26 March 2024
I’ve been dying to try Maman Zari here in Chicago since they opened. Billed as the only Persian tasting menu in town, and as a big fan of Persian cuisine, I was really looking forward to getting there after a very long day at the office.
It all went well, with a shockingly clean and relatively empty Red Line ride to change for the last slog on the Brown to Kedzie, where Maman Zari was located adjacent to the station. I got there early but was seated. I relaxed with a cocktail and looked at the special Nowruz tasting menu they have. Interesting, lots of traditional dishes, I’m curious about their take on them.
A nice beet-centric amuse came out, which helped get my palate ready for the evening. When I finished my cocktail, a nice bubbly from Burgundy is poured and we have the kuku sabzi to start the tasting.
An interesting and delicious traditional herb frittata, with the fruit condiment adding a nice touch. The bubbles worked well with this dish. Then a pour of a nice albariño for the next dish, which is actually a dual dish, of which the first was revealed under a smoke lid.
Mirza ghasemi is a traditional smoked eggplant dish and this was done very well. Lovely cherrywood aromas too. Plus those crisps are borderline addictive. The accompanying sabzi khordan is a traditional herb service.
Quite nice, the marinated olives were delicious. All interesting takes on traditional Persian dishes. Then a pour of a pinot blanc and we have the salad dish.
A nicely-plated version of the traditional Shirazi salad, with the elements in strips instead of the usual chopped. But the three key elements of cucumber, tomato, and onions shine nicely here. This sets us up for the larger dishes, as well as the nice pour of the rarely seen xynisteri from Cyprus.
The mahi sefid ba sabzi polo is their take on the traditional fish fry with herbal rice, using branzino, and this was done very well. The fish was delicious and rich, although the rice was a touch rich with the already rich fish. So far this has been a very nice tasting menu, not blown away, but very solid.
Sadly that changed with the next dish, the jujeh kabob negindar. The chicken with saffron was not tasty and had that way overcooked consistency that reminded me of chicken you get on an airplane back in the 1990s. The mince on top was a little better, but it was also lacking. Sadly this was a letdown, only the Greek rosé carried this dish.
For the final savoury dish a pinot noir from Oregon was poured and we have the reshteh polo ba ghormeh sabzi.
This is an interesting take on another traditional dish, but I think it was way too oily. Maybe a touch ambitious, as it was hard to eat all the rice under the fried noodles, all soaked in oil. The lamb and beans were also a little lacking to be honest. It’s too bad that things started to weaken after that excellent fish dish.
That was also the end of the pairings, so I asked for a coffee and some arak as the dessert was presented.
This was quite nice, with the traditional sholezard on top of the ferni. Mixing them made them especially delicious, a nice way to close the night.
A plate of cookies came as I finished my beverages. However, a billing mistake (in my favour) came up so I pointed it out to them and they thanked me, and comped me another drink as they processed the bill. The service was excellent, so I added a tip on top of the pre-added service charge.
I thanked the very nice folks and headed for my bus on a windy evening. Sadly the food started to weaken just as it got into the main dishes, and that kabob was just not good. Again, this was a special menu, so perhaps I should have come when it was their normal tasting. Let’s see, maybe I’ll check them out again in the future. But it’s worth a try, at least once.
Maman Zari
4639 North Kedzie Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
melhuang1972 