Iranian eatery brings cultures together

Fresh Persian fare makes Noosh Kitchen a hot spot.

Fara Jafeh recalls how her mother’s cooking did the talking when the family moved to Johns Creek from Iran in 2001. Nooshin Yazdani spoke little English but new friends and neighbors would taste her Persian fare and want more, placing orders for special occasions. She filled their requests for nine years before opening Noosh Kitchen. Her special touch then and now at the Northside restaurant are recipes that were passed down through family generations, and had been a proven success in the catering business she ran in her native land.

“My mother loved cooking her special dishes,” says Fara. “And she did it all from her home kitchen.”

Today at Noosh, treasured selections include a wedding rice dish inspired by a recipe from both Nooshin’s and husband Saied Ghaemi’s sides of the family. It consists of sweet saffron rice with orange peels, carrots, almonds and pistachio.

“We use a lot of dried vegetables and fruits to flavor food,” Fara says. “Most of our kabobs are marinated for a minimum of 24 hours using all-natural ingredients like yogurt, lemon juice, saf- fron, fresh herbs and ground spices.”

Every dish is prepared as it would be in a typical Persian kitchen, from scratch.

“There are some ingredi- ents that we use which cannot be found here in the U.S., and we have our relatives — my grandparents — mail them or my mom travels to Iran to bring them here with her,” Fara says. “Orange blossom or the dried orange peels, saffron and barberries are a few examples of things that we bring from Iran.”

Several stews, such as the Persian herb known as ghormeh sabzi, and pome- granate stew, called fesenjan, in addition to different mixes of rice, are made from recipes that Nooshin watched her mother cook.

Nooshin’s own creation, eggplant delight, is a popular spicy appetizer of fried egg- plant with chickpeas cooked in a seasoned tomato sauce. “What I love about cook- ing and what motivates me the best is people,” Nooshin says. “It is the getting together — families, friends and loved ones — and sharing the food that makes it an expression and experience. It is that which allows me to feel most like myself and cook a great meal for others.” The eatery is family run by the couple as well as Fara, general manager and family spokesperson, and her younger brother Reza, who facilitates operations. The children were 16 and 9, respectively, when the family arrived from Iran. Noosh started modestly with about 1,500 square feet of space in 2011. Saied, who was a building contractor in Iran, put his building and design skills to work to create an interesting, warm atmosphere for diners. Among other projects, he created an intricately designed floor with broken tiles resembling puzzle pieces, a family reminder of the cobble- stone streets back home in Iran.

“The original space was very bare without any real design elements, but my father saw ways to beautify it, to make something unique for Noosh Kitchen,” Fara says.

In 2017, Noosh more than doubled its space to more than 3,000 square feet and now includes two dining rooms with 28 tables seat- ing 110 people. Antique iron pieces above doors and lines from poems written in Farsi on the walls add interest, along with a new concrete bar designed and hand-built by Saied.

“My father built the bar out of concrete, so of course he had to build it [inside] the restaurant since it would be too heavy to move from another location,” Fara says. “He wanted a certain look and feel ... and it turned out perfect.”

The sleek 14-foot hand- made bar highlights the room and is accented by a wall of soft gleaming lights and glass shelving.

“I wanted a natural look, with glass and concrete to help create a natural feeling throughout the restaurant,” Saied says. “Everything we have in our restaurant is designed to make people feel welcome and comfortable — from what they see when they walk in, to the delicious food, to the service.”

Nooshin and Saied hoped Johns Creek’s sizable community would support the restaurant when they first opened and they’ve since discovered their establishment has even wider appeal. Most nights, people of all ages are dining or listening to the live music on the weekends.

“It’s wonderful to look around and see so many people from different back- grounds dining together, ” who says hails server from Olga Russia. Sokomo “Grev, at food brings people together.”

PHOTOS BY JASON GETZ / AJC 2017 Noosh Kitchen owners Nooshin Yazdani and her husband Saeid Ghaemi are shown in their Northside family restaurant last year.

One of the dishes at Noosh Kitchen is this salmon kabob with wedding rice and sour cherry rice. Noosh’s owners draw on family recipes for their Persian fare.