Best of Texas: Persian Restaurants

[Richard Kilgore]

Kasra Persian Cuisine is in a strip center in Richardson. It has been open only a few months, and I dropped in a few weeks ago to try it after passing by a couple of times the previous month or two. The strip center it is in has seen better days, so I was truly surprised after I passed through the doors. This is an attractive place with a large fountain dividing the single large room.

It was lunch time so I tried their buffet, although you can order from the menu at any time. If I recall correctly the weekday lunch buffet was about $8. It included Humus, tabuli, mast-o-khair (home made yougurt mixed with diced cucumber and herbs), chicken breast kabob, koobideh kabob (charbroiled seasoned ground beef), zereshk polo with chicken (boiled chicken with onions and saffron, served with basamati rice topped with sauteed barberry), gheymeh badenjan (stew of brazed beef cubes, sauteed eggplant, yellow split peas and Persian dried lime garnished with tiny strips of fries), shirazi salad (diced tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, lemon juice, vinegar, EVOO and herbs), another salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers and dressing, and flat bread. Drink extra (from soft drinks to Dugh, a yougurt drink, and turkish coffee). I think the daily buffet rotates some items, but not sure.

The buffet was kept fresh and everything I tried was delicious. Buffets are usually a compromise, but this was a good compromise. My idea of better-than-good fast food.

I talked to the staff and the big deal is the buffet on Sundays, which includes many more items from their dinner menu and costs $13.50 if I recall correctly. It is served from noon until 4:00 p.m. I definitely will go back.

Kasra Persian Cusine

525 West Arapaho Rd., Suite 21

Richardson, TX 75080

972-235-4007

[irodguy]

Yep it's owned by a friend of a friend of mine. I keep planning on stopping by. Will have to try it for lunch.

[hmspector]

We went Sunday and had a range of dishes (Kashk Bademjun; Ghemeh; Zereshk Polo). None compared favorably to Giovanni's (Preston/Frankford) and they were out of one main staple of the menu.

hm$

[Richard Kilgore]

Welcome to the eGullet Society, hmspector.

Can you clarify a few points for us and tell a little more about Giovanni's and what you enjoyed there? Anything in particular you recommend? I was also curious about what mani staple was missing from the menu at Kasra. Were you comparing items ordered off the menu at both places, or buffet items at Kasra to menu items at Giovanni?

Here's a link to the Dallas Morning News review of Giovanni's by Kim Pierce. It sounds like she was not impressed with the Italian menu, but liked the Middle Eastern one a great deal. This is a good example of one of the limitations of restaurant ratings, since she ends up giving it 2 1/2 stars each for food, service and atmosphere.

[hmspector]

Sure, Richard. First of all, the few Italian dishes from Giovannis I have had were indeed mediocre.

Vis-a-vis the persian food, I think the important thing to remember is that Persian food is all about subtle seasoning. For example, without the 2 bitter lemons in Ghormeh Sabzi, all you have is a pretty vegetal stew and beef.

At Giovanni's I think I have had the entire Persian menu: Kababs (Koobideh [ground beef], Juje [chicken]), Lamb shank, Ghemeh (lentil stew w/ beef), Ghormeh Sabzi (spinich, parsley, herb stew with beef), Albali Polo (sour cherry rice with chicken), Fessenjun (pomegrante chicken), Kashk Bademjun (eggplant), Zeresk Polo (barberries, rice & chicken). The seasoning may not be quite at the standard of a good Los Angeles or NYC persian restaurant, but they are not far behind andf the meat is always moist. I am personally a big fan of the Fessenjun since it's a pretty difficult dish to make. The Ghormeh Sabzi is quite good as well.

We tried about 4-5 of these dishes at Kasra and none were prepared as well; the seasoning was not right on any of the dishes and all left us flat.

Never tried the buffet at either place.

hm$

[hmspector]

Oh, and the missing dish at Kasra was Ghormeh Sabzi -- sort of like a Chinese resaurant being out of Kung Pao in my mind.

hm$