There's already a crowd at Ali-Baba, proving the adage that if the food is good, people will hear about it and come, word of mouth being the best advertising there is. Its location in the corner of a nondescript strip mall on Nolensville Road doesn't exactly reach out and grab a person, though its big sign helps. (Ali Baba occupies the spot once inhabited by Thai Pattaya, if you're alert to such things.)
But the crowds are there because the food, called ``pure Iranian,'' by the owner, is excellent. The owner told us that he had not yet advertised, and may not need to. So far, the sole piece of marketing is a sign on a market several doors down that say `'Ali Baba restaurant, now open.'' Restaurant owners everywhere must be pea green with envy.
Ali Baba's decor is pleasant but not fancy. Walls are peach wainscotting and white above that, while tables are topped with peach cloths. Eastern music plays in the dining room, and though I'm not generally an Eastern music fan, the selections were serene, unusually melodic and beautiful (and also fairly Western).
The chef, brought in from California, has a gift for cookery and an obvious immersion in the Iranian food tradition. Everything, even little tidbits from the appetizer menu, is good, from the tangy tabouli (``But not briny,'' marveled one guest) to the falafel ($2.49 and $2.99, respectively). I've been badly disappointed in falafel all over town, much of it made from instant falafel mix lately. Ali Baba's happily reverses this trend by being heavily spiced, nicely textured, with plenty of parsley, and patted into thick patties before being fried to a dark crisp.
But an even better appetizer choice is the unpronounceable, virtually unspellable kashk-e-bademjan, a spiced puree of eggplant, topped with cream of whey and sauteed mint and garlic, says the menu ($2.95). As much exotic food as I've eaten, I couldn't have identified a single spice in the mixture. I can just tell you it's smooth and thick, rich and unspeakably delicious.
The soup-e-joe ($2.49) is an equally indescribable treat. This creamy barley soup has the tang of yogurt but the heft of cream, shreds of (perhaps) pumpkin or carrot, and a pastel golden orange color, plus more subtle spice flavors. With the complimentary salad, panir cheese and bread provided, this soup could be a light meal on its own.
Kebabs of marinated meats are masterfully spiced and expertly broiled. Usually when I eat kebabs, I think to myself ``This is what Middle Easterners get homesick for?'' Here, I was wonderfully, wildly surprised. Thick twists of chicken meat are deeply flavored of (again) something indescribable and broiled juicy and cooked just until done point. Even better, if that's possible, was the joojeh kebab, a cornish hen rubbed with spices (including a saffron that gives it a golden hue) then disjointed, skewered, and broiled until the skin is crunchy but the meat is still moist ($8.45).
Our kebab kubideh ($4.99 with bread, or get the kebab with rice for $5.99) is finely ground and spiced beef, patted into two long sausage-shaped kebabs and grilled. Subtly spiced and fine textured, the meat featured plenty of light onion flavor plus a little tang. This meal is an abundance of food, enough to share, or to take home for dinner.
The stews were especially good, a treat for the adventurous palate. Koresh-e-ghormed sabzi ($6.95) is a buttery stew of beef cubes, spinach, and black-eyed peas. A light perfume of cinnamon, maybe some cumin, drifts off the stew. It's enough for two small appetites. Koresht-e-Ghaymeh ($5.95 at lunch, $6.95 at dinner) is a lightly spiced stewed beef, whose subtle hints of spice dart in and out behind the flavor of the beef.
On your first visit, the plates of fluffy, long-grain rice will astonish you: a snow-white mound of rice is topped with a decorative strewing of brilliant golden saffron rice, for a dramatic and beautiful contrast. On the table, is a shaker of ground sumac, which gives a subtle tang and light perfume to rice and kebabs. We washed down dinner with homemade dough (pronounced ``doog,'' to the delight of my niece, who is nicknamed just that), a thin, sourish yogurt and mint drink that's profoundly unfamiliar, but refreshing ($1.49). We eventually warmed up to it and drank it all. Given our experience at Ali Baba, it shouldn't surprise you to know that our word ``gourmet'' comes from the Farsi word ``ghormeh,'' meaning stew, via the French Crusaders, who must have been as impressed as I was.
I expected Ali Baba's finely made, mysteriously spiced food to be more expensive. Maybe the reasonable prices are another reason for the crowds. Two big lunches and two desserts cost $21. Two appetizers, two big dinners, a side dish and two beverages cost $27.
location:
Ali-Baba
216 Thompson Lane, 333-3711
Nicki Pendleton's "Eat Beat" is a regular feature of the Nashville Banner's Friday Backbeat section. All reviews are based on two or more visits. The Banner pays for all meals. We welcome your comments.
Copyright 1997, Nashville Banner
