South Bay: Stone Stew

For CK's birthday (yes, back in May), we went to Stone Stew for dinner.  I'd never been there before, so imagine my surprise when we pulled up to a grocery store:

And then proceeded to walk through it:

But then we walked through these doors at the back of the store and entered a portal to a whole other world:

It felt like being transported to a different place.  I was completely in awe as we were led to our table.

As we were perusing the menu, we noticed something on the beverage section called "dough."  We asked the server what that was and he described it as some kind of yogurt drink.  He very kindly let us sample a cup:

It was yogurt-y and minty and not really my cup of tea.  What was my cup of tea, however, was everything that followed.

We got the shahsavar ghormeh sabzi with meat ($14.99), which was a kind of stewed beef with kidney beans and sun-dried limes:

Super savory and flavorful.  Just be careful not to bite into a lime.  It's not pleasant, take it from me.

Even though the shahsavar ghormeh sabzi was an entree, we treated it like an appetizer.  From there, we moved on to the torghabeh special for two ($45.99):

The special included two skewers of koobideh kabob (ground beef and onion), one skewer of chicken, and one skewer of lamb.  It was accompanied by two rice plates:

As well as a Shirazi salad and yogurt.  The bread was complimentary:

We couldn't go to Stone Stew and not get their vakil abad-mashad stone stew ($15.99).  We watched, entranced, as our server poured out all the liquid from the stone bowl and then proceeded to mash the hell out of the remaining lamb shank, garbanzo beans, white beans, potato, and tomato:

At the end, we were left with a bowl of soup and a bowl of creamy mash:

We were instructed to eat the mash with the bread and drink the soup separately.  Both were freakin' amazing.

Even though we were stuffed, CK picked out some desserts from the grocery counter:

They were a bit too sweet for my tastes, so I stuck with sipping my tea:

There's really no better way to end a meal than with some hot tea.  Especially a meal as satisfying as this one was.

I'm a big fan of Stone Stew and I talk about it with everyone who is willing to listen.  Since I went in May though, that location has closed.  Luckily, they have another branch that is open in downtown San Jose.  I haven't checked it out yet, but from what I can see online, it doesn't have the same mystical feeling as the location hidden in the grocery store.

That's too bad, but as long as the food is still good, I can't complain.


Stone Stew (downtown location)
205 N 4th St
San Jose, CA, 95112
(408) 622-1067