Persian food, esp tadik

[adrienne]

Anyone know of a good genuine Persian food restaurant in Manhattan? We're looking for tadik and a variety of eggplant dishes, chicken stews, etc, not just kebabs.

I've done a search on Chowhound under Persian and Iranian and came up mostly with restaurants featuring Ethiopian, Indian, kosher, and Central Asian cuisines.

Thanks all.

[Elliot Brown]

There's a relatively short, but excellent menu at Kabul
Cafe on West 54th St. between Broadway and 8th Ave,
and, although tadik is not on the menu, they often have
it if you ask. I know the place has the name "Kabul"
in it, and lots of kebabs on the menu, but actually
it's a Persian kitchen. The stews are particularly
good.

[Jim Leff]

I know you like that place, Elliot (hi, by the way), but, FWIW, my mileage varied.

The best Persian was Hafez in Flushing, but they're gone. I had some stuff from The Persian Tearoom on Utopia Parkway in Queens (right near the LIE) at a Persian food fair...and it tasted good, but I've for some reason never stopped in. I hear mostly good (but mixed) things about the place next to Mavalli Palace on 29th between Madison and Park.

The conventional chowhound wisdom is that there's just no great Persian to be had in NYC right now. Though I do like the cuisine a lot, I haven't tracked it quite as carefully as I have some others, so I can't state that with a lot of confidence.

Afghan cuisine comes awfully close; for that I recommend Speengar in Woodside (69 street near Roosevelt).

[jen kalb]

search the web for farsieats - its part of a farsinet website which indexes farsi restaurants worldwide suposedly. Several are listed for NY including some you mentioned, Jim. was "Nader" the one you meant near Mavalli Palace?? Good hunting, Adrienne.

[Elliot Brown]

Adrienne, I know Jim isn't that enthusiastic about
Kabul Cafe, but I like it a lot and I think you'll
find it's worth a try. Let me know what you think.
And, Jim, I miss you buddy.

[steve d.]

I like Kabul Cafe a lot too, and often take out-of-town visitors there (with uniformly good results) -- it doesn't change your life (which is probably why Jim isn't crazy about it), but it's good, dependable food. Killer veggie dishes for the meat-avoidant, too.

Hafez is gone?! Damn, I should have gone out to Flushing more...

[Robert Sietsema]

Hey, what about Nader on 29th Street in Manhattan? Maybe the glow of the much-hyped Mavalli Palace next door prevents people from seeing it. I've had some excellent stuff there, including four varieties of koresht, of which the spinach and kidney bean version is best. There's a great asht (soup) made of parsley, mint, and green onion, a great taste combo. Best kebabs are bone-in buttery cornish hen and koobideh. There's also a super inexpensive lunch deal.

The proprietors are Iranian jews, but have plenty of Shiite pals in the neighborhood who also frequent the place. There's a newish Shiite mosque right across the street. A few months ago another Perisan jewish restaurant, this time orthodox, appeared on 30th Street between 5th & Madison, but it closed before I had a chance to try it.

[adrienne]

Thanks all for your suggestions. We finally managed to
make our way to Nader and are very happy to report good
things.

The best dish we had was the lamb shank (no other name
on the menu) served with bajhali polow (rice with broad
beans and dill). The lamb meat was very tender, but I
loved the rice: fragrant and fluffy. Someone else had
the gemeh korescht (lamb with split peas and lime)
which was also very tender and slightly bitter. The
fesenjon (chicken with walnut sauce) was tasty although
a little sweet for some palates.

Altogether a hit and highly recommended. Especially
since we went last Saturday and were one of 3 customers
that came in for dinner.

Thanks again!

[Elliot Brown]

Did they have tadik?

[adrienne]

Yes they did. It satisfied the craving but tasted very
differently from the homecooked variety I've had
recently -- perhaps because the homemade version did
not use ghee.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

[Alan Divack]

Not far from Persian Tea Room is Patoug, right of the
expressway near Springfield Blvd. We had a very good
meal there about 2 years ago. Excellent cornish hen
kebabs, with an oniony marinade penetrating deep into
their bones, and a koresht (stew) of beef, yellow split
peas, dried limes and french fries. The rice was very
good, light and buttery, but no tadik (cristy pieces)
on our platter -- maybe it was saved for those who
asked.

The appetizer plate was good, not great: kukuye
(vegetable frittata), very good samosa, and very
dissapointing eggplant salad. The eggplant salad paled
against the memory of one I had had in 1993 in
Georgetown, of smoky eggplant, carmelized onions, and
goat's milk yooghurt.

On Satuday nights, Patoug is more like a Russian club
than anything else, band and all, and with large groups
getting an elaborate set meal, but with much less
conspicuous consumption of alcohol.

[Stephen Wills]

Try the Kabul cafe on (I think)W.54th st.
It's Persian/Afghan.