overly seasoned with dried Persian lime, as is often the case. That potent spice complements ghayma bademjan ($9.95), a vegetarian stew made with eggplant and yellow split-peas. Lunch specials include joojeh thigh kabob ($6.95), a single skewer of chicken thigh meat, juicy and generously apportioned at dinner ($12.95), and served, as is customary, with a roasted tomato over basmati rice.

Caspian Grill

Brothers Shahriar and Shahram Gilandoost, with their mother's help, pay homage to their homeland at their casual eatery on the Ave. Their main dining room is dressed in desert hues, augmented by Persian stencil-art, a bandstand at the ready for musicians who perform (as do belly-dancers) on weekends. In the rear, a bright dining space outfitted with traditional folk costumes and an elaborate hookah abuts a living area where a large-screen TV shows Farsi newscasts or "futball" games.

Pita bread is used as canvas for numerous appetizers made with variations on the eggplant and/or yogurt theme. Ignore the babaganoush — offered, I suspect, as a concession to Americans' taste for "Middle Eastern" fare. Sample, instead, such classically Persian dips as borani eggplant ($6), tart with yogurt, gentle on the garlic and mild on the palate. Or, better still, kashk-e bademjan ($8), sautéed eggplant with saffron, tomato, sautéed mint and a hefty drizzle of kashk (liquid whey, similar to sour cream).

Puckery housemade torshi (chopped pickled vegetables, $4) are best eaten as a complement to the basmati rice that accompanies various stews and kabobs. Soltani lamb kabob ($18) is a carnivore's charbroiled dream: four lamb loin chops, tenderly marinated, plus a skewer of koobideh — a mesmerizing mixture of juicy ground beef and grated onion. Chicken is prepared many ways. These include the straightforward chicken barg kabob (marinated breast meat basted with saffron, $14), and fesenjan ($11), chicken thighs stewed in a sweet-tart mix of pomegranate syrup and finely ground walnuts.

Kolbeh Persian & Mediterranean Cuisine

Kolbeh, in Sodo, has come a long way from its original incarnation as a cozy little Iranian hangout. A post-earthquake closure led to a major remodel and expansion. Now the place — with its exposed wooden beams, wrought-iron chandeliers, central bar, vast dance floor and stage — could double as a dance hall. In many ways, it does. Owners Shirin ("Sharon") and Fereydoon ("Fred") Aboosaidi offer a full roster of evening entertainment. In addition to crowds of finger-snapping, hip-swaying Iranians busting a move, there's belly-dancers on weekends and salsa-instruction on Thursdays.

The dinner menu is available throughout the day, though savvy diners working nearby show up for inexpensive lunch specials: chicken, beef or feta salads dressed with mint vinaigrette; marinated kabobs served with rice or sandwiched in lavash; and the dish that should be calling the name of every vegetarian in town: khoresh-e bomeyeh. This okra stew ($4.99 lunch/$8.99 dinner) is a stand-out, its flavors (highly spiced, tomato-based) and texture (almost beeflike strands of okra) sure to appeal to okra-haters and meat-eaters alike.

A Persian meal is incomplete without a sabzi (herb) plate, and Kolbeh's combines sprigs of fresh basil, sweet raw onion, tomatoes and cucumber with thick slabs of feta ($4.50). Lamb shank is available in many guises, as is Cornish game hen, offered as joojeh kabob (skewered morsels, $15.99) or baked in its entirety till fork-tender, its saffron-rice accompaniment bejeweled with tart zereshke (dried barberries, $17.99). Stews, including the heavily herbed ghormeh sabzi, eggplant-centric bademjan and pomegranate-flavored fesenjan, may be ordered with chicken, beef or meatless ($8.99-$9.99).

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or taste@seattletimes.com

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