Rain and Sprigs

I took a client to lunch at Rumi's Kitchen on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs last week. It was pretty nice. The valet happily took my car in the rain and ushered me into a cozy little restaurant. I ordered hot tea, and though I was surprised that a Persian restaurant would only have earl grey to offer, I was delighted with the saffron sugar cubes that came with it.

The best part of the meal was the rather large amuse bouche: a plate of fresh sprigs of tarragon and basil, olives, walnuts, radish and cheese. Everything was almost cartoonish in flavor in this raw state. Bright! Bright! Bright! the fresh herbs were, especially in contrast to my sleepy tea and the fall rain.

An appetizer of Dolmeh (pictured)- freshly mixed ground beef, rice, and mild herbs hand wrapped in grape vine leaves and simmered in a zesty sweet and sour pomegranate sauce, was very rich and succulent. Different in texture, temperature and flavor from the mostly greek dolmeh I have eaten.

My client had the Bodenjoon - pan fried eggplant slow cooked on a special tomato based veal stew, served with a side of saffron Basmati rice and seemed to enjoy it. I had slow cooked lamb shank served with saffron Basmati rice mixed with dill weed and fava beans which was very good, but a little mild in seasoning for me, and I prefer my fava beans more alive then dead...they were a little gray and mushy for me. I really liked the rice, it had never occurred to me to mix dill with basmati.

The leftovers were of grand proportion, I had 1.5 shanks to take home to a happy boy. The meal, like Indian food, tasted even better the next day. I wonder how they can afford to be so generous in portion and amuse bouche at their prices which were surprisingly low. The service was excellent, if a tad bit overeager, but mostly the staff seemed like they were perhaps family members, or at least very much invested in their business.

I enjoyed myself. And obviously so do others. While I waited for the valet to bring me my explorer whose doors don't open and side mirror is glued on, a series of Mercedes parked in front shone harshly in my eye...I think Rumi's will do just fine here.