Rose Restaurant

Shamshiry has previously been our go-to restaurant for Persian cuisine, but Tyler Cowen's recent review of Rose Restaurant in Vienna inspired us to try out the new(ish) Persian spot in Vienna.

We'll have to make a couple more visits, but we might have found a replacement for Shamshiry.   Here's M's disembodied head floating towards the entrance:

I took these photos with E's new iPhone.  Be warned that my sense of composition leaves something to be desired.  The bread that came out was hot and pillowy, and was accompanied by yogurt sauce and spicy green sauce.

E and M both ordered the chicken kabob, and both thought it was excellent.  The chicken breast is moist and tender, and the entire kebob tastes as if it's been slathered in a buttery sauce (likely because the kebob has been slathered in a buttery sauce).  In our experience, Shamshiry's chicken tends to be cooked to a significantly higher temperature, and it isn't so saucy and flavorful.

In a slight bummer, Rose doesn't seem to feature all of the different rices that Shamshiry does.  However, when a table near us ordered zereshk polo (sweet and sour rice studded with dried berries), the waiter informed the table that they didn't have the rice that day.  Aha - a secret menu!  (or just my inability to fully read a menu)  I'll have to try to order it next time.

Also - the garden salad at the bottom was simple and good.  It's early September, and the tomatoes really should be excellent, right?  These were.  A garlicky dressing was served to the side.  It was worth having again.

I ordered the salmon, which was accompanied by rice infused with dill and studded with fava beans.  I stirred some of the yogurt sauce into the rice.

That picture turned out poorly.  The rice is seasoned superbly - dill and fava beans are perfect foils for the salmon.  No crisp tah dig though, and according to this Chowhound thread, it's not available even if you want it. 

Like the chicken, the salmon was cooked to a much lower temp than at Shamshiry.  I've never had a piece of salmon cooked anything but well done at Shamshiry.  Without my specifying the cooking temperature, the fish came out what most restaurants would call medium-rare.  I enjoyed the salmon but found it underseasoned.  A a healthy squeeze of lemon and schmear of the yogurt sauce woke up the flavors of the fish.

 

Our bill for 3 salads and 3 dinners came to $57 (sans tip).  This restaurant is a great new addition to the Vienna restaurant scene.

Rose Restaurant
126 W. Maple Ave
Vienna, VA  22180
(703) 255-2557