Persian restaurant FandoQ opens in Westbury
The mixed grill with a lamb koobideh, barg steak and jeje chicken kebab at FandoQ in Westbury. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
There's so much meat on that platter that FandoQ's server suggests switching to a bigger table. Skewers of juicy steak, plump chicken thighs and minced lamb are surrounded by a circle of basmati rice and country potatoes, a bowl of tangy yogurt dotted with fresh dill, soft red onions and whole stewed tomatoes graced with a blistered black shell.
The mixed grill ($60) is just a snapshot of the deliciousness at Westbury's new Persian restaurant, FandoQ, in the former home of Azerbaijan Grill. New owner Nouna Jalilzadeh and her husband, Sam, updated the look and feel of the strip mall space, adding a garden motif to the dining room and creating a minimalist chic menu of Persian classics.
The name FandoQ means hazelnut in the Iranian language of Farsi. When the two met 12 years ago while Sam was cooking in Dubai, that was the first thing he noticed about her. "She's mad about hazelnuts," he said.
An ancient Silk Road trading hub, his native Iran has one of the brightest and most varied cuisines in the Middle East. And FandoQ celebrates the eclectic flavor palette by pairing its kebabs with a fierce array of vegetables and dips. From the appetizer menu, a bowl of turshi ($10) jump-starts taste buds with a snap of pickled yellow peppers, carrots and cauliflower. To follow up, order a lesser known eggplant spread, mirza ghasemi ($12) which hails from the Caspian sea region in the north. In the low lighting, the circular mound of mashed and roasted vegetables looks quite like a raw beef tartare. But it's actually formed from smoked eggplants and tomatoes that have been mixed with lightly cooked egg and pressed into a mold, similar in texture to the French classic, but mellower and more approachable. “It’s really simple but deeply rooted in the farming culture," Sam Jalilzadeh said.
FandoQ is set apart from other Persian restaurants in that it has a substantial seafood menu with salmon and shrimp shish kebabs, fillet of white fish, butterflied rainbow trout and a whole branzino thrown on the grill.
But it's difficult to resist the call of the Persian meat platter, especially one of this quality, cooked over open fire in the traditional manner. The beauty comes in mixing and matching: A savory bite of chicken thigh with a hit of yogurt or a slap of onion; ground lamb adana kebab on hot pita bread; a sneaky slice of steak barg by itself, snapped up real quick while moving other things around the table.
FandoQ is at 1610 Old Country Road, Westbury. Open 3-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 1-10 p.m. Friday through Sunday. 516-279-4551, fandoqny.com.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
