Lala Rokh This!

Ok, if you're familiar with the Boston area at all, then you what restaurant I'm talking about. If not, I'm talking about Lala Rohk of the Beacon Hill area. Went on the perfect night, a fantabulous snow-day (you can see the spectacular Deb Extraordinaire in the background). The restaurant is billed as Persian, though I'm not too familiar with the cuisine. If you walk up the hill from Charles St. on Mt. Vernon St., you'll find their humble abode.

The meal started off great with a great greeting despite the weather. After hearing about a hilarious story about a school bus (empty) crashing into some scaffolding and how the staff rescued the driver's behind, we were seated. The table? Low-key. The space? Quaint, quiet, comfy. After perusing the menu, we found a scrumptious delight to start with: a fantastic mokhalafat. Deb found this as our server walked away, probably a last ditch effort to get some sustenance after braving blocks of snow and cold.

After we found a nice merlot from the fantastic Columbia Valley wine country, we got a nice, albeit long, explanation of how the menu is laid out. Cold and hot apps, pickled fare, entrees, kabobs, etc. It was a bit overwhelming, but we found what we were looking for. I got to have a great little dish composed of a lamb shank some rice flavored with dill and fava. The rice truly complimented the dish, rounding out the sharp tomato-base of the lamb's sauce, with the bite of the dill and browned butter. Do say the dishes were quality would not do them justice. All I'll say is the four of us, whom usually are all about trying new things, did not share a SINGLE bite of their respective dishes. J-Had and Dawn split their meal without a word. The Deb simply devoured her concoction of beef, potatoes and rice. Silence...

Now the piece de resistance to the meal had to be dessert. We ordered some custard... we ordered something sweet... but behold! We grabbed an order of their saffron ice cream, sprinkled with pistachio, permeated with some frozen cream. The ice cream completed a fantastic meal. Nice conversations... Do you like nice conversations?

Just for the desserts alone, I'd make a go at Lala Rokh again...

*photos courtesy of Jerrick Haddad