{Photograph} by Martha Williams
The restaurant area in One Buckhead Plaza, on the nook of Peachtree and West Paces Ferry Roads, has all the time been prime actual property. It has been every part from Nava below Kevin Rathbun to Ford Fry’s King + Duke. Now, it’s Delbar, below Fares Kargar’s hospitality firm Nooshe Jan Group. Nooshe Jan is a Farsi phrase which means “Could it feed your soul.” It isn’t only a title; it’s a promise.
Following the success of two different Delbar places in Inman Park and Alpharetta, Delbar lastly opened in Buckhead in November 2024. Anticipation was excessive after the restaurant’s different Buckhead area faltered attributable to lease negotiations. Kargar says he’s as much as the problem. “This venture has been a dream to work on,” he says. “This is without doubt one of the most well-known buildings in Atlanta—a jewel.”
Folks have a transparent imaginative and prescient after they’re engaged on their dream.
With every Delbar, Kargar needs to move you to the locations he liked rising up in Iran. Since Delbar Buckhead is a freestanding area, in contrast to the opposite Delbars, Kargar had extra management over creating the vibe. Incorporating components of Iranian design was a precedence. The restaurant employed Iranian designers and artisans to create the elegant heat of the area, which is split by carved screens and ample potted vegetation.
{Photograph} by Martha Williams
The bar’s pink Moroccan tiles—very of the second—glow like rose quartz. It’s the proper place to begin the evening with cocktails, which have enjoyable names, reminiscent of Saudi Cash and the smokey rum- and mezcal-based Magic Carpet infused with baharat, a spice mix that features coriander, cumin, and cinnamon. Even nonalcoholic drinks, just like the Sharbat e Khiyar—made with coconut, mint, and cucumber—are extremely balanced and by no means too candy.
The service can really feel like a hug from a distant relative—well-meaning however often awkward. The workers, although desperate to please, vary from servers with intimate data of the menu to those that stumble over dish pronunciations. Kargar acknowledges the problem. “Servers are laborious to seek out with regards to cuisines like ours,” he says. “It’s important to educate them an entire new language (Farsi), what polo (rice) means . . . That’s simply the beginning of the coaching.”
When the dishes arrive, they stun. Kargar is a storyteller who’s in love with Center Japanese meals, and he attracts influences from many locations. The meals at Delbar is primarily Persian, with Turkish, Lebanese, and Iraqi components. He additionally says it’s typically laborious to attribute precisely the place a dish is from since many cuisines have related meals. “You actually can’t inform the place every dish comes from as a result of it should begin a struggle within the Center East,” he says with fun. “All people invented falafel.”
{Photograph} by Martha Williams
{Photograph} by Martha Williams
Like many individuals, once I dine out, I need meals I can not replicate at residence. Consuming at Delbar is all the time such a deal with. You may simply feast on grilled lamb kabobs, the restaurant’s peerless tahdig (rice with a crispy prime), and labneh (strained yogurt) dip, however the menu urges you to dig deeper to find treasures. Take the seemingly easy meatball, the kofta Tabrizi. The grapefruit-sized floor lamb and beef meatball has a core studded with dried dates, pistachios, and pomegranate that spills out of its heart like strawberry doughnut filling when cut up open with a fork. It’s lined with lemon yogurt and pomegranate syrup. The pleasant interaction of the candy, savory, and tart substances showcases the depth and complexity of Persian delicacies. The dish is filled with character.
“I’m an enormous taste man,” says Kargar. “I like a punch of taste. If a dish doesn’t have a giant taste, it’s not my form of dish.” Even the salads handle to raise substances I’ve had many instances earlier than. One instance is a pink and inexperienced endive lettuce salad with orange and grapefruit segments and candied walnuts. A puckery dressing of preserved lemon French dressing and Aleppo pepper turns the mixture on its head.
Whenever you ask, Kargar supplies an origin story for every dish. Most are primarily based on nostalgia for one thing a relative cooked. The entire branzino filled with walnuts, pomegranate, and herbs stands out with such a narrative. It’s a dish his mom used to make him in Iran, however that is his model. “The branzino stuffing takes six hours to cook dinner,” Kargar says. “It’s a really time-consuming dish, and the whole cooking course of is borderline between burning the stuff and making it excellent.”
{Photograph} by Martha Williams
The stuffing fills the cut up fish, which is then grilled over the restaurant’s open hearth. I can’t say I’ve ever had higher branzino. The flavour mixture is so surprising, however harmonious. The tang of the pomegranate and the richness of the walnuts paired with the ethereal, flaky fish is a mix I’ve recalled many instances since that night.
Ordering grilled rooster looks as if a waste when extra interesting-sounding dishes like braised lamb neck are on the menu, however the honey harissa rooster is particular. The rooster thighs glazed with the candy warmth of the honey harissa glaze are reworked by the warmth of the fireplace as their edges crisp. The accompanying kohlrabi pear slaw and pickled onions counteract the spiciness and sweetness of the rooster with welcomed acidity. I stored returning for extra, although the wonderful lamb neck sat beside it.
Desserts are equally attention-grabbing and excessive, when you have any room left after the sesame-studded flatbread rounds (as large as pizzas) that stream endlessly out of the kitchen. The baklava ice cream sandwich is gorgeous, too, in its composition of flavors and presentation. Vanilla ice cream is sandwiched between layered phyllo pastry and lined with crushed rose petals, walnuts, and pistachios.
Total, Delbar Buckhead shines just like the shiny pomegranate seeds that crown lots of its dishes. The meals is great, and Kargar’s ardour is plain. If the restaurant addresses the service points, it has all of the substances to be the jewel that fulfills Kargar’s large desires and nourishes the soul.
This text seems in our April 2025 subject.
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