Join us on our second stop in the summer podcast series featuring Persian food trucks, stands, and fast foods as we welcome Joon Rice from the Queens Night Market in New York. Listen in as Jessica and Amir share their creative approach to serving Persian food in a way that is both accessible and appealing to a wider audience. They’ve crafted a unique dining experience by offering individual sized Tahdig cups and a variety of stews, making Persian cuisine enjoyable for everyone. From the Queens Night Market concept to the inspiration behind their menu, we explore everything that makes Joon Rice a standout in the food scene.
In the second half of the episode, Jessica and Amir take us behind the scenes of their delivery operations. Hear about their partnership with Shef.com and how they are spreading the flavors of Persian food far and wide. They share the success of their business, their summer market at the Queens Night Market, and their mission to connect people to their culture through food. Get ready to be inspired by their passion for Persian cuisine and their journey in the food industry.
Joon Rice website: Joon
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Transcript / Transcription
Intro:
This is Modern Persian Food, a culinary podcast for today’s food enthusiast. We talk about classic Persian flavors, modern recipes, and embracing culture and identity through food. I’m Bita and I’m also Beata. Welcome to our show.
0:00:24 – Beata
Hi everybody. Welcome to episode number 145 of the Modern Persian Food podcast. We are in the middle of our summer series featuring companies, food trucks, food vendors who provide Persian food in unexpected ways. Today we are pleased to present to you Joon Rice from the Queens Night Market in New York. We are with Jessica and Amir and they provide delightful Persian cuisine and we are so excited to have you guys on the show. Welcome, Jessica and Amir.
0:00:55 – Speaker 3
Thanks so much for having us.
Absolutely.
0:00:58 – Beata
I’m with my lovely co-host, Bita joon. Hi there, Bita joon.
Bita
Hi guys, how are you doing?
Good. How are you?
Good.
Beata
What joon Rice offers are these beautiful little rice cups like little tachin, mini tachin, essentially served with different types of khoresh sauce, what looks like a beautiful yogurt sauce on the side. So, just so people have a visual as we get into it. Delicious.
0:01:23 –
Yeah. So tell us what got you into Persian food and creating the flavors for all to taste out there in the Queens Night Market.
0:01:33 – Jessica
Tahdig is obviously Amir’s number one most favorite food group since we have been together.
We are a couple. We have been together 13 years. So when we first got together like I wanted to impress him, so I would try to learn how to make Tahdig with varying degrees of success, but I think it went okay. And then we loved to entertain at home, so we would make these little crispy rice Tahdig cups. So this way they are individual size and everybody can have their own. Yeah, I think that’s where we started.
0:02:08 – Amir
Yeah, the basic was our passion for Tahdig and then how we can make it individual size and, at the same time, serve it with different stews. So that’s how it came about having its individual portions. To some degree, the looks of it is also important, so we wanted the Persian food to for the broader audience not only Iranians, as Iranians we love Persian food but for the broader audience, you wanted to have somewhat of a little bit of a different presentation and looking like cute and nice, and so that was one of our other objectives having it individual size and also looking a little bit different. And that’s what we started working on. As Jessica said, first it was home projects, entertaining friends and asking for their input, but then we started the project more officially back in 2016.
0:03:11 – Bita
That’s great. Nice. And can you tell us, for those who may not know, is this like finger food? I mean, it has sauce on it. So I’ve seen it online and in your social media images, but it’s like a cute mold type of a shape with the sauce on top. Now, is this the kind of thing you like pick it up and eat with your hands, or you use utensils to eat it?
We serve it with a spork because it’s a meaty meal.
0:03:38 – Jessica
It’s a hearty little meal, but so we’re doing outdoor food markets. It’s not too big because our market really focuses on being able to try a lot of different things. We want people to try multiple flavors. You definitely need to use a fork, but it’s meant to be like not like a full meal, but enough that you want to try more. So we really focus on four different flavors for the most part. So because obviously I’m not originally Persian, so we kind of try to market them towards everybody, because these are also my favorite stews, having eaten a lot of Persian food. Now Fesenjoon is one of my favorites. It’s how I actually judge Persian restaurants. I feel like if they have a good Fesenjoon, then you can have it. So we call it pomegranate walnut chicken stew, because Fesenjoon is a little difficult and it’s one of our most popular. People love it, i think you know, and it’s so beautiful with the pomegranate seeds on top, yeah, so that’s kind of how we focus for the like for an outdoor market.
