Shiraz

Pop Quiz

What do the following actions have in common?

1) Evading the police in a foreign country
2) Stealing a live octopus
3) Eating Persian food
4) Experimenting with LSD
5) Whaling without a permit
6) Extreme Ironing

Nope, these aren’t the reasons I can no longer travel to Guatemala.

They are all things that, until last Friday, I had never tried. I know what you’re thinking - “How can a man arrive at the age of 26 having never attempted extreme ironing!” It’s simple: I’m not British and never found the need to combine the thrill of mountaineering with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt. That’s just me, though I have great respect for those who risk life and limb for the sake of juxtaposing the mundane with the perilous.

Kidding aside, I’m fairly certain that last Friday was the first time I had knowingly experienced Persian food. Sure, we’ve all had hummus, but that’s like pretending to be fluent in French just because you can say “bonjour”.

You might be asking yourself “If this guy has never tried Persian food, how can he accurately review the restaurant and why would I care about his opinion?”

Huh.

Quite a quandary you’ve got there.

I made a reservation for our group of 9 at 8pm and was surprised that we were the first ones in the restaurant. This seems like a good location (McCullough at the Olmos Park traffic circle) so it seemed odd to be so sparsely populated on a Friday night.

We were treated to a some pita bread with feta cheese and parsley as a starter. Immediately recognizing us as virgin Persian diners, the waitress (owner/manager?) noted that we should mix the parsley and basil with the feta cheese as it isn’t intended as garnish.

I ordered Kofta (a middle-eastern meatball) stuffed with feta cheese as an appetizer and I’m glad I did. It was really good, with the downside being that I wanted more.

The waitress was helpful in describing the differences between the four available lamb dishes on the menu, and I chose one which was delicately referred to as “a simple and popular middle eastern comfort food”. Excellent! Now I can say that not only have I tried Persian food, but I’ve had Persian comfort food.

It took every ounce of my willpower not to grab the lamb shank by the bone and chow down like a Neanderthal. Years of training (thanks mom!) convinced me to use my knife which proved to be a simple task. The meat fell off like a prom dress and was tasty and tender. This quality hunk of meat was juicy (a marinade, I presume) and full of lamb-tastic flavor.

Dessert was a dish called “Bastani” which consisted of vanilla ice cream flavored with rosewater and saffron. Phillip’s first impression was to whisper “this tastes like soap”, before devouring the entire bowl. After the initial surprise of tasting floral ice cream it proved to be very good and a well complemented set of flavors.

These were unusual flavors to me. And because they’re unusual I’ll likely crave them again, if for no other reason than my desire for culinary promiscuity. Mey and I got out for about $75 without booze (part of my bi-annual boycott of red wine).

Next week I’ll press an oxford shirt while scaling the Matterhorn and knock another one off my list…..

Food: 4 Cuy
Service: 4 Cuy
Ambiance: 3.5 Cuy
Value: 3.5 Cuy

Overall:

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