Persian food is a late addition into my life and a welcome one. I feel that I am on the inside of the Persian food scene due to the number of Persian friends that I have and home-cooked meals I've been lucky enough to eat. The cuisine is extremely savory and homey. Persian women take a great deal of pride in their cooking and slave away for hours to make the most popular dishes. As a result, recipes are protected as family secrets and the food has heart and soul infused into the unique flavors. It's a beautiful thing and is the essence of what food is for me; a special experience to be shared with people you love. As such, I've tried to find the best Persian food in the area and was excited to try Alborz, the newest Persian restaurant in the DC area with a Persian friend.
Shamshiry is the current King of Persian restaurants in the DC area. There has been no disputing this fact. It is always crowded, has average service (even for Iranian customers), terrible decor and GREAT Persian food. It's almost impossible to walk in there and leave without thinking... "if only they had a nicer looking place with great service!" But as a restaurant owner who is raking it in, if it ain't broke, why fix it?"
The rumor on the street is that Alborz is owned/managed by a former relative of the owner of Shamshiry. I won't speculate on the exact relationship or how they severed ties, however, they did exactly with Alborz what everyone asked themselves about Shamshiry. The location is Vienna, not too far from the beltway and Tysons Mall. The decor inside is very nice with a large open space and upgraded appointments. Definitely a place you wouldn't be embarrassed to take your sig-other to on a date night.
So the important question.... Is the food better than Shamshiry?..... No. I'm sure people will find things that are slightly better here or there but overall, the food at Shamshiry is overall slightly better.. However, will that really matter to you? Perhaps not. Alborz is less cramped and has better service. So if I had to take someone to a Persian restaurant for a great experience, it would probably be Alborz. Let's get into the food and start with the appetizers.
As always, you are given a basket of naan. Like Shamshiry, Alborz gives a baggie filled with pieces of naan. I guess the baggie keeps the bread from getting dry but there is nothing quite like a perfectly cooked piece of warm naan. Instead of a cucumber yogurt sauce like Moby Dick, they provide butter instead.
Persians love stews. And for good reason. Their stews are as original and savory as anything else in the world. Alborz is one of the few places that actually serve their stews with Tadeeg rice which is the crunchy part of the rice at the bottom of the cooker, where all the oil and butter fries the rice to a delicious golden color. Their Tadeeg was very average but that's probably because of the amazing homemade Tadeeg I've had recently. And no, I won't release your family recipe online (I promised!). For an appetizer, we had Ghormeh Sabzi which is a green herb stew with chunks of lamb. It's one of my favorite dishes. It was served over some Tadeeg. The stew itself was very good with tender chunks of meat, however, the Tadeeg was a disappointment and tasted like burned rice with no richness or flavor. We also had an eggplant appetizer that I hadn't tried before (not baba ganooj). It was good and I used this to mix in with my entree as well. It was a new texture and flavor for me so it took me the entire meal of nibbling it before it finally agreed with me.
My entree was a mix of both chicken breast kabob and kubideh (hamburger style kabob with lots of onion and spices). Both were good, not great. Persian chicken breast kabob tends to be on the dry side. Afghan chicken tends to be more moist somehow and I'm not sure why that is. However, with Kubideh, the opposite always seems to be true and I prefer Persian kubideh over Afghan. The rice was plentiful and fluffy with hints of saffron coloring mixed in. In fact, I asked for half rice and half salad because I know how much rice they pile on and it was still way more rice than a single human can finish in one sitting. You've been warned.
I also tried asome of my friend's chicken-on-the-bone kabob which was very tasty. It is more juicy and flavorful than its chicken breast counterpart. We also ordered some Persian yogurt to go with the meal. By "we" I mean my friend. Pretty sure this is one of the many things we were provided that are secrets only for Persian diners in-the-know :) It's plain yogurt but is a different consistency than your store-bought yogurt. For those people that can handle heat, try the green sauce that comes in the little plastic container on your kabob.
Tea was served with the meal as is the custom, although if you aren't Persian, you will probably have to ask for it. In fact, not a single question was directed at me the entire meal and instead was at my female Persian friend! Fun fact. Persian restaurants serve special cubes of sugar at the table. You are supposed to tuck the cube behind your tongue as you sip. The sugar is special in that it doesn't dissolve quickly like an American sugar cube. Very cool. Anyway, I love Persian tea above all others and it is perfect before, during and after a nice Persian meal.
I don't care much for Persian restaurant desserts except for an occasional cardamom ice cream when I see it offered. Baklava is the normal delicacy served and I'm just not a huge fan so I passed on dessert at this time.
Overall, Alborz is a quality addition to the Vienna dining scene. Persians are very family oriented and it was nice to see the restaurant filled with Persian families dining together for a Sunday lunch. The company you eat with is as important as the food itself and I was very lucky to have both on this particular occasion! If you like middle eastern food, definitely try Alborz out soon before word travels and getting a table is much tougher!
Rating - 3.5 of 5 stars.
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