Afghan Revel

Sameem is a dream fulfilled -- for the owner and for us

Comments (0) By Rose Martelli Wednesday, Oct 19 2005

...continued from page 1

Jennifer Silverberg

One-man show: Qayum Mohammad's Afghan cuisine makes South Grand even grander.

Location Info

Map

Sameem Afghan Restaurant

3191 S. Grand Blvd.
St Louis, MO 63118-1022

Category: Restaurant > Afghan

Region: St. Louis - South City

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Details

Sambosas $5.50
Muntoo $11
Spicy chicken pasta $9.50
Lamb beriani $10.50

314-664-3940. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Tue.-Thu., 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun.

3191 South Grand Boulevard

More About

Muntoois listed on the menu under "Traditional Afghan Entrée Selections" and not under "Pasta and Casual Fare." The latter includes a seafood pasta, a vegetarian pasta (both with a choice of angel hair or penne) and a spicy chicken penne tossed with mushrooms and spinach. These derive from Mohammad's personal passion for the stuff. At Old Warson, he says, he used to watch the line cooks churning out pasta and became fascinated with the process. Sameem's pastas come from Mohammad's own tweaked recipes, which employ Afghan spices and less dairy than a typical Italian cream sauce (also, no white wine), rendering a sauce that's more accurately described as a coating. Apparently Mohammad has learned Italian cooking as well as he has the English language. He turns out pastas perfectly cooked and tossed with just-right amounts of complementary ingredients.

Mohammad's one-man performance at Sameem owes partly to the absence of his brother, who is in Afghanistan searching for traditional pieces to bring back and add to the restaurant's décor. For now the two-room space makes do with the swordfish mosaic, trickling fountain and other nautical elements Gulf Coast left behind. Upon his return, Mohammad's brother will take on some front-of-the-house duties and also go back to his own day job at Edward Jones. Till then, at least he knows the hard work is paying off, and Sameem is living up to its friendly name.