Saturday, July 12, 2008

Maza Restaurant- 558 State St


My first big foray into State Street is a quiet, Afghani/Persian food restaurant. Serves lunch and dinner, with vegetarian, chicken, beef, lamb and seafood making up the focus areas.




Rating:
*****(Solid, if lacking pizazz)

Food: Persian-type cuisine always excites you right away with amazing smells that tantalize up until the moment they hit your mouth, then seem to mostly fall flat, rattling around in the mix of taste buds, saliva, and nose nerves that decides what tastes good to me. The food at Maza started out very strong. An appetizer sampler came out featuring hummus, a yogurt sauce, and cilantro chutney, pakowra (which is a mix of lightly fried vegetables) and bulani (a fried potato and leak dumpling). No complaints here. All three sauces were wonderful: The hummus was strong (full-bodied, if you will) and had the perfect amount of seasoning, while the cilantro chutney and yogurt sauce combined for a nice mix of spicy and mild. Both fried items were not overdone, but highlighted their respective ingredients, and the nahn served with it all was warm and tasted freshly made. Those were the definite high notes. Dinner started with a pleasing salad with a mild dressing of Persian spices (soup was also an option). For the main course, I chose Lamb Kabuli Palow- with chunks of roasted lamb, basmati rice and carrots, raisins and almonds. I have no doubt it was well prepared. The lamb was well cooked, and tender, the rice was aromatic, and the added ingredients had a nice coating of sweet spices, featuring coriander. However, the end result is.. kinda boring. Like many other middle-eastern restaurants, the final course seems too dry, lacking in a big finish. While sampling friends dishes, the reviews are the same: interesting flavors, but something is missing for a western audience.
(Side note: sharing my leftovers with Jen the next day, they were better than the night before. The flavor of the lamb seemed to soak into the rice more, and vice versa.

Service: We arrived at the end of the dinner hour, to a mostly empty restaurant, and a sleepy-looking waitress. Not a lot of attentiveness, but we most definitely not pressured to hustle out so they could close up.

Atmosphere: There are chairs and tables lining each wall of this long rectangular dining area, which goes perpendicular to the street. Lighting is soft and low, and it is definitely not noisy. I would call it medium romantic.

Cost: $$ 1/2. No entrees under $8, but all come with soup or salad and nahn.

Website: None

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