0:04:36 – Amir
Right And the outdoor market as Jessica said it’s more for people who come over there want to try all different vendors. So the way that we are having the portions there is a little bit different than the portions that is for delivery. The one that is for delivery is bigger portions, both in terms of the size of the rice cup and the number. So we have like two rice cups. Much more stew that is available for delivery in each packet, but for the market it’s kind of smaller.
0:05:10 – Beata
Yeah, i love that because I mean, you know, actually this past weekend in a farmer’s market here near where I live here in San Francisco, you know there were so many different food trucks. It was so fun to go and sample food from different places And it’s nice to be able to get to get, like you know, a few bite size things from each different market so you can really try a whole different array of different food. So I love that concept. Talking about your menu stuff, I noticed that you guys have like eggplant with vegetarian version and with beef and one item that you had on your menu, the chicken with plums and apricots. I love that. I feel like not enough attention goes to Persian dishes. That has kind of like the fruits in it, like plums and apricots. Can you tell me where you got the inspiration to come up with that?
0:05:53 – Jessica
So we like to go on vacation in the Caribbean. We used to go to St Martin a lot and there was a guy who had a Persian restaurant. So Amir loves to Google, no matter where we go, Persian restaurants and he was like this place is Persian. I was like, oh, come on, it can’t be Persian. And we’re looking at the menu and I was like, oh my gosh, it absolutely is. And it was a guy who went there on vacation and him and his wife decided to never leave.
0:06:23 – Amir
And their food was amazing.
0:06:26 – Jessica
So we went back over several trips. We always went to his restaurant. Unfortunately it closed after one of the hurricanes, But he had this morgh aloo (chicken with plum). And I had never had it before, like Amir’s mom had never made it, i never had it before and it was like oh my gosh. And we were like so what’s in it? You know, it was so good and we ordered it several times on that trip.
0:06:49 – Speaker 4
Yeah, and then we got kind of close to them so they were OK like sharing some of their tips and asked how to make it better. And yeah, you’re absolutely right In terms of the stews not a lot of stews with the fruits in them or in the mainstream, and we actually noted that for a broader audience, let’s say Americans, they appreciate it a lot and we noticed some of the things that we take for granted. For example, or ghormeh sabzii, we think it’s the best stew. We kind of offered it in different places, many different places, but it did not have as much kind of buzz as like Fesenjoon or morgheh aloo (chicken in plum sauce) had, or the chicken with plum and apricot had, or the non-Iranian audience, I mean.
0:07:37 – Bita
Yeah, it doesn’t have as much of an aesthetic sort of street appeal for a first timer, you know, but it can be like an acquired taste. We all love it, of course.
0:07:49 – Amir
Right. But in terms of because we kind of our menu is not based on the Persian name, as Jessica mentioned, it’s, for example, we say, chicken with plum and apricot, or then we have pomegranate walnut chicken. So once they see what is in it, that kind of makes them interested towards our food. So Fesenjan is something that obviously very delicate, but then just mentioning that it has pomegranate, walnut and chicken, it’s something that makes it very, very interesting to the audience. And so chicken with plum and apricot, it has a good presentation to it, right, and the same goes for the dishes that are with eggplant.
0:08:35 – Beata
Yeah, I think that’s an important note to make. Sometimes just calling out the ingredients and making it more relevant to the people will make them more willing to try a different food or a different culture’s food based on those same ingredients. So I agree with you that that was probably a good choice in getting a broader audience. And definitely everyone getting a piece of tahdig think that’s a win right there. Crispy rice cupss look so delicious.
0:09:00 – Bita
Yeah, it’s not easy. Make it crispy and be able to serve many, it’s not easy.
0:09:07 – Beata
Hi friends, jumping in to let you know that we’re doing a listener survey this month and we’d love to get your input. It’s only 10 questions long, and it’ll give you a chance to not only let us know how we’re doing, but what type of content you want to hear from us in the future. It’s on our website, modernpersionfood.com, our Instagram handle, @modernpersionfood, and we’ll include the link in our newsletter too. Thank you so much for being part of our journey. Now back to the show.
0:09:33 – Bita
Are you both cooking, or is one of you more of the chef or?
0:09:37 – Jessica
Amir is really in charge of the eating and the taste testing. I am in charge of the cooking.
Beata
Oh, that’s so cool.
Jessica
We have a very distinct division of labor.
0:09:48 – Beata
I love it. I love it. I love how you guys are doing that. You know, as you mentioned earlier to us before the recording, that this is kind of your passion project, really a labor of love of what you guys are doing, that you guys both have your careers and kind of do this on the side. So I’m sure that everyone going to Queens Night Market appreciates what you guys are doing. But that’s really fun. Amir jan, you mentioned the delivery, so tell us a little bit about that and what led you to distributing it more widely. So I’m excited that you are delivering in the New York and a little broader area there as well.
