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Friday, 09/23/05 Stick with Hot KabobsFor authentic Persian food at affordable prices . . . I have to admit, for a long time I hesitated going to Hot Kabobs because of the name. I thought it was just another one of those gyro huts that claims to be all things Mediterranean, scanning the culinary coastline from Italy to Greece to the Middle East. Boy, was I wrong. I'm still not crazy about the name, but don't let it keep you away. For authentic, affordable Persian food, Hot Kabobs has staked a strong claim.
Persian cuisine is the palatable name for the foods of the once mighty empire that's now largely contained by modern Iran. The food is indeed dominated by kabobs and shish kabobs, skewered meats and vegetables that are fire roasted, but there also are wonderful stews, called khoresht, that showcase the region's long history as a crossroads for the spice trade. The dishes are humble preparations elevated to wonderful depth and balance by the combinations of ingredients such as dried limes with pomegranates, walnuts, saffron and mint. Almost all meals come with a small dish of shirazi salad, a blend of diced tomatoes, onion, cucumber and parsley, marinated with oil and lemon juice. It's simple and light and a nice counterpoint to the richer stews and meat dishes. I also suggest starting with an order of pita bread with feta cheese. It comes with fresh coriander, which brightens the mildly salty cheese and proves a great combination. Other appetizers are equally enticing, and I could easily return just for a meal of small dishes such as tarragon-laced pickles or marinated vegetables with garlic and mint (torshi). Then there are the ubiquitous yogurt dips that truly do span the Mediterranean Sea and well into the mountains of western Asia. Kabobs come in a variety of combinations, essentially reduced to your choice of marinated and cubed chicken, sirloin steak or ground sirloin with onion. You can elevate them all to shish kabobs with the addition of grilled onion, peppers and tomatoes. The house marinade carries just enough citrus tang to lift the tender meat above the fray of vegetables and brown char of the flame. For my taste, though, it's the khoresht that entice me. They arrive in bowls for sharing and passing and are served with plates of long-grain sweet basmati rice, colored with a fragrant streak of bright saffron. All the stews are quite different and cover a range of taste profiles. The gheimeh is a thick blend of split yellow peas with beef cubes and the distinct perfume and bite of dried limes. The ghormeh is similar to a spinach casserole but with the slight astringency of parsley, coriander and chives. Another stew, the kashk-o-bodemjoon, blends mint and sautéed eggplant. My favorite stew, however, remains the fensenjan, somewhat of a national dish in Iran. It's thickened with ground walnuts, like a textured gravy, but with the sweet-sour tang of pomegranates, and it's unlike anything else I can think of. My only complaint is that some of the meats in the stews tend toward a mealy-mushy consistency from either freezer burn or overcooking. They're easy to eat around, but fresher meat with more toothsome texture would make the dishes all that much better. What I really enjoy is the family sense of the place and the pervasive feeling that service matters and that you are guests in someone's home. Those are all things that are paramount to good service as well as things that have faded from too many modern American restaurants, where servers act as if you are an impediment to their upcoming leisure activities. • |
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Simple and intimate, Hot Kabob's sparse interior is nonetheless inviting. (RICKY ROGERS / STAFF)
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