Diversions > Dining Out
Hot N Sour
Dining Review
Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:07 PM CST
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| Hot ‘n’ Sour (and Kabob Cafe) | 45 Forum Center | (Woods Mill and Olive Blvd.) | 439-5756 | Photo by Bryan Schraier |
An ‘Indo-Chinese’ restaurant for years, Hot ‘n’ Sour recently was taken over by a Persian family that has added a small but superb Persian menu.
You will still find an extensive selection of Chinese dishes, which has resulted in something of an identity crisis, confounding the diner’s penchant for simple categories. But the Persian food here (which is what we went for) is a treat in a city where Middle Eastern cuisine is woefully scarce. Additionally, the food is so fresh and homespun that it feels like you’re eating at someone’s dining room table.
From the small salad and appetizer list we chose kashko bademjon ($8), a delectable eggplant mash, and two distinctly Middle Eastern cold salads: masto-khiar ($3) and Persian chopped salad ($5). The eggplant, which had been cooked and mashed with oil and fragrant spices, was delicious, almost creamy with its dense, oil-infused pulp. It was served cold and topped with homemade yogurt and fresh mint. You can eat it with a fork or spread it on the accompanying pita bread, which was a little dry and the only thing with which we were unimpressed.
The two ‘salads’ were similarly refreshing and exotic. Unlike Western salads, these don’t have greens and dressing. The Persian salad is finely cubed tomatoes, cucumbers and onions tossed with lemon juice, a little oil and lots of cilantro. The masto-khiar is a bowlful of homemade yogurt dotted with diced cucumbers and mint. Each salad was a treat, with a focus on good fresh, wholesome ingredients, period.
The entree selection emphasizes kabobs, chicken, beef (which is ground beef) or ‘shish’ (which is sliced beef). We started with the King Kabob Plate ($17), which came with one of each kabob variety and a large platter of basmati rice. It was a meat-lover’s paradise. Each kabob was plentiful and different from the others, so that you had three mini dinners, each delicious.
The beef was a long tube of ground meat that had been grilled on a skewer. It was lightly seasoned with salt, pepper and Middle Eastern flavors and came moist and very flavorful, thanks in part to its generous fat content: 26 percent! The chicken, also tasty, came as large chunks of white meat served with the classic orange-red exterior indicative of the tandoor oven. The meat was moist, not always an easy feat with grilled white meat, and flavorful.
My favorite, however, was the shish kabob, served not as cubes but as rectangular slices of steak, pounded to tenderize, lightly seasoned and with enough fat to make them juicy and delicious. The accompanying rice was also noteworthy in that it was a very long-grain basmati and the top pieces were tinged with a beautiful bright yellow, probably from turmeric.
The lamb shank ($14) was another treat. Served on the bone, the dark, flavorful meat was fork-tender and cooked in its own juices. It was a very generous serving and came with a platter of basmati rice. An order of ghormeh sabzi, the most interesting dish of the evening, introduced us to a Persian stew of soft-cooked beef, red beans and chopped greens (collard and chard) served over basmati rice. It had the slightly bitter taste of cooked greens and a beefy, rich flavor that were delicious together.
An order of biryani, typically an East Indian dish, yielded rice tossed with vegetables and spices. We asked for it to be served with shrimp ($16), and the results were wonderful: a plateful of long-grain basmati rice generously laced with cayenne and faintly tasting of Middle Eastern spices (cumin, coriander?). The shrimp were noteworthy in their own right, with a light crust that tasted as if they had been floured and flash pan-fried.
Desserts, not made in-house, were cheesecake and baklava. We tasted the latter, but it barely resembled the honey-laced confection it should have been. Don’t bother.
Despite its misleading name, Hot ‘n’ Sour is a delectable find for authentic Persian food. Although its signage promises Chinese, Indian, Persian and Mediterranean delights (!), I hope St. Louis diners stop in to experience home-cooked Persian food that is fresh, delicious, and clearly prepared with pride. As the owner told us, the Persian dishes are 100 percent guaranteed. You won’t get that promise at many other places!
You will still find an extensive selection of Chinese dishes, which has resulted in something of an identity crisis, confounding the diner’s penchant for simple categories. But the Persian food here (which is what we went for) is a treat in a city where Middle Eastern cuisine is woefully scarce. Additionally, the food is so fresh and homespun that it feels like you’re eating at someone’s dining room table.
From the small salad and appetizer list we chose kashko bademjon ($8), a delectable eggplant mash, and two distinctly Middle Eastern cold salads: masto-khiar ($3) and Persian chopped salad ($5). The eggplant, which had been cooked and mashed with oil and fragrant spices, was delicious, almost creamy with its dense, oil-infused pulp. It was served cold and topped with homemade yogurt and fresh mint. You can eat it with a fork or spread it on the accompanying pita bread, which was a little dry and the only thing with which we were unimpressed.
The two ‘salads’ were similarly refreshing and exotic. Unlike Western salads, these don’t have greens and dressing. The Persian salad is finely cubed tomatoes, cucumbers and onions tossed with lemon juice, a little oil and lots of cilantro. The masto-khiar is a bowlful of homemade yogurt dotted with diced cucumbers and mint. Each salad was a treat, with a focus on good fresh, wholesome ingredients, period.
The entree selection emphasizes kabobs, chicken, beef (which is ground beef) or ‘shish’ (which is sliced beef). We started with the King Kabob Plate ($17), which came with one of each kabob variety and a large platter of basmati rice. It was a meat-lover’s paradise. Each kabob was plentiful and different from the others, so that you had three mini dinners, each delicious.
The beef was a long tube of ground meat that had been grilled on a skewer. It was lightly seasoned with salt, pepper and Middle Eastern flavors and came moist and very flavorful, thanks in part to its generous fat content: 26 percent! The chicken, also tasty, came as large chunks of white meat served with the classic orange-red exterior indicative of the tandoor oven. The meat was moist, not always an easy feat with grilled white meat, and flavorful.
My favorite, however, was the shish kabob, served not as cubes but as rectangular slices of steak, pounded to tenderize, lightly seasoned and with enough fat to make them juicy and delicious. The accompanying rice was also noteworthy in that it was a very long-grain basmati and the top pieces were tinged with a beautiful bright yellow, probably from turmeric.
The lamb shank ($14) was another treat. Served on the bone, the dark, flavorful meat was fork-tender and cooked in its own juices. It was a very generous serving and came with a platter of basmati rice. An order of ghormeh sabzi, the most interesting dish of the evening, introduced us to a Persian stew of soft-cooked beef, red beans and chopped greens (collard and chard) served over basmati rice. It had the slightly bitter taste of cooked greens and a beefy, rich flavor that were delicious together.
An order of biryani, typically an East Indian dish, yielded rice tossed with vegetables and spices. We asked for it to be served with shrimp ($16), and the results were wonderful: a plateful of long-grain basmati rice generously laced with cayenne and faintly tasting of Middle Eastern spices (cumin, coriander?). The shrimp were noteworthy in their own right, with a light crust that tasted as if they had been floured and flash pan-fried.
Desserts, not made in-house, were cheesecake and baklava. We tasted the latter, but it barely resembled the honey-laced confection it should have been. Don’t bother.
Despite its misleading name, Hot ‘n’ Sour is a delectable find for authentic Persian food. Although its signage promises Chinese, Indian, Persian and Mediterranean delights (!), I hope St. Louis diners stop in to experience home-cooked Persian food that is fresh, delicious, and clearly prepared with pride. As the owner told us, the Persian dishes are 100 percent guaranteed. You won’t get that promise at many other places!
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