Foodbuzz
I know, I know. You see “food” and “buzz” together, and you think perhaps all the alcohol didn’t cook off. But it actually refers to a new site, foodbuzz.com. It has a lot of potential as a place to find both recipes and restaurants. If there is a place you want to tell the world about, or are looking for a place that someone else has like, give it a try…
FoodBuzz(full disclosure: a good friend of mine designed the site. Having said that, I’ve used the site myself to find a couple good places to eat)
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7 comments
Very, very cool! Yes, there are a lot of restaurant and food sites out there; but this one stands out on my “Persian Test”. Persian cuisine is very rare, to the point of unknown: many sites I visit don’t even list it as an option. It’s also my favorite cuisine. This site has 16 hits for Persian. Some are good restaurants I highly recommend, and some sound like very good restaurant’s I haven’t discovered yet.
It also scores very high on my “Churrascaria Test”. Again, some great restaurants I know, and some promising ones to investigate.
A suggestion for your friend. The restaurant reviews include price ratings, such as $$$. It would be good if those included a link or pop-up that explained the ratings. Does $$$ mean $20-$30? Or $50 to $100? Or…?
My first thought on seeing “Food Buzz” was special brownies.
Yes, ’special brownies’ in the $50-$100 or 25-30 year range….
Maetin: You just made my day. I have been given the honor of picking a restaurant for this weekend and I had no idea what to pick. I’m going to look for a Persian restaurant in Atlanta. I’ve never been, so it should be interesting!
Michael,
Because it’s close geographically, the cuisine is similar to many Middle Eastern styles, but just enough different that I really notice. Not that I don’t love Middle Eastern, but the Persian is just more to my taste. I once walked halfway across San Francisco in the rain for good Persian food. (And yes, FoodBuzz has a link for it.)
I particularly like the dishes where they use fruit in combination with meat. The fesenjoon (chicken in pomegranate sauce) described in this review is a good example.
I should add that FoodBuzz has a link to Persepolis. I didn’t walk there last time I was in Atlanta, but I surely did drive there. The people were very friendly, and the food was great.
Martin: Moroccan cookery is also noted for its combination of fruits and meat, along with complex combinations of spices. Different combinations, of course, but the same ideas. Moroccan may actually be more complex in the spice department.
But yes, Persian food is terrific. So is Armenian and Afghan. Turkish, though, is probably the most highly developed. A few centuries of an expansive empire will do that for you.
John_B:
I haven’t had a chance at Moroccan yet, but now you have me curious.
You’ve nailed the description, though: “complex combinations of spices.” That’s definitely a big part of the appeal of Persian food for me. The first time I ever had Persian food was in Omaha, of all places, at Ahmad’s Persian Restaurant. Ahmad himself introduced me to the food, and was a most excellent host. It wasn’t enough for him to serve me. He insisted on telling me how to eat it: a little of the meat on the fork, then a little of the rice, and then the cabbage, and then savor. And savor was the right word: I ate very slowly, because that complex combination of all of those bits with all of their spices was the point of the meal. If you just gobbled (which, I confess, is my normal eating style), you would miss it. Ahmad wanted you to take the time and savor every bite. He also treated me to what he assured me was a very nice wine. I don’t drink — I hate the taste of alcohol — but I had some out of courtesy. As alcohol goes, I didn’t mind it: most of the taste I hate was hidden behind a smooth, fruity taste. That’s still the best Persian meal I’ve ever had, because Ahmad and his staff made me feel like I was enjoying a meal in their home. If I spent more time in Omaha, I would be a regular at Ahmad’s.
I haven’t tried Armenian. Afghan has been highly recommended; but the one chance I had to try it was in San Francisco. I didn’t know how to get there, and I did know how to get to Alborz.
I had Turkish in New York one time, and wasn’t really impressed. But since then, I’ve discovered Ayse’s Cafe in Ann Arbor, hidden on the back side of a nondescript strip mall. It’s extremely good Turkish food. And much like Ahmad, Ayse herself is always there, always checking up to make sure you’re enjoying her food. She never prints up menus. Each day, she decides what to make (I assume she plans in advance) and writes the choices on a whiteboard. She makes a variety, but you never know what the choices will be. All you know is they will be delicious!
Here I’m going to all this trouble to describe all this, when I really should be putting it up on FoodBuzz. That’s what the site is for, after all.
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