Shalezeh - Star Loss

After I set out to conquer the Michelin List, I was on the fence about what to do when the new 2012 list was released when I was halfway through finishing the mission. After much deliberation, I decided that the best course of action would be to complete all the places on the 2011 list, and when finished with those, go to the new restaurants on the 2012 list. Shalezeh was the only one that was completely removed from the list in 2012. Shalezeh’s removal from the list and the fact that it has always seemed to me to be just a random restaurant in my neighborhood, had me showing up there for dinner with low expectations. Overall, I was content with my experience there…the food was good and the service was fine. However, I totally agree with the removal of Shalezeh from the list, as there was nothing in my experience dining there that would merit a Michelin star.

Shalezeh is a Persian restaurant on the Upper East thats owned by a former captain of Café Boulud. I went to Shalezeh with my sister on a random weeknight. We were seated immediately without any reservations. The service was fine, but there was nothing that made it special or remarkable. The wine and cocktail lists similarly get the job done with nothing above and beyond.

After we ordered, a plate of warm pita with hummus arrived. Such an exciting thing to get for free! Sadly, when I dipped some pita in and took a bite, I was disappointed to find that the pita was stale and the hummus flavorless.

For an appetizer, we had the baba, which is baked eggplant puree with goat cheese, walnut, and onion. There was a lovely mint flavor to this warm eggplant appetizer and I really loved it. It was a really wonderful recovery from the mediocre hummus and pita plate.

I had done a lot of research on what one should order here. Everywhere I read, it said that the thing to have was the koofteh tabrizi. The koofteh is a huge Persian meatball that is stuffed with prunes, potato, and fava beans covered in a curried tomato sauce with peas. This was fabulous. The meat itself wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but the sauce was outrageously good. I wish I had had something more worthy to dip in this sauce. We figured we would also get a chicken kebab to try something standard. We ordered the ground chicken kebab which was served with a choice of rice. This was also good but nothing compared to the meatball.

I will say that the food was served very quickly, in a non-leisurely you are just there to have a fast meal way. Overall, I thought that it was a perfectly fine meal at a good neighborhood spot that since I live near I’d maybe go to again. But again, I think it is right that it lost its Michelin star this year.