Barbari

“I don’t believe in food having a nationality,” reads a note from Al Banifazl, the owner of this organic-leaning café, printed on the back of the menu. As such, the menu jumps from Neapolitan-style pizzas to Caesar salad to “Salad Olivia” made with hormone-free chicken breast. The common thread throughout many of the items is a Persian influence, which carries through in a sweet-tart pomegranate-beet soup served with housemade barbari, a traditional Iranian bread topped with black sesame seeds, and a standout sandwich of tender meatballs coated in a surprisingly not-cloying pomegranate-walnut glaze.