Nowruz 2022: Vancouver's Delara restaurant celebrates Persian New Year with flavours of saffron, pomegranate, sumac, and more
Chef Bardia Ilbeiggi’s menu reflects his Iranian roots on the March 20 holiday and every day
Delara’s Bardia Ilbeiggi. Photo by Sophia Hsin (@sophiahsinstudio)
AFTER BARDIA ILBEIGGI moved to Canada from his native Tehran, he pursued a career in aerospace engineering, working for a time at IBM. “But there was something missing in my heart,” the Vancouver-based chef tells Stir by phone. Around 2005, he began cooking more and blogging all about his culinary adventures, becoming more and more enamoured with working with his hands, following recipes and coming up with his own. He told his soon-to-be-wife, who also has a master’s degree in engineering, that he wanted to turn his hobby into a career. So the two both quit their jobs and headed to Paris, where he studied at Ecole Gregoire-Ferrandi, an internationally recognized school of culinary arts.
Gaining experience at Frenchie in Paris, the now-defunct Relae in Copenhagen, and in Vancouver at respected restaurants L’Abattoir and Farmer’s Apprentice, Ilbeiggi dreamed of one day having his own place. He has realized that vision with Delara (2272 West 4th Avenue), his recently launched Kitstilano restaurant serving food inspired by his heritage.
In the dreaming phase of his restaurant, Ilbeiggi contemplated doing French or Pacific Northwest cuisine. Then he and his wife travelled to Iran about six years ago. “It sparked something in me,” Ilbeiggi says. “I wanted to try to bring my own style of my food, my cooking, by going back to my roots see if that could translate into something interesting.”
Delara. Photo by Mahbod.b
The food on Delara’s menu isn’t exactly like that he grew up with but rather drawn from it. He lived in Tehran but travelled frequently throughout the country for vacations with his family, especially to the north, where his grandfather lived. He recalls his family grilling kebabs in their backyard, their tiny barbecue proving too small for so many neighbours, so they used a wheelbarrow loaded with charcoal. At Delara, Ilbeiggi throws fresh rosemary sprigs on the grill so that when people walk in, they are greeted with the kind of scents that take him back to his childhood.
“I wasn’t going to copy and paste recipes; my food is a little more personal,” Ilbeiggi says. While he uses certain techniques learned in French kitchens in some of his dishes, there are pillars to his menu that are rooted in tradition: the use of rice, saffron, and yogurt, for one. Flavours of turmeric, dried lime, molasses, pomegranate, barberries, fresh herbs, rose, and sumac. And rice and bread. He’s especially proud of his grilled sourdough flatbread that has a smidge of caraway seed; fresh, tangy, and flavourful. He prioritizes seasonal ingredients from local producers and rounds out the menu with wine pairings and cocktails like a Saffron Negroni and Pomegranate Margarita.
“I want going to a restaurant to be special,” he says. “Going to a restaurant is nourishment; obviously you come and eat and it feeds your body and your soul, but at the same time it’s entertainment, when you have the music, the ambiance, and the thoughtfulness that goes into it. You need to be creative about what you put on the plate. This is my canvas.”
Delara. Photo by Malcolm Lam
Delara takes its name from a Farsi term meaning “she who brings beauty to hearts.”
“The name translates into the food and the vibe,” Ilbeiggi says. “I really try to focus on kindness and generosity and love in the kitchen. My mom comes and works with us every day, too. I’m trying to create a different environment in the kitchen; it’s still professional, things being done consistently well, but in a softer environment. That’s important for me, because kitchens are notoriously very harsh and intense. There’s still intensity when 80 people are here and want to eat; you have to work fast and efficiently. But for whoever starts working here, I always say kindness is the main philosophy. Be kind to yourself and others.”
Delara.
These days, Ilbeiggi is getting ready for Nowruz, also known as Iranian or Persian New Year. Meaning “new day”, Nowruz 2022 takes place at 8:32 am on March 20, the first day of spring. A celebration of nature, renewal, and new beginnings, the holiday is marked by approximately 300 million people around the globe, with the United Nations describing the two-week-long fest as promoting peace and solidarity and contributing to “cultural diversity and friendship among peoples and different communities”.
Among the New Year traditions is the preparation of sofreh-ye haft sin, a table of seven objects, each starting with the letter S, which symbolize purity, abundance, and fertility: water, eggs, candles, and dishes of green sprouts, called sabzeh, for instance; Delara will have a haft sin set up by the front entrance.
Family gatherings and feasting are also central to the celebrations.
At sunny Delara, Ilbeiggi will be serving a special Nowruz menu. Among the items on offer are sabzi polo, a rice dish resplendent with fresh herbs such as parsley, cilantro, dill, and mint; and whole roasted fish stuffed with herbs, onions, and lemons and dressed with salt, pepper, and dried lime. Slow-cooked lamb shanks with pomegranate sauce is another, along with tahdig, which means “bottom of the pot”, the rice having a golden, crunchy crust. Kookoo sabzi is a beloved Persian herb frittata. There will be Nowruz pickles and yogurt, roasted cauliflower, bread and dips, desserts such date-walnut baklava and turmeric cake with orange blossom buttercream, and more, all to mark an important holiday and to bring people together through food.
“If you’re interested or curious, ask away—what we’re about and why we celebrate Nowruz,” “Ilbeiggi says. “I want people to get more familiar with the culture.”
For more information, see Delara.
Delara. Photo by Jacqueline Johns (@jacqulinehollyjohns)
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