Shalizar

Sarah, my friend from Fritos and Foie Gras, and I met up for a dinner and gossip session at Shalizar(now named Shalezeh) on the upper east side. I was surprised to learn there was a Persian restaurant on the Michelin list, but was intrigued since I haven’t had a lot of high-end Persian food in the city.

Sarah and I always have a ton to talk about and we definitely had a lot to catch up on when we met up for dinner. We started with their bread basket:

The bread basket/pita basket also had a side of dipping sauce (tahini) and while I wasn’t a fan of the pita, the breads in the back of the picture were much more interesting. They were textured like a Focaccia and were much more chewy than the pita bread.

For our entree, we shared the meatball:

The meatball is definitely a specialty of the restaurant; it’s filled with prunes, fava beans, and topped with a tomato-like stew. I thought the meatball’s meat was a little on the tough side and the prune flavor profile was a little too overpowering for the meat.

I enjoyed catching up with Sarah and thought the meal was okay, but we both agreed that it wasn’t anything like the other Michelin-starred restaurants we’ve been to. It was definitely closer to a Brooklyn-like Michelin restaurant than a Manhattan restaurant (more neighborhood-like, very casual, and food that’s good but not outstanding)