December 2020: These Are a Few of My Favorite Things…

Every Sunday at Peng to the Point, we talk about the world away from the San Jose Sharks.

Reporters have routines too.

For a typical San Jose Sharks home game, 7:30 PM puck drop, I’d leave San Francisco at about 9 AM to hit 10:15 AM morning skate at the Sharks’ practice facility. Depending on the opponent, I’d then head to SAP Center to catch the visitors’ morning skate.

Then it’s lunchtime: I consider myself a foodie, so I make it a point to keep trying new places around SAP Center.

That routine, like so many around the world, has been upset by COVID-19.

But more important than that routine are the many restaurants in San Jose and around the world that have had their businesses decimated by the coronavirus.

One of my local favorites is Stone Stew, a Persian restaurant just a few minutes away from SAP Center. It’s one of the handful or so restaurants that I’ve gone to in San Jose more than once — my personal stamp of approval. They also have another location in Saratoga.

“We’ve lost about 25 percent of our business [downtown],” Charlie Fazli of Stone Stew shared. “The Saratoga location has lost about 75 percent.”

Fazli works with his wife Nasir, who’s both the owner and head chef of the restaurant. She emigrated from Tehran in 2016, and three years later, opened the first Stone Stew in Saratoga.

They specialize in Abgoosht, a Mesopotamian lamb and chickpea stew. This stew is traditionally served in a Dizi, a stone pot, hence the name of the restaurant.

Personally, I’ve tried the Shahsavar Ghormeh Sabzi (herb stew) with Meat and the Shiraz Lamb Shank with Baghali Polo (a rich dish with fava beans and dill). They also offer a variety of vegetarian dishes. The meats are consistently succulent, the basmati rice delectable enough to be its own meal.

They’ve been open through the pandemic and are currently open for take-out in both San Jose and Saratoga. You won’t regret it!

“We were losing significant amounts of money at beginning of the pandemic,” said Fazli, “but close to break-even again.”

Stone Stew is located in Downtown San Jose on 205 N 4th St and in Saratoga on 4233 Moorpark Ave.