Faz extending his restaurant empire
Pioneering San Jose spot serves Italian and Persian fare
Faz Poursohi knows the recipe for success. The Iranian-born restaurateur recently added to his small restaurant empire by opening his fifth Faz restaurant (the others are in Sunnyvale, Oakland, Pleasanton and Danville, which has been around since 1991) in North San Jose’s budding tech hub.
Since his restaurant is housed on the ground floor of The Verdant, an apartment and retail complex, Poursohi is a pioneer; his is one of the first restaurants in a neighborhood where city officials have hopes of creating a vibrant “livework” urban environment, but the area seems far from reaching critical mass.
Tech giants Samsung and Cisco are already there, as is the light rail, but on a Saturday night this stretch of Tasman Drive was a virtual ghost town, the surrounding campuses closed for the weekend. The only life appeared to be inside Faz, and despite the fact that there are dozens of apartments above it, only a handful of tables in the large, attractive restaurant were filled.
The atmosphere on a weeknight was much livelier, with at least a couple of large parties of what appeared to be work functions in the private rooms just off the main dining room.
The host greeted us enthusiastically and offered us our choice of tables. A server quickly brought the complimentary cucumber and tomato salad with flatbread sliced from large loaves fresh from the tiled oven in the open kitchen, its cheery glow adding some coziness to the room.
We started by ordering from the list of craft cocktails, several named for bodies of water in the Mediterranean, such as the not-too-sweet and refreshing Black Sea ($11). My friend’s Copper Pot ($12), a whiskey-based take on a Moscow Mule, tasted watered down, the bourbon flavor barely perceptible.
Faz is still finding its footing in this new location. In the two weeks between my visits, the menu was revamped, with the addition of more vegetarian dishes designed to appeal to the international tech workers in the neighborhood who don’t eat meat.
Largely a mix of Persian and Italian dishes, the options doubled for pizza and pasta, the latter made inhouse, as evidenced by the noodles I spied drying on racks in the kitchen. There’s also a menu of daily specials that include a Persian stew of the day and a fish dish.
Another addition to the new menu is a selection of yogurt-based dips called borani. We tried the trio ($12): spinach saffron, roasted eggplant similar to baba ganoush, and roasted beet, served with more flatbread. All of them needed more seasoning; a little salt did the trick. The beet, with its beautiful crimson color and bright flavor, was my favorite of the three.
Neither the trio of dips, nor the hummus ($6), which was nicely garnished with smoked paprika and crunchy pepitas, came with serving spoons, one of the few awkward blips in service we experienced.
When we asked for plates for our two shared starters, including a salad, our server curiously only brought a plate to one of us. My friend and I shared a chuckle and I ate the first course off my bread plate.
On another visit, we tried the new roasted vegetable pizza ($14) from the expanded list that had previously been called flatbreads. The base was a softer, puffier version of the more traditional Neapolitan ones, but still tasty in its own right, and would probably be a big hit with kids who, incidentally, are welcome here. A sprinkling of feta added just the right salty notes to the roasted eggplant and peppers.
A generous portion of house-made Swiss chard and ricotta ravioli ($17) was served in a rich, creamy sauce that was hearty and comforting like a warm hug — ideal for a rainy winter day.
All of the meat and fish we tried was tender and flavorful — from the chicken kabob ($16), to the rack of lamb ($34) grilled to pink perfection, to the fat, succulent prawns on a salad from our first visit that are now featured in a champagne tomato broth ($14) instead.
My friend was particularly impressed with the filet mignon kabob ($22), now called the chenjeh kabob, although I found the green peppers grilled with it reminded me of the Chinese pepper steak I grew up eating in the Midwest.
We both devoured nearly every last grain of the fluffy, buttery-tasting saffron basmati rice served with the kabobs, continuing to pick at it long after we’d pushed back our plates. It wasn’t quite as addictive on the next visit, less savory, but still pretty tasty. The vegetables served on the kabob platter, a roasted tomato and broccolini, were unremarkable — not bad, just not particularly memorable.
Although the kabobs and Persian stew tell us something about Poursohi’s roots, Faz reveals more of his autobiography subtly
with sweets. Faz grew up on a farm that was full of fruit trees, including quince. Desserts come with a slice or two of quince paste, which is also sold in jars in the pastry case at the end of the bar. It’s a fixture that foreshadows his next venture: a bakery is in the works.
His childhood home also had plenty of roses and he would use them to make rose water. Here, he adds rose water and cardamom in his baklava ($8) to create a more exotic and decidedly less sweet version than the more typical honey varieties.
We also tried the Persian cookie sampler ($8) that included some light meringues, a cream-filled sandwich cookie, and halva redolent with cardamom. For some, these sweets can be an acquired taste, but I really enjoyed them, especially with an espresso.
Although the menu at Faz features an unusual mix of Persian and Italian cuisines, the strength in most dishes we tried was their simplicity, combined with solid technique. While they may not be particularly innovative, they have integrity. Perhaps it’s that honest, unpretentious approach that has given Faz
such long-term success.