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New York: Persepolis

My NYU friends invited me to an evening discussion at Persepolis, a very nice Persian restaurant on the Upper East Side. As it happened, everyone ordered vegetarian, making for an interesting experiment. We started with two appetizers, each of which was served on a crispy rice cake similar to the rice cakes used in Vietnamese cooking. They were hearty and very nicely spiced.
A cooling yogurt sauce...
and a very enjoyable carbonated yogurt drink.
Next came the main courses. This looks like ribs but is a formed vegetarian dish.
I ordered a vegetarian version of a stew normally served with chicken. It was served with a combination of two rices: one plain, the other with sour cherries. The stew had a wonderful mixture of savory spices that stayed on my tongue in a very pleasant way.
We couldn't leave without sampling dessert. The top dessert is a yogurt parfait with fruit at the bottom. The bottom was some sort of dry jumble that was very delicate; I remember it as being like coconut but I am sure that it was something else.

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