Restaurant Review - Villagio Cafe

We have visited Villagio Cafe--a cute little Persian restaurant on York Road just a few blocks over the County Line--many times, so I was surprised to realize that I hadn't yet written about it. Several posts on NextDoor recommended the restaurant, and while that forum is generally a site that causes one to lose all faith in humanity, this was the rare piece of good advice. 

Villagio Cafe has a lot going for it: the food is excellent, the service is very good, and the prices are shockingly inexpensive. Plus, it's within walking distance from our house. 

chicken and beef koobideh kebabs with shirazi salad (front) lamb koobideh with rice (back)

There are plenty of kebabs on the menu: chicken, beef, and lamb shish kebabs which include peppers and onions; chicken and beef kebabs without the veg; and koobideh kebabs which are made with ground chicken, lamb, or beef mixed with onions and seasonings (similar to kofta, lule, and seekh kebabs). I can't stop eating the juicy and flavorful koobideh, so it's rare that I stray to the other types. Though I will say, there is so much onion in the koobideh, if I get carryout or bring home leftovers, I have to be prepared for not only my refrigerator to reek, but also the whole house when I warm them up. (Worth it. That's what scented candles are for.) The kebabs all come with insanely buttery basmati rice, lovely warm pita, and grilled tomato. Sometimes, however, I don't want the rice and exchange it for a side of shirazi salad, a simple combination of diced cucumber, tomato, onion, and parsley, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. Villagio Cafe has six other rice dishes on their menu which can be substituted for the plain basmati for an upcharge; all are uniformly delicious.

tah dig topped with chicken fesenjan

As much as I enjoy the koobideh, I most often order their tah dig, or crispy rice, topped with a stew of chicken with walnuts and pomegranate known as fesenjan. (There is a possibly inauthentic but still tasty fesenjan recipe here on the blog.) It's not the most beautiful thing in the place, but I can't get enough of the buttery, salty, crispy goodness of the rice and the tangy richness of the stew. 

lamb shank with baghala polo

I also recommend their lamb shanks, which are stewed to extreme tenderness and accompanied by baghala polo, or rice with dill and fava beans. Honestly, there's nothing I've tried that I wouldn't order again, though I think that serving dolmas piping hot are a little weird. 

And now I have a craving for lamb koobideh, so if you'll excuse me....

Villagio Cafe

6805 York Rd, 

Baltimore, MD 21212
https://villagiocafe.com/

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Souvlaki Authentic Greek Cuisine

I'm always happy to explore food options in Hampden, so when we were invited to a tasting at Souvlaki, we jumped on it.

I had passed by the place a few times and even wrote a few sentences about it in an article for the City Walker App blog, but had never eaten there. (It's very easy to get stuck going to the same three favorite place over and over.) I knew Souvlaki was of the fast-casual, counter-service, genre, and that I could pick a protein, side, and sauce to make up a platter. That seemed the best option for a tasting, actually, so that's what both Mr Minx and I did.

But first, we started with the zucchini balls. Kolokythokeftedes. Say that five times fast. (Say that one time slowly and I'll be impressed.) Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, they were lovely whether or not they got a dunk in the accompanying tzatziki.

Next time, I want to try the slightly easier to pronounce pantzarokeftedes, or beet balls.

For my entree, I had the stuffed bifteki (spiced beef patties stuffed with kaseri cheese) with a yee salad (arugula, tomatoes, ntakos crumb, manoyri cheese, balsamic cream, evoo) and melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant). The beef was tender and super-flavorful, nicely seasoned, with just enough cheesy ooze. It was great wrapped in the pita and topped with some of the eggplant and a bit of the tzatziki left over from the zucchini balls. The salad was pretty good, though was slightly overdressed.

Mr Minx had the lamb souvlaki with Mediterranean fries (topped with pecorino and oregano) and more tzatziki. I loved the the touch of the grilled lemons. And the fries were fabulous. I'm not a big potato fan, and I am very picky when it comes to fries. These were crispy and golden and just lovely, and they came in a portion more than large enough to share.

I'm looking forward to going back. I want to try the shrimp souvlaki with feta cheese sauce and more of those fries. And the beet balls. I should probably try the spinach and feta pies, too, for research sake....

Souvlaki Greek Cuisine
1103 W 36th St
Baltimore, MD 21211
https://yoursouvlaki.com/

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Maiwand Grill

Maiwand Grill, which bills itself as a restaurant serving authentic Afghan cuisine, opened on West Baltimore Street in 2015. It's just down the street from work, so I've popped in a couple of times to try various menu items.

The first time, I decided to sample three of the appetizers. The kaddo borawni, or sweet baby pumpkin topped with a garlicky yogurt sauce (with or without ground beef sauce) seemed sweeter than the same dish served at the Helmand (the restaurant that introduced the cuisine of Afghanistan to Baltimore), but it was tasty nonetheless. I also tried the aushak, ravioli filled with scallions, topped with more of that garlicky yogurt sauce, plus ground beef and mint. It was a little sloppy to eat out of a pound-sized plastic tub but it was also pretty good. Finally, the eggplant with tomatoes and peppers (and more garlic yogurt sauce) had too many green peppers for my taste (but that is my particular prejudice). All three apps felt slightly oily, which may not be the case if they are served on a plate.

