[Houston] Bijan Persian Grill

[fifi]

In Friday's Dining Guide, about the only thing of real interest was Alison Cook's review...

Bijan Persian Grill

She is a pretty tough reviewer so this place deserves a try. I am not in that part of town that often but I might go out of my way. If anyone tries the place out, please post. Ah Houston... Our diversity is one of our hidden jewels!

Edited September 6, 2003 by fifi (log)

[jess mebane]

She is a pretty tough reviewer so this place deserves a try.

she's tough but a really great food writer. I lavh her. So is she working for the Chronicle or the Press these days?

[fifi]

The Chronicle. I seem to remember that she came from someplace pretty "sophisticated". There was some "whining" about her in Whining and Dining. The "provencials" kind of objected to her writing style. I think she does a good job, seems to be fair, but pulls no punches. She also does a good job of putting the restaurants she reviews in context. She isn't going to go to a taqueria expecting anything but a taqueria and will do the review in that context. Then, she can also go to the upscale restaurants and hit the right notes in expectation. I enjoy her writing style. I also appreciate that she includes noise level. The noise level in a lot of Houston restaurants is really objectionable. For instance, I haven't been to Ruggles Grill in a long time because the noise level is just too painful. They had a restaurant downtown for a while (don't know if it was a victim of the construction on Main Street) that I went to twice. The food was fantastic, but the loud music was just too much to endure so we quit going there.

Maybe we should start a thread on noise and then send links to all of the offending restaurant owners.

[Richard Kilgore]

That was a fine review by Alison cook. She does a wonderful job of conveying the ambience of the place, and describing the people and the food, while aknowledging her own responses as her own, and slipping in a little food history, too.

I like that noise level rating, too. I hate noisy places where you cannot have even four people at a table able to talk with each other comfortably.

[jess mebane]

The Chronicle. I seem to remember that she came from someplace pretty "sophisticated". There was some "whining" about her in Whining and Dining.

she was at the Press for years, then freelanced for GQ and the like, and wound up on Citysearch, I think it was. I'm glad she rematerialized at a really good paper like the Houston Chronicle, provincial disapproval notwithstanding. And I totally agree with Kilgore about her sense of history and place; it gives her writing way more depth than the usual fare: "bread pudding redolent with old bourbon and studded with plump currants..."

[Richard Kilgore]

Has anyone made it to the Bijan Persian Grill yet?

[IrishCream]

Alison Cook left the Press after winning a James Beard Journalism award for one of her reviews. After the award she was hired by one of the big magazine publishers, perhaps Conde Nast? Houston is very, very lucky to have her back, if indeed she is.

I never ate at the restaurant in question (it wasn't there when I left a year ago)....I always headed for Garson's for Persian. Loved the fact they brought out complimentary fresh-baked flat bread, with onions, radishes, "herbs" and feta. Made Garson's a good value along with the attentive service, nice atmosphere (quiet), and IMO good food. Sometimes I miss Houston!

edit to say: the prices at Bijan sound fantastic...go before they raise the prices after a good review in the Chronicle!

Edited September 9, 2003 by IrishCream (log)

[fifi]

Houston is very, very lucky to have her back, if indeed she is.

Yep. She is back. I don't remember exactly when she showed up but it was a bunch of months ago. She has a regular review in the Friday Dining Guide section. She is a great writer. Wouldn't it be great to have her in our playpen?

[FoodMan]

Bijan!! What on earth happened? I wonder what Alison would think now if...

Ok, let me back up a little. Bijan is close to my work and my co-wrokers and I used to go there more or less regularly. Their grilled items and stews are top notch, and like the review says, the baklava rivals the best in the city. Actually it might be the best in the city. My regular items over there are “number 23” combo, that’s 2 grilled meat kabob (one each ground spiced beef and beef kabob made with whole beef chunks)/rice/bread. I also always get the Doogh, a yogurt drink similar to Ayran or lassi. The baklava is the usual finish, homemade with a thick layer of nuts and flaky sweet filo layers.

We have not been to the place in a couple of months maybe. So, we decide to stop by for lunch today, and boy has it changed. Well, it still looks the same but the food is certainly not. First of, my doogh tastes old, very old and very sour. Instead of its normal liquidy smooth state, it is oddly thick and grainy. Too sips into it and I push it away.

Then my #23 arrives and behold, the normal butter packet (LOL brand) normally served with the rice is replaced by some margarine packet. So, ok they are trying to cut costs I guess. Then I notice the first real ominous sign, the ground beef kebab looks normal, but what happened to the beef chunks?! They are replaced by thin sorry looking skirt meat (aka fajita meat). I taste the Persian fajita and it is almost inedible, it is “very tender”, perhaps due to the overuse of tenderizer and tastes like nothing but salt. On to the ground beef kebab, this one is edible but lacks the zip and flavor of the original version. Even the rice is salty, so my plate is left with all the “fajita” and most of the rice. The good news is that the bread is still decent so I eat that with the edible kebab.

My co-worker orders a small hummus whenever he is here. This time was not different, but the hummus was. It comes in a large “scoop” straight from the fridge and it tastes like the tahini-overloaded canned stuff. They did not even bother to drizzle olive oil on it.

We were both so disappointed but we wanted to try one more thing. Do you think the baklava has changed? First off their entire pastry display is filled with pre-packaged Chinese-buffet-style desserts, down to the pound cake and fruit cup! After a long wait they manage to find baklava for us, but we decline because it is obvious that this is not the same homemade pastry they served before. Long gone is the thick nut layer and wonderful flaky pastry. The small little piece again looks like the store-bought baklava you can get at Kroger.

I really am sad that Bijan has declined so fast. It was one of those places I recommend to people. I tried asking if they have a new owner but both the cashier and the waitress did not seem to know what I meant, since they were conversing in Spanish the whole time. So, I am really not sure if there is a new owner, but the only non-hispanic person who I could see works there is not the owner I remember.

Oh well, for Persian I will be heading down the road to Darband from now on.

Elie

[FoodMan]

Click here to read Robb Walsh's review of the place and you'll get a very good idea of what kind of restaurant Bijan was.

Elie

[fifi]

Oh dear. We probably need to get to the bottom of this crash and burn.