How does a chance meeting over crabcakes in Baltimore lead to a world-class tour of Persian cuisine in Tyson’s Corner? As a Florida girl from little ol’ Vero Beach (aka Zero Beach) I would venture to say it has something to do with living in the wonderfully diverse Washington area.
Last week I blogged about Kam, a traveler down from Canada, touring the Baltimore-Washington area. After meeting at the fabulously funky Lexington Market, we met again when Kam suggested I join him for Persian food. For more international flavor (already we’re talking about a guy who grew up in Spain, lives in Canada and has traveled the world), we started at a Takoma Park art exhibit featuring two Venezuelan artists, and took in the brilliantly colored ceremonial masks and evocative mixed media prints of the charming David Camero and Luis Scotti. (see it at the TP Community Center through the end of October).
Then we went, GPS in hand, to Tyson’s Corner. Except the GPS was malfunctioning and my mapquest directions brought us to Tyson’s -- but not the restaurant. My role as locally knowledgeable tour-director, already compromised because I knew of no Persian restaurants in the area (Kam heard of this one through a friend), was totally shot. Finally the GPS politely announced, “you have reached your destination.” And there we were – in what looked to me to be a very dark, deserted office park.
The restaurant, Shamshiry, was hiding just around the corner, and we finally took a spot at a small table in the corner. Menus in hand, Kam then noted that his mother used to make such-and-such a dish.
Thus began an entirely unexpected tour of Persian culture. Turns out Kam, who I first thought might be Native American (tall, broad, dark pony tail) is Persian, and didn’t get to Spain until age 9. So much for my international/ethnic radar.
Not only did I have a personal tour guide through a traditional Persian menu (I could say there were lots of kabobs but that brings to mind places like Moby Dick's. This was no Moby Dick's). Kam also shared his story – in a way that said everything about how important his Persian heritage is to him. I now have a picture in my head of his great grandmother, who tended the coals under the samovar and poured scalding hot tea for family and friends – including a four-year-old Kam, who might have preferred orange soda but knew better than to stand against tradition and refuse Tea from Great Grandmother.
I learned about places in Iran where you bring you own cooking pot to have it filled with rice (aromatic basmati, fluffed because it’s been rinsed just before it’s finished cooking, ridding it of its starch). I learned about popping a raw egg into steaming hot rice. I tried tah-dig, the crunchy crust that forms at the bottom of the rice pot, and ghorme sabzi, heavy (and delicious) with parsley, fenugreek and Persian lime – it was not even on the menu, but that’s what you get when you let someone else order for you. I learned that fava beans can be creamy little gems hidden in dill-infused rice dish called baghali polo. We ate enormous piles of rice and chelo kabob and drank two pots of Persian tea and could have lingered for hours – and in fact managed to sit through at least three families coming and going at the table behind me.
The best treat was the paludeh, or faloodeh, unlike anything I’ve ever had. It looks like shredded coconut mounded in a bowl, but it is a frozen dessert of potato starch flavored with rosewater and garnished with, in our case, tart lemon or cherry syrup (I liked lemon best). Kam remembers having it with pomegranate syrup, in a place where pomegranates were so plentiful they cost a couple of dollars a case, instead of the $4-a-fruit price I saw recently at Safeway.
Thank you to Kam, who surprised me not only when he revealed that he is Persian (the musical Persian (aka Farsi) he spoke with the waiter was more than enough proof of this), but who also totally turned the tables on me: Meeting an out-of-towner, I expected to dispense advice on attractions in and around our nation’s capitol, but instead I became a tourist myself, and enjoyed a surprise trip through Persia via Tyson’s Corner. I am humbled by what I did not know, and delighted to learn it.
faloodeh photo by chiffonade
photo of Ginny at art exhibit by Kam
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