Seer Torshi at Ceazar Restaurant

If you want to explore new foods, definitely check out the pickled garlic among the side orders at the new Ceazar Restaurant in Elkridge.

Mrs. HowChow saw the item for "seek torshi - garlic pickle"and wondered whether people were really paying $3.49 for pickles. So we asked. Our waiter was delightful. He explained that they were pickled garlic cloves -- garlic in vinegar. We demurred because we already had a table of food, but, a few minutes later, the waiter returned with a small plate with a half dozen brown cloves.

Seek torshi is part of Iranian cooking in which vegetables are pickled in vinegar, curry and salt. (So says Wikipedia.) The waiter explained that his mother pickles garlic every year. They made several large bottles of garlic and vinegar, and they let them pickle over time. Like vinegars and wine, torshi is prized for its age. The waiter said his family had some bottles that had been pickling for 17 years.

Ceazar's torshi isn't that old. The garlic actually tastes roasted. I squeezed each clove into my mouth, keeping the skin in my fingers and releasing the soft flesh with a strong, but mellow flavor of garlic and a delicious taste of vinegar. Definitely worth your trip.

As I wrote in the prior post, Ceazar is a new Persian restaurant attached to the best Middle Eastern grocery in Howard County. The market was in Columbia for 13 years under the name Sizar's and just moved to Elkridge near the intersection of Rte 100 and U.S. 1.

Ceazar Restaurant
6801 Douglas Legum Drive
Elkridge, MD 21075
443-755-9442 (market)
442-755-9444 (restaurant)

NEAR: Just off Rte 103 east of U.S. 1. This is just south of Rte 100 and less than two miles from I-95. From Rte 100, you take U.S. 1 south, turn left at the first light onto Rte 103 and follow it as it curves twice. Ceazar is in a shopping center on the left.