Wednesday, October 21, 2015.
A Persian Dinner @ Flaming Torch.
The Young Couple left the Cool Water Ranch For Greenville, South Carolina, the halfway point of their trip to Pittsburgh. Their departure and the demise of the cat Twinnery have spirits very low around the ranch. Even the dogs seems to be down.
On the other hand, we encourage ourselves to carry on by attending the Eat Club dinner at the Flaming Torch. The dinner is something that Zohreh Khaledhi brought up to me during a dinner outing to the Torch a year ago: How about an all-Persian dinner? That's Iranian to those who remember their ancient history lessons. Although we tend to associate Iran with less happy matters, Iranian people are very nice to know. It's a culture as fascinating as it it old. The food is reminiscent of the more familiar Lebanese menu, but with many dishes all its own.
We begin with three cold appetizers. Mirza Ghasemi is a spicy, smashed eggplant and tomato concoction. Sharazi is a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers marinating in lime juice. I didn't know the name for nuggets of pan-fried veal sweetbreads with a zippy white sauce, but that is the best of the batch.
Next came Ashe Reshteh, a soup that I found very interesting. It's made with medium-wide noodles with beans and a sort of pesto. It would have been better if it had been server hotter, but I liked it well enough anyway. (Its promise of good luck did not come true, but I will explain that tomorrow.)
The favorite dish of the night among the thirty-eight people in attendance is baked chicken with a crust of walnuts and pomegranate seeds scattered about. Take a bite, and the pomegranate squirts out its juice, for a marvelous flavor contrast with the other ingredients.
Next came a rack of lamb. I learn that the Iranan taste for lamb involves its being served medium to medium well. That's something I'd have to get used to. The garnish was the ancient form of Rice-a-Roni--rice pilaf, combining noodles, basmati rice, and spices.
The dinner wound up with some ice cream flavored with saffron and pistachios. It came with a rose sparkling wine cocktail.
The wines were fascinating all night. All of them except the cocktail were made with Sarah/Shiraz (two names for the same ancient grape variety). They came from all over the world, with the Qupe Sarah from California and "The Gatekeeper" Shiraz from Australia. Meanwhile, Iran gets a better reputation among tthe Eat Club.
Mary Ann is the designated driver, and gets us home easily.
Flaming Torch. Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon: 737 Octavia. 504-895-0900.
The favorite dish of the night among the thirty-eight people in attendance is baked chicken with a crust of walnuts and pomegranate seeds scattered about. Take a bite, and the pomegranate squirts out its juice, for a marvelous flavor contrast with the other ingredients.
Next came a rack of lamb. I learn that the Iranan taste for lamb involves its being served medium to medium well. That's something I'd have to get used to. The garnish was the ancient form of Rice-a-Roni--rice pilaf, combining noodles, basmati rice, and spices.
The dinner wound up with some ice cream flavored with saffron and pistachios. It came with a rose sparkling wine cocktail.
The wines were fascinating all night. All of them except the cocktail were made with Sarah/Shiraz (two names for the same ancient grape variety). They came from all over the world, with the Qupe Sarah from California and "The Gatekeeper" Shiraz from Australia. Meanwhile, Iran gets a better reputation among tthe Eat Club.
Mary Ann is the designated driver, and gets us home easily.