0:10:19 – Amir
Right, Right, that’s correct, we have started from New York, but it’s not the end goal. We think that, in terms of the scale of the operations and the reach of it, ultimately the sky is the limit, like if you have a good plan and a reach to people. So that’s the reason that we are trying to have our focus on a delivery ultimately a delivery project, as opposed to a restaurant. We think that there’s a lot of potential for different varieties of rice in terms of the customers that we can send it to, as well as delivery to delis and to individuals, so that there’s a lot of different aspects or avenues that we are exploring, but we have decided to have the ultimate focus and the future of our business at this juncture to be about the delivery.
0:11:19 – Jessica
So right now you can order it on like it’s called chef.com, and because we are only two weekend, I’m going to handle the actual delivery part, but so they do it throughout like pretty much the tri-state region, which is great for us because, you know, Queens is kind of far. I mean, we have friends who are like I’m not going to come and see you because it’s a little far from us, but it’s great and we’ll see how it goes. We’re excited.
0:11:41 – Beata
Yeah, that’s all really great things, so where can people find you If they’re interested? I know you mentioned chef, which I think is actually it’s not spelled traditional chef, right?
0:11:50 – Jessica
It’s S-H-E-F, that’s for the delivery. And then we’re at Queens Night Market on Saturday nights in the summertime, and then your social media handles It’s joon Rice, so it’s J-O-O-N underscore rice.
0:12:03 – Beata
I love it. And the name joon, that’s so cute, i love it.
0:12:06 – Jessica
That was my contribution Yes.
0:12:09 – Amir
Yeah, full credit to Jessica for selecting that name. I actually wanted to go with more like an American name, but she kind of was the winner, the clear winner.
0:12:19 – Beata
Clear winner, yeah, and it looks like it’s been successful. I’ve seen pictures of the long lines of people lining up to get your food, so obviously it’s working out great for you guys.
0:12:29 – Bita
One day Beata joon and I are definitely going to add a stop to Queens on our next East Coast trip and we look forward to you trying your rice and meeting you both in person, hopefully one day soon.
0:12:41 – Jessica
But it’s not enough Persian food in New York, so we are doing our small part to bring more Persian food to the East Coast.
0:12:48 – Bita
Yeah, for sure.
0:12:49 – Jessica
You guys have so much You’re right.
0:12:52 – Bita
Well, thank you for what you’re doing. That’s what we’re all about. We’re about trying to spread the flavors and connect people to our culture through food. So really appreciate it and we wish you the best of success.
0:13:07 – Amir
Thank you. It’s interesting to note about three years ago, just 2019, right before COVID That summer, i remember there was a lady and our customers was from Whales and she said that we’re part of a tour for the food tour in New York. They brought us to this market and they specifically said like three vendors one of them was you to come and try the food. It was like actually, yeah, international.
0:13:41 – Bita
Yeah, they came all that way.
0:13:42 – Beata
Yeah, good. Yeah, I mean, it’s hard to find good Persian food that’s kind of like easy to access and getting it in the format that you guys are talking about and providing. I think that that’s definitely something that’s very unique and we wanted to showcase you guys on the show to just raise awareness and, as Bita said, in our quest to spreading that kind of awareness of Persian food and flavors.
0:14:12 – Amir
I think one of the good things about our delivery and the way that we are making our food is that it takes at most 10 minutes for it to get warmed up.
You put the rice cups in either the oven or in the air fryer Up to 10 minutes. It completely becomes like a crispy and warm, And then the other portion maybe three to four minutes tops in the microwave for those two. So that is something that we have had actually quite a few orders for just serving it to parties, for catering, and that is easy for people to just get the food and just warm it up. In less than 10 minutes You’re going to have a completely crispy, warm, ready to eat meal.
0:14:49 – Beata
Perfect, sounds delicious.
0:14:51 – Bita
Excellent. I love it. We’re all about fast and easy.
0:14:56 – Amir
Exactly.
0:14:56 – Beata
Okay, great, Amir joon. Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us. We really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you guys next time we’re out in New York.
0:15:05 – Amir
Yes, all sounds great, thank you so much.
0:15:08 – Beata
Bye. Thank you so much. Till next time.
Beata
You’ve been listening to the Modern Persian Food podcast with Bita and Bita. Thanks for spending time with us. If you’ve enjoyed what you heard today, consider telling your friend or giving us a good rating. You can subscribe to our show for free on your favorite podcasting app or find us online at modernpersionfoodcom or on Instagram for the recipes and information we talked about today. We’d love to hear your thoughts and see you next time.
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