Persian rice, vegan dishes shine at two eateries: Arezu and Charmy’s
Elements both traditional and nontraditional merge together at two noteworthy places that entwine centuriesold flavor combinations with contemporary approaches. Welcome to a “twofor” of Persian eateries opened by emigres who came to Columbus for better lives: Arezu and Charmy’s Persian Taste.
Arezu — the word loosely means “desire” in Farsi, the language of Persia and its modern-day equivalent of Iran — is a family-run business that whips up classic Persian dishes. Here come the nontraditional aspects: Arezu is a primarily vegan eatery that operates out of Double Happiness, a long and narrow, amusingly kitschy and irreverent Brewery District bar and performance space — and former horse stable — that serves sojulychee cocktails and is decorated with Chinese-style red lanterns, Buddha heads plus shelves of bric-a-brac such as cat figurines and kimono-clad dolls.
While everything I sampled at Arezu was very good, its pseudo-meat offerings will command special attention. Made with products from Impossible Foods, they’re, well, nearly impossible to distinguish from real beef dishes. In fact, the seared and juicy, hefty keftalike koobideh kebab is among the most believable fake-beef items in town.
I also eagerly devoured the Persian kotlet — two patties that tasted like a hamburger-and-hash-browns amalgam griddle-fried until commendably crispy. Both sizable “Impossible”-based entrees are $16 and come with a refreshing shirazi salad (herb-kissed, citrus-livened chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and onions) and saffron basmati rice.
As you’d hope from an enterprise specializing in rice-happy and saffronshowcasing Persian cuisine, Arezu’s saffron rice was quite nice. If you’d like dill and lima beans added (possibly a tough sell for some, but not me) try the baghali polo ($3). If you’d like a visually striking Persian classic, order the wonderful and dynamic jewelry rice ($4) enhanced with orange peel, almonds, pistachios, raisins and tart barberries (a Persian favorite).
Rice is also a traditional partner for ghormeh sabzi ($16; $5 as a side), a spellbinding stew the menu says is derived from “a 5000 year old recipe.” Made with fried herbs, it evoked soup made with deep-fried minced spinach and kidney beans significantly brightened by a potent whole (previously dried) lime. As I happily finished this, Arezu’s chef — Afagh Sarikhani, who honed her cooking skills in a refugee center — gifted me with a piece of lovely nut-brittle, rosebud-embellished tea and a softened heart.
Rezi Haghiri — who operates Charmy’s Persian Taste out of The Hills Market
Downtown with her wife, Sherry Bayegan (they offer grab-and-go fare there, too, such as Persian-influenced quinoa salads) — told me that “Charmy’s” is a Farsi-language reference to the four-table restaurant Haghiri and Bayegan previously owned until politics caused the couple to flee Iran. Fortunately for Columbus, they brought along their recipes.
Charmy’s wasn’t running like clockwork on the Tuesday I visited — I had trouble with the online ordering system, and an estimated 20-minute lunchtime wait became 40 minutes — but the food was excellent.
The skillfully grilled, shareable mixed kebab platter ($20, with fluffy saffron basmati rice) — saffron-tinted, boneless chicken thighs; flavorful shish kebab (lean-but-moist steak); and succulent koobideh (ground-beef-and-onion-based log) — was a great value, too. Ditto for the delightfully bright shirazi salad ($3), which impressively featured uniformly diced veggies. Charmy’s ghormeh sabzi ($15) didn’t include a whole lime, but the addictive stew was enriched with tender lamb.
Another standout stew, tongue-tingling fesenjoon ($15) — abundant crushed walnuts, chicken plus tartsweet pomegranate molasses — is a truly uncommon dish. It was so compelling that, along with the warm-and-friendly service I received, it’ll have me soon exploring the rest of Charmy’s not-small menu.
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