"Shiraz caught my eye a couple of months back as it is one of the newest dining spots in downtown White Plains. After the previous tenant, Ichiro, closed down, I was wondering what was going to take its place as the restaurant was pretty spacious. As soon as I heard that it was not only a restaurant but a wine bar as well, I got excited since I feel that's exactly what the city needs. My brother was visiting me the other night and we thought it was a great opportunity to grab dinner and check this place out. From what I could gather from their website, Shiraz has two locations: one in Manhattan and one in Westchester. I was under the assumption that the Westchester/White Plains location was new, but when I checked in here I noticed the business had almost 400 Yelp reviews. I soon found out that their Westchester spot relocated to WP after fire damage forced them to move out of their original location in Elmsford. This made sense, since during my people watching I noticed a lot of patrons who seemed to be regulars and knew the staff atypical of a place that has only been open ~2 months. Walking in, they did the place up nice; the decor is modern with two focal points: a bar to the left and multiple shelves down the center holding wine bottles. The shelves not only act as a conversation piece, but a way to break up the room a bit. The acoustics are a little loud which kinda threw of the vibe a bit, but it wasn't awful. We decided to start with drinks; I had the spicy margarita which was just okay. I asked for a 5/10 spice level but I really couldn't find any heat at all maybe next time I'll ask for an 8? Anyway, onto the food. Looking over the menu, they had a large variety of Mediterranean dishes, with special emphasis on Iranian cuisine. We decided to start with a few dips as apps: the hummus, yogurt and shallot, and Kashk e Bademjan. The hummus was good, it was simply seasoned which let the chick peas shine, and it had a smooth consistency. I really liked the yogurt and shallot dip it was slightly thick (a good thing) and the tangy/cool flavor of the yogurt paired well with the subtle shallot. The Kashk e Bademjan was good too, this was an eggplant dip/spread paired with fried onions. I'm not the biggest eggplant person, but it had good flavor and the onion brought interesting flavor and texture. All of the dips were paired with warm bread mmmm and aromatic accents like mint, basil, and feta; they really added to the whole dip experience. For my main, the chicken sultani was speaking to me. This consisted of kebab style beef and chicken paired with roasted tomato and onion plus a side of rice. I thought this was really delicious; the meats were cooked well and the tomato onion pairing really worked. I had my choice of rice they have a few flavor combinations to choose from and I went with the shirin; this contained orange flavors and pistachio nuts which added good flavor and interesting texture to the carb. Portions were generous, and we were so full that we decided not to get dessert, but there's always next time. Service was great; I'm not sure what happened to the server assigned to our table, but we ended up being taken care of by the owner. He did an excellent job explaining the menu, providing some back story of the restaurant, and overall just making sure we were taken care of (as I would expect). Overall, I was impressed with my first experience at Shiraz; food and service were both really good. They kind of have a leg up since it seems like their customers followed them from Elmsford to WP, and I'm sure they will be seeing new customers since they are now in more of a city center. I would definitely return here to try more of their menu, and of course some wine."
