Orchard Market & Cafe

About

Baltimore's Premier Persian Restaurant
Celebrating 25 Years in Business

Story

Dinner Menu: http://www.orchardmarketandcafe.com/dinner.html
Lunch Menu: http://www.orchardmarketandcafe.com/lunch.html
Light Lunch Carryout Menu: http://www.orchardmarketandcafe.com/carryout.html

Michael Mir opened the Orchard Market & Cafe in June, 1988 at the Orchard Shopping Plaza in Towson as a Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern theme gourmet food market and coffee shop offering Rueben sandwiches and other light, exotic fare from around the world. Mir's expertise as a chef and manager at five star hotels in Washington, D.C., and his degree in architecture led him to explore the concept of designing his own restaurant and creating his own unique dishes.

Although Mir was born in Iran, the idea of turning his coffee shop cum bistro into a full-fledged restaurant serving classic and experimental Persian cuisine did not occur to him until he hired Mrs. Nahid Vaezpour in 1990. Vaezpour, a widowed mother of 18, had just immigrated to the U.S. from war-torn Iran and was looking for a job as a chef when she applied at the Orchard Market. It was an easy transition, and she felt right at home, since cooking three meals or more per day for all her children had been the equivalent of running a small restaurant. As it turned out, the maximum capacity at the Orchard Market has and continues to be, strangely enough, 18 tables.

Mir left in 1997, and former head waiter Jason Bulkeley and his beautiful Persian wife Sharareh took over. Today, Vaezpour continues to be the chef, and sometimes mother, to her customers, who always appreciate the warmth and family spirit and the delicate scent of spices that linger in the dining room. Museum-quality bas reliefs, tasteful local art and Persian carpets adorn the walls and ceiling; gleaming brass samovars, tiles and a water fall running down a window with a likeness of a Persian dignitary etched in the glass create a soothing atmosphere for dining.

The food is consistently delicious. The most traditional dish is Chicken Fesenjune, a Khoresh or stewed dish with poached chicken breast immersed in a sweet and tart sauce of finely ground walnuts, tomato paste, and pomegranate molasses with cinnamon and other spices. The dish dates back hundreds of years before Islamic times. Pomegranates are a staple in Iran. Persian poets like Hafez spoke of a woman's lips as red and sweet as a pomegranate, and walnuts and pistachios are often used with meat dishes. Shirin Polo is picture-pretty: saffron-poached chicken with jeweled rice with slivered carrots, apricots, orange peel, raisins and Zereshk berries, which are similar to barberries. This dish is often served at weddings.

Kebobs, particularly the Lamb Kebob, are Persian staples, all served with fluffy basmati rice garnished with saffron. And then there are “Nouveau” Persian dishes like Spicy Kermani Beef—filet mignon cubes sauteed in olive oil with vegetables, including mushrooms, and simmered in the house's aromatic tomato-based lamb stock sauce with garlic, cumin, and Persian curry. The Persian Paella crosses cultures, offering shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, fish, calamari and chicken in a mound of basmati rice seasoned with garlic, Persian curry, Persian sabzi, and saffron.

Beware of the puns, though. The owner will come out and warn you about “Persian Portions for Persian Persons.” When customers ask if Sumac is poison, he'll say, why, no it's “Persian,” and then ask you if you're from New Jersey. So remember, Sumac is a tart spice made from the sun-dried flakes of a crushed sumac berry, and you'll be OK.

The reception room is full of rave reviews from Baltimore Magazine, the Towson Times, Sun Paper, even Conde Naste Traveler, as well as award plaques from the Zagat guide. The 2005 Zagat Guide lists Orchard Market as “Extraordinary”—the highest rating possible, as if the next category down, “Excellent,” couldn't be topped.

The owners themselves wait on you hand and foot, and you can bring your own fine wine or liquor.

There is ample parking in the huge free parking lot outside. There is a newspaper article framed in the foyer. It sums up Orchard Market perfectly. It reads: “Hard to Find and Hard to Beat.” Don't worry: it still is.