News

Authentic: First in an occasional series looking at authentic ethnic cooking in our area

Recipe: Chicken with Saffron

Chef Shahriar Mahori, owner of the Shandiz Terrace Restaurant in Lake Worth, holds a whole salmon he prepared for Nowruz or ‘Persian New Year.’ Photos by Tim Stepien/
The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

   Shahriar Mahori breaks an egg into a dark metal skillet. Sunny side up, it sizzles over the gas flame. Nearby, a toaster pops up golden brown slices of bread. Almost without stepping away from the stove, he stacks and slices the toast as he slips the eggs onto a plastic plate.
    He puts the finished dish in the pass-through to the dining room, where a guest picks it up and helps himself to coffee.
    Welcome to Shandiz Terrace Restaurant on the second floor of the New Sun Gate Motel in Lake Worth. At this one-man operation, Mahori is not only cook/owner but also prep cook, purveyor, waiter and dishwasher.
    Although he prepares traditional American dishes, he also offers a taste of his homeland at this restaurant.

Kuku Sabzi, also know as a Persian Frittata.

     Born in Abadan on the southern Iranian coast, Mahori grew up eating fresh fish as well as braises or kebabs of lamb and beef. And it’s these foods that he wants to introduce to area diners.
    He’s also been embraced by his fellow Iranians here in South Florida. He offers them a place to gather and celebrate holidays such as Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, in March. They come from as far as Miami to enjoy his hospitality.
Regular customer Maryam Mashayekhi of West Palm Beach says, “It’s wonderful to have a local place like this to get together with friends.”
    Soheila Ghodstinat of West Palm Beach adds, “His restaurant reminds me of the low-key places you find in every village of my country.”
    Mahori moved to this area about a year ago after meeting Mike Mahmoudi. It turns out that unbeknownst to either of them, they were neighbors in Iran. Hitting it off instantly, Mahmoudi asked Mahori to open a Persian restaurant at his motel. That was Mahori’s big break.
    “I’ll never find anyone else like Mike anywhere,” he says. “I swear he has been better to me than a big brother.”
    When Mahori was 17, his father died and he learned to cook for his mother and siblings. He moved to Tehran, where he finished high school and university, and then in 2000, he came to California for political asylum.  Here he started a new life working as a busboy in an Italian kosher restaurant while doing home repairs and catering Iranian dishes out of his apartment. He cooked on a single gas burner and a charcoal grill.
    Shish kebab, shrimp stew and even head of lamb were just some of his homeland’s delicacies that he prepared for catering clients. “Those dishes were hard to make in my apartment kitchen, but if you like something, you can do it,” he says.

Baba ghanoush

     Later he became a restaurant manager at a Persian kosher restaurant where he was mashke yahk, responsible for making sure the kitchen adhered to the rules of kashrut.  Then, too, he moved into a house with a bigger kitchen from which he continued to cater.
    Here in Florida, he once again is cooking in a kitchen that is too small for him to offer a full menu of Iranian delicacies. So every day, Tuesday through Thursday, he makes one special dish.
    It might be lamb shanks braised with parsley, cilantro, leeks, scallions and fenugreek. “People here often don’t like lamb, but I promise if it there’s any smell to it, I’ll close my restaurant,” he says, assuring us that he uses only meats allowed under Islamic dietary guidelines.
    Or you might get shrimp stewed with scallions and sautéed onions as well as two whole heads of garlic and the clean sour taste of tamarind. “That’s very popular with Persians,” he says.
His American clientele seem partial to his ghormeh-sabzi, long-simmered red kidney beans, leeks, cilantro, parsley and fenugreek.
    Those in the know call ahead to find out what Persian dish is on the menu that day. Then they either take out or eat dinner in his simple but pleasing terrace dining room protected from the elements by plastic curtains.
    “I want people to come and eat my cooking while it’s fresh,” he says. “I don’t have room to store food — so when it’s gone, it’s gone.”
    For Saturday or Sunday, people call 24 hours in advance to order beef shish kebab or barg, a kebab made from a long thin strip of beef fillet cooked over charcoal, not briquettes. “Iranians really recognize the special flavor of meat prepared this way,” he says.
    Fatemeh Moharer of Wellington stops on her way home from work two or three times a week. Mohari meets her in the parking lot with her order packaged to go. “He and his food really remind me of home,” she says.                       

Shandiz Terrace Restaurant is located in the New Sun Gate Motel, 901 S. Federal Highway, Lake Worth; 299-7297.
Call ahead to check hours and find out what special Iranian dishes are available Tuesday through Thursday. The restaurant offers dine-in, takeout and catering.