 Featured Business
Pars International Market
by Virginia Bruce
If you’re trying to eat a healthier diet, if you are a curious cook who loves to discover new foods and cooking techniques, or if you just love a great cup of espresso and a piece of baklava, you need to visit Cedar Mill’s newest food store, Pars International Market.
The small store, at the north end of the new building on Cornell (where the carwash and the bakery used to be) is filled with a variety of food items both familiar and new. Owner Azar Tavakoli has been dreaming of opening this store for at least ten years. “I want to share my love of this healthy food that tastes so good,” she says.
 Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food is known for its healthy balance of grains, nuts, dairy foods and vegetables, with meat adding flavor rather than being the focus. And many of the dishes in those cuisines are vegetarian, for those of us trying to cut down on meat consumption.
The deli counter has three kinds of feta cheese—French, Greek and Bulgarian. Each one is different—creamy, tangy and smooth—unlike the dry and grainy stuff you get at chain stores. Try them all and you’ll be coming back for more. It’s a common breakfast food in Iran, usually eaten with bread and jam.
 Other deli items include several kinds of olives, vegetable and egg rolls called KooKoo Sabzeh, a hummous that is so smooth and delicious you will never go back to the grocery store kind, stuffed grape leaves (dolmades), plus pastries including baklava and special cakes. They are glad to provide quantities of any of their deli offerings for parties and events by special order, just ask!
In Iran, guests are presented with a table full of small dishes of appetizers when they arrive for dinner. Dips and breads, pickles and olives, cheeses, and other delicacies are offered. What a great way to eat!
These are usually followed by a flavorful stew of vegetables, herbs and spices with a little meat, to be served over rice or with bread for sopping up the gravy. A special kind of rice called chelou is sometimes served, with tadig, a crispy crust of rice that forms in the bottom of the pan if you do it right. Special rice cookers for sale in the store make it a lot easier to achieve.
 Dessert can be fresh fruit, pastry, or ice cream. Iranian ice cream from San Francisco is available in several interesting flavors, such as pistachio and saffron.
The store carries a number of grains and beans in bulk containers. Some of them are familiar, including garbanzo beans and nuts, but there are also huge sunflower seeds, five kinds of fava beans, and a special type of split pea that doesn’t fall apart when cooked. Azar is always happy to explain how the various ingredients are used and to share recipes and techniques, and cooking demonstrations are planned for early next year.
A large spice rack carries a colorful assortment—again some familiar and some unusual. Most of them come from Golchin or Sadaf, two southern California suppliers that import foods from Iran and other Middle Eastern countries and then distribute the products in the US. Fresh yogurts and cheeses as well as frozen and packaged ready-to-serve dishes are available. They also carry a variety of oils and several kinds of tahini. Azar described a simple vegetable dip of cooked and mashed zucchini squash mixed with tahini that I’m going to try soon.
 Pars Market carries a few cookbooks, including local author Linda Sawaya’s Lebanese cookbook, Alice’s Kitchen, and they should soon have more. In the meantime, Sadaf, another supplier of Middle Eastern and Iranian foods, has a website that provides many recipes to help you get started with Persian cooking (www.sadaf.com).
BonBon Bakery in Tigard delivers fresh pastries including baklava, cookies and cakes and can also make special-order goodies for parties. The store also carries the most amazing Barbary bread from a Portland bakery. This is a loaf that’s about three feet long and a foot wide, and has a chewy crust and a soft interior. But it’s only delivered on Tuesday and Friday, so be sure to stop in and grab some when it’s there. It’s ideal for eating with cheese or for dipping into your stew.
They carry a variety of teas and coffees from Iran, Egypt and India, along with special tea kettles and pots and glasses for drinking tea. Sugar lumps in various sizes and types are meant for sipping with tea.
 They also carry Caffe Umbria espresso. They were trained to use the Italia Espresso machine by the owner of the Umbria company, a world-renowned supplier of fine coffee run by an Italian family that uses traditional equipment and roasting methods to produce Italian-style coffees in Seattle. Enjoy a cup while you shop, or buy some beans to take home.
Hookahs and accessories are also available here. This method of tobacco consumption is becoming increasingly popular. Azar says that you don’t become addicted because you can’t carry a hookah around with you and whip it out when you have a craving! It’s a social experience, and the flavored tobaccos are more of a gourmet treat.
 Azar and her husband Iraj Talepesand married in Iran and came to Oregon in the seventies to go to school. Iraj studied mathematics at U of O, and then they moved to Portland in 1980 so that Iraj could go to graduate school at PSU to study mechanical engineering. They had originally intended to return to Iran, but like so many other Persians, they decided to remain in the US after the Iranian fundamentalist revolution. They have lived in Cedar Mill for nearly 30 years.
Azar learned hairdressing at Beau Monde and got her license while Iraj completed his graduate studies. Azar opened a beauty shop in the Triangle Center, and sold it several years ago. She continues to see her devoted clients in her home salon in between shifts at the store.
For the past 12 years, they have been trying to bring her sister and brother-in-law to the US, and were finally able to complete the immigration process last month.
 The Portland area has a fairly large population of Iranian/Persian immigrants. Many friends and acquaintances of Iraj and Azar have discovered the store, and have become regular customers. In addition, people from India, Asia and many other countries are finding their favorite foods here, and Azar is always happy to try to fill special requests.
But their dream is to attract a broader audience to discover the delights of this traditional way of cooking. These foods don’t taste strange, they just taste really good and a bit different. So if you like to discover healthy and delicious food, come in soon and try something new. And it’s the perfect place to find some interesting delicacies for holiday entertaining.
Pars International Market is located at 12923 NW Cornell Road. They are open Monday through Friday from 9 am until 7 pm and Saturdays from 10 am until 6 pm. Visit their new website at pars-market.com and call with questions to 503-350-2300.
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