Around the world, around the block Around the world, around the block (January 30, 2004)

Mazeh offers eclectic fare

By Kate Blood

It's appropriate that a restaurant housed next to a Cost Plus World Market sports a menu promising "flavors from all over the world."

Mazeh offers Middle Eastern cuisine as well as pizzas, wraps and entrée sized salads. With such a diverse menu, you can expect an occasional misstep, but when sticking to Persian fare, Mazeh's kitchen provides the kind of dining experience you'd never expect to find in a strip mall.

Mazeh's owner, Nick Arabian, has created a pleasant, peaceful restaurant -- one side of the dining room features a hand-painted mural illustrating San Francisco's multi-cultural North Beach neighborhood, and mirrors running along the opposite wall give the optical illusion that you're in a much larger dining space.

The atmosphere is relaxed. You can sit at a granite-topped bar to watch the chef pop pizzas into a wood-fired oven or take a seat at a table covered in white linen and decorated with a tiny cactus plant.

We ordered Dugh ($1.75), a refreshingly tart drink that Arabian explained was made from yogurt, sparkling water and dried mint. The cold drink was perfect with Mazeh's complimentary house appetizer: A well-browned puffy bread disk that emitted clouds of steam as we tore off bite-size pieces to dip in emerald-green virgin olive oil mixed with white sesame seeds and oregano.

Our second appetizer, deep-fried fritters filled with spinach and onion (Pakoras, $3.95), tasted great when they first arrived. But as they cooled, we pulled the brown, golf ball-sized rounds open to expose disagreeably gooey centers.

A brightly spiced cup of Indian Dahl ($2.50) dotted with carrot and cilantro and garnished with a seductively twisted lemon slice was more successful.

The entree-sized Spinach & Feta Cheese Salad ($5.95) included a few mushroom slices, coarsely chopped pieces of bacon and toasted pine nuts. Most of the salad's toppings were hiding at the bottom of the plate and the dressing was unexpectedly sweet, but after tossing everything around, the ingredients paired well.

On another visit, the gratis fried appetizer bread was pale and oily but arrived at the same time as a charmingly decorated plate of Hummus ($4.95) frosted with sesame seed paste and dusted with paprika-colored sumac powder (an essential ingredient in Arabic cooking). Mazeh's chef adds an imaginative touch of diced sun-dried tomatoes to this classic blend of garbanzo beans, garlic, Tahini (sesame seed paste), lime juice and olive oil.

Mazeh Salsa salad ($4.95) was a jewel-toned mix of chilled purple onion, bright red tomato, and brilliant green cilantro tossed with feta cheese, kalamata olives, lime juice and olive oil. When ordering, we asked to split the salad, but on delivery, the server slid one tiny plate in front of my guest and then dashed away. We happily scooped up every delicious morsel, but would have appreciated the offer of separate salad plates.

Koobideh Kabob ($12.95) -- ground lamb and beef rolled in two, foot-long, sausage-like links -- were dry and dull even when sprinkled with the exotic sumac powder. Sumac must be an acquired taste. I found it to be bitter and harsh with a sour, woodsy-flavor and an aroma that crossed paprika and clove. The kebabs were also accompanied by a mound of white, Persian-style rice with each delicate white grain separate from the next and a few grains at the top stained bright yellow.

White rice is a staple of Persian food. Ritual fixings include a big pat of sweet butter, a raw egg and a little bowl of sumac powder to sprinkle on top. At Mazeh, the rice is served minus the egg and with the type of foil-wrapped butter pat found on room-service trays. A decorative whole-roasted tomato on the side of the plate was out of season and inedible, the interior tasteless and the skin burned.

The Eggplant Moussaka ($5.95 for an appetizer) comes in a small gratin pan layered with eggplant slices, bell pepper, tomato and mozzarella cheese, then coated with a creamy tomato sauce. Mazeh's house white wine, Rene Barbier Mediterranean White ($3 a glass), has a light acidic taste that works well with the creamy sauce.

The pizza is a nice option, especially if you're dining out with kids. Custom-made pizzas can include anything from simple cheese and tomato sauce to pomegranate paste and roast corn.

The Pine Nut & Feta Cheese Pizza ($10.95), layered with spinach and topped with artichokes, had plenty of rich, melted feta that stood up well to Mazeh's tomato sauce -- a blunt red puree that lacks subtlety.

Mazeh's version of the classic Hawaiian pizza -- Black Forest Ham & Brie ($11.95) -- is available with fresh pineapple (add $1.50), but here the ham doesn't hold its own against the tomato sauce or the strong slices of Brie, and I counted a mere four slices of fresh pineapple.

The croissant-shaped Vegetarian Calzone ($8.95) was picture-perfect -- a beautiful golden brown crescent encircling a small bowl of the same tomato sauce used on the pizza. But the stuffed pizza's inner filling of spinach, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes lacked the expected oozing cheese; the crust was tough and without much flavor.

Service is polite and welcoming -- and owner Arabian will soon remember your name -- but service can also be slow and occasionally, careless. New dishes arrive before empty dishes have been removed. Large groups find some guests eating salad at the same time others have moved on to honey-glazed Baklava ($3.95) and coffee ($1.75).

I'll go back to Mazeh's -- if only for a dish of Arabian's house-made Persian Ice Cream ($3.95). This passionately-flavored peach color mixture of sweet cream, rose water, saffron and pistachio nut meats is perfect for a quick dessert eaten at one of the four small outdoor tables overlooking busy El Camino Real.

Dining Notes

Mazeh Taste of the World Restaurant
1910 W. El Camino Real
969-4884
www.mazehrestaurant.com
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; 5:00-9:00 p.m.
Reservations: Yes, but not required.
Credit cards: Yes.
Valet Parking: No, lot.
Alcohol: Yes. Catering: Yes.
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Outdoor seating: Yes
Noise level: low.

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