05/22/2026
Ten years ago this week, The New York Times wrote about us.
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A sumac shaker on the table, between the salt and pepper. That was the detail that opened the review. “A Persian Renaissance at Shiraz Kitchen in Elmsford.” May 20, 2016. I was a year into running the place.
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A lot has happened since.
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My mother’s name is Iran, like the country. She cooks by instinct — never measures, never writes anything down. She can serve fifty guests without looking overwhelmed. To her, feeding people isn’t work. It’s love made visible. Shiraz Kitchen is built on that. Her Tehran recipes, the bright flavors of the Mediterranean coast, one table.
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In 2018 we added a wine bar to Elmsford. People thought it was crazy. A Persian restaurant with a wine bar in Westchester. It worked. Three Michelin Bib Gourmand awards followed — 2020, 2021, 2022. And it was full. Every night for years.
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I was supposed to open Chelsea in mid-March of 2020. The state shut everything down before we opened the doors. We finally opened that November, in a city that had gone quiet.
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September 2022 — a fire in the print shop next to our wine bar took the whole building down. I stood outside and watched it burn.
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In that moment I thought about my father. He lost everything, twice in his life. Whenever I came to him with my struggles, he would ask me one thing: “Did you wake up this morning? Then you’re lucky. So many people didn’t make it today.”
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Eight months later we reopened in White Plains. Same recipes. Same shaker on every table.
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Today, two locations. Both my mother’s food. Both still hers.
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Ten years. Thank you for sitting with us.
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ChelseaNYC Elmsford BibGourmand PersianRestaurant NewYorkTimes ChefOwner Westchester WineBar
