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FLAME PERSIAN CUISINE
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Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
By SARA DICKERMAN
Lamb kebab at Flame restaurant. Along with juicy grilled meats, rice is the other showcase food at Persian restaurants.
Photo: Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
New York Times Review
At the far corner of the dining room of this restaurant, two men flank the round, tiled oven known as a tanoor, using metal hooks to pull soft, blistered flatbreads from its fiery interior. Order a platter of kebabs — kebob barg, made of strips of beef tenderloin; koobideh, of spiced ground beef; and another composed of the tiny, yogurt-marinated joints of Cornish game hen.
Rice in its many different forms is, with kebabs, the other showcase food at Persian restaurants: Before the main courses arrives at Flame, you get a plateful of tah dig— seriously crusty slabs of fried rice. If half of your portion flies across the table as you try to chisel off a mouthful, don’t worry. It’s a common blooper. But once you manage to get a mouthful, its solid crunch contrasts nicely with a spoonful of the dark, grassy beef and herb stew known as gormeh sabzi. Alongside the meats come the polows, or pilafs — piled together on a platter in spumoni stripes: one rice is green with dill and lima beans, one white and yellow with saffron, and one pink with sour cherries. The most exciting rice of all, however, proves to be the tah chin — an extravagance that is baked with saffron and yogurt into a golden crusted cake and topped with dried barberries.
Published: June 7, 2009
Published: June 7, 2009