Shundeez

The special Persian noodle soup (ash reshteh) is exotic comfort in a bowl. The broth, enriched with bouillon made from dried yogurt, is greened with herbs, and contrasts the textures of myriad beans and tender Persian noodles.

Shundeez isn't perfect yet. I'd wish for softer (perhaps housebaked?) pitas, rather than the quickly stale store-bought ones, to scoop up the luxurious kashk bademjon eggplant puree. I'd jettison the dull brought-in American desserts (apple pie? carrot cake?) in favor of more Persian confections, like the rich homemade saffron ice cream splashed with rose water and pistachios.

The kitchen should also be more careful with its expensive items, like the easily dried-out swordfish for $22. The stewed lamb shanks were superbly tender and their sauces intriguing - one a tomatoey eggplant puree, the other a bitter herbal brew, but for $23 I expected something more sophisticated than meat plopped in a bowl.

Many of these are home-foods still in mid-evolution to the restaurant dining room. But the most elusive part, the flavor, is already there.

And who knows, if things really pick up, Mahtab may even indulge in her whole repertoire of tadik variations, crisping the rice with spinach, romaine hearts, sweet potatoes or pita.

I can't wait to try it - if the kitchen doesn't get to it first.