Left: kaddo borawni. Top: eggplant. Bottom: aushak with meat.

And perhaps it was a bit of yogurt sauce overload for one meal (however, I ended up eating the leftovers for two additional days), but all three dishes worked nicely with the supplied flatbreads, which mopped up all of the sauce and juices quite nicely.

The next time I went, I tried one of the kabob dishes. Maiwand Grill has a couple styles of chicken kabobs, like the tikka kabobs (marinated with tandoori flavoring) and the malai kabobs (with a sour cream butter sauce--the one I tried), plus lamb, beef, kofta, and salmon kabobs. All come with salad, cilantro yogurt sauce, a naan-style bread, and a pile of cinnamon- and cardamom-scented rice. The chunks of white meat chicken in my dish were tender and moist, and everything else was well-seasoned.

Chicken malai kabob.

It was also a large portion, so I was able to enjoy it for two lunches. Not bad for $10.

Maiwand Grill's entree selection also includes lamb chops, shrimp, and a beef or chicken burger seasoned with Afghan spices. Baklava, rice pudding, and Afghan ice cream serve as desserts.

I would imagine they get the most business at lunchtime from the University and hospital down the street, but Maiwand Grill is a place to consider for lunch or dinner before or after an Orioles game--Camden Yards is just a few blocks away.

Maiwand Grill
324 W Baltimore St
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 685-0208

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Orchard Market & Cafe

We've been to Orchard Market & Cafe again recently for a signing of Baltimore Chef's Table so I thought I'd add to our original write-up from 2010.

Does anyone remember Orchard Market & Cafe, Baltimore's "premiere Persian restaurant?" I say "remember," even though the place is still around, because I seldom hear anything about it. Seriously, when was the last time you ate there? I think the one and only time we tried it - at the suggestion of my Mother - was in the early 1990s; the food was very good so I don't know why we never returned.

I thought it was high time for a revisit, especially since Mr Minx had never been.

Orchard Market is a bit difficult to find if one doesn't know where to look. It's down Orchard Tree Lane off Joppa Road, between Mo's Seafood and Gardiner's furniture, not far from Loch Raven Boulevard. Unassuming from the outside, the interior of the restaurant is quite pretty, decorated in soothing shades of cream and dark celadon, with tapestries and replicas of Persian art on the walls, and more art that appears to be for sale.

On our first visit, we tried the Mango Shrimp (Jumbo shrimp sauteed with onions and vegetables in a unique mango chutney and garlic sauce). I thought it would be overpoweringly sweet, but it was actually well-balanced. The shrimp was full of iodine flavor (something we very much enjoy, YMMV) and the sauce contained little bits of mango.

We also had the Sauteed Bulgarian Feta (Pungent Bulgarian Feta melted over farm tomatoes, onions, and black olives), which looked similar to the mango shrimp, except for the olives. But the sauce was tangy, not sweet, and while I'd have liked more feta, it was quite tasty. With a salad, this dish would make a fine lunch. My biggest criticism of these two dishes is that the pita had been toasted, making it somewhat difficult with which to scoop the sauce.

On our second trip, we tried the eggplant and artichoke appetizer. I must admit, when owner Jason Bulkeley emailed me the recipe, I was a bit skeptical. One of the ingredients is honey dijon mustard, which didn't seem particularly Persian to me. But it's delicious! One doesn't notice the mustard at all; what comes through, however, is the lovely tangy-sweet flavor of pomegranate molasses. This is a dish I'm certainly going to cook at home now. Oh, and this time the pita wasn't toasted, which made things much easier.

On our first trip, I had the Seafood Advieh, mahi, shrimp, and scallops in a mango and honey advieh sauce. The sauce had an interesting sweet-sour flavor punctuated by cinnamon and rose, but wasn't entirely to my taste.

Mr Minx had Duck Fesenjune (orange-poached leg and breast of duck with the classic Persian walnut-pomegranate sauce). I'd had this dish on my first visit in the 90s and remembered it as being quite delicious, but this one was sadly overpowered by the large quantity of grated orange peel atop the otherwise nicely tender duck.

The second time around, we were much more successful with our entrees. Mr Minx had the kubideh, a ground beef kabob. It was moist and juicy and nicely seasoned.

My bademjune was a stew of fork-tender lamb chunks with eggplant in a tangy tomato sauce punctuated with intensely sour pickled grapes. Can't beat the combo of lamb and eggplant!

Orchard Market & Cafe has been around for over 25 years now, and while the shopping center around it is mostly empty, the restaurant is still going strong. Not only do they specialize in fusion Persian food, but they have some pretty terrific live music during the week, including singer-songwriters and  lively Gypsy Jazz. If you've never been there, do give the place a try.