A culinary ambassador A culinary ambassador (January 28, 2005)

Cafe Renaissance offers tasty and aromatic Persian cuisine

By Aimee M. Male

In Persian culture, the same spirit guides poetry and cuisine. Traditional dishes, like well-crafted verse, combine intricate, unique flavors to create a harmonious whole.

It should come as no surprise then that an artist, a poet and painter is the creative force behind Cafe Renaissance, a restaurant and cafe in Palo Alto that for 14 years has offered traditional Persian dishes from recipes that have been passed from generation to generation.

The desire to create -- as well as educate -- inspires Amir Khatami and his mother, Faye, to get up early every day and start the slow process of measuring spices and marinating meat for the cafe's fragrant stews and rich soups. They now stay open later to serve dinner, a new feature that began last August.

Persia (now Iran) was a culinary oasis at the heart of the Silk Route, as traders from all over the ancient world traveled through with their cache of exotic spices while sharing knowledge of culinary traditions back home.

The names of spices Khatami uses in his dishes read like a list of perfumes, evocative and sensual. Tender, dried rose petals pair with pungent ground cardamom. Rare saffron is used to color stews a sunset crimson shade, while sumac imparts both tart and salty flavors to tender cuts of beef.

Cafe Renaissance serves a special stew (khoresh) each day that is characterized by its advieh, or spice blend. It is the dish's signature and can include any number of Persian spices. Khatami recalls that as a boy in Tehran, he could tell exactly which stew his neighbors were preparing for lunch by recognizing the aroma of the advieh used. Aroma in Persian cooking is "a big deal," he said.

The perfume of the loobia khoresh ($8.95) is subtle, the stew a smooth blend of piquant tomatoes, green beans and mushrooms highlighted with a hint of lemon. After stewing in this fragrant mixture for more than two hours, the chicken leg meat simply falls off its bone into a fluffy pile of Basmati rice with barely a tug.

Something more than alchemy is involved in the creation of khoresh-e fesenjan, ($8.95) a "gourmet platter" Khatami serves only during dinner. Pomegranate paste is cooked with ground walnuts and tender pieces of butternut squash, creating a rustic, chocolate-brown stew that is then simmered with chicken. Its monochrome appearance belies its complex flavor, as it is meaty, candied and tart at once.

Kabobs are another staple of Persian cuisine, which are as ubiquitous as the American hamburger -- although it would be a major coup to find a burger as flavorful as the Persian kubideh. A typical kabob platter includes rice, a grilled tomato and a juicy kabob removed from its metal skewer. All kabobs are roasted over an open flame, so you won't find any grill marks on these succulent pieces of meat.

I can attest to the tenderness of the cafe's kabobs. The Sultani platter ($12.45) includes a kubideh kabob, a mixture of ground beef and lamb, and a beef cube kabob, over rice. The ground meat was surprisingly lean yet succulent, and the beef tender and savory.

Khatami also frowns on the use of sauce, saying that a properly grilled kabob needs no seasoning -- the cut of the meat and its marinade should flavorfully stand on its own. To add a sauce is "to ruin it," he said. Regardless, kabob plates are served with a tangy yogurt dip that didn't seem to detract from the already tasty kabobs.

The cafe also offers sandwiches and wraps that incorporate Persian flavors with more familiar ingredients. The lamb wrap ($6.25) is one of the "crossover" options, which includes a ground lamb kubideh with freshly diced tomatoes, cucumber and red onion in a lavash bread wrapper, similar to a soft flour tortilla, but more tender and flaky. The warm, pungent lamb and crisp vegetables create a fantastic balance of flavors, but in keeping with the "no sauce" mantra, I would have liked the tahini (sesame paste) on the side, as it overpowered the lamb.

Dolma ($2.50), familiar in Greek cuisine, are grape leaves stuffed with rice and then soaked in olive oil and lemon. Often tinny and tough to bite through, the cafe's dolma are very fresh and tender. They were also a tasty addition to the hummus and falafel platter ($7.95), one of a number of vegetarian options on the menu.

The cafe's hummus is smooth and not too garlicky, and the falafel crisp and subtly spicy. Although falafel is not a Persian dish, Khatami still offers it, as customers "expect it."

One wouldn't expect such high-class, original cuisine, however, from a cafe that while comfortable, is easily mistaken for simply another coffee shop. That is what makes Cafe Renaissance such a pleasant surprise -- and a secret that should be shared.

Dining Notes

Cafe Renaissance, 321 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto 321-6222; www.caferen.com.
Hours: Lunch: Monday - Friday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Dinner: Tuesday - Friday, 5 - 9 p.m.; Saturday - 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Closed Sundays.
Reservations: no Credit cards: yes Parking: lot, street Alcohol: Beer and wine Children: yes Outdoor dining: yes Party and banquet facilities: no Takeout: yes Catering: yes Noise level: moderate Bathroom cleanliness: excellent

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