To The Persian Poet
- Michael Jay Tucker's explosive-cargo
- Sep 25
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 27
So last time, I had us not being able to eat at Redstart Foods because their kitchen had closed. And we had just decided, at Vincent’s suggestion, to try “the Persian Place” that the New England Four had told us about. We had a name for it, Cafe Ferdosi, but not an address.
Fortunately, our map app soon turned one up -- 2609 N. Duke Street, Ste. 700, Durham, NC. (1) So off we went.
This proved more confusing than we thought it would be. Following the directions from our app, we found ourselves in a leafy campus-like area in which several large buildings were separated from one another by parking lots of grassy parks. We had no idea what it was, and we hadn’t a clue where the restaurant might be.
However, we hung in there, and shortly afterwards came to one large building in particular. Sure enough, there was a door in the front of the building with an “open” sign beside it. A gentleman about my age came out of the door and saw us standing and looking confused. He smiled. Clearly, this was a regular occurrence. He gestured at us to come forward. “This is it,” he assured us. “This is the cafe.”
ABOUT THE PHOTOS: First, the exterior of the Cafe Ferdosi. Definitely give it a visit if you are in Durham.
Second, here is a page and illustration from the Shahnameh. This is “The Court of Kayumars,” Folio from the Shahnameh (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp. This image if from Wikimedia and can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Court_of_Gayumars_(Cropped).jpg. The piece resides at the Aga Kahn Museum in Toronto. This image is believed to be in the public domain.
Third, and finally, and nothing to do with the story (I just like the photo), here’s a snap of Martha down by the River in Georgetown. I think she looks kinda Persian in the picture, don’t you?
We followed his directions (we later learned he was one of the owners, the patriarch of Cafe Ferdosi if you will) and we shortly found ourselves in a small restaurant. There was a counter and a couple of tables scattered about. There were a couple of younger men at the counter (also, I assume, family members) and they offered us menus.
They were very pleasant, which may not have been easy for them, because I think they were actually quite busy. I’m guessing that the Ferdosi does a lot of take-out and even mail order business, and they had the look of men doing their best to prepare a number of meals...and still, somehow, deal with clueless customers who don’t know the first thing about the cuisine on offer.
We placed our orders. I honestly can’t remember what it was we all had. I think I got a kabob. Whatever, it all proved perfectly delicious, however. If you are ever in the area, definitely go. (Oh, and an aside, try their pickled garlic. Wow. Just wow.)
But we only began to understand just how remarkable a place it was when the meal was over and Martha needed to go to the bathroom. She followed directions from one of the young men to the back of the restaurant, though a door...and into a large, ornate room--far larger than she (0r any of us) expected, and somehow connected to the Cafe itself. On her way back from the restroom, she ran into the second of the young men who had been behind the counter. He asked if she’d like a tour. Startled, but intrigued, she said yes, and he led her through the building.
It turns out that the cafe is in a larger building which is also the Iranian cultural center for the Durham-Raleigh area. Specifically, it is the “ Aria Cultural Center.”(2) It dates back only to 2023, but it is an important part of the Iranian-American community in North Carolina.
I didn’t know there was an Iranian-American community of any size in Durham, but apparently it is one of the places in the United States where Iranian immigrants (many of them fleeing the murderous regime of the Mullahs), came to rest. I gather NC has been welcoming to them, and certainly they’ve become Americans very quickly, and very successfully, indeed.
I joined Martha and the young gentleman just then and I, too, got the tour. The Aria Cultural Center is quite impressive. There’s a ballroom and a school for children, and a vast dining room for events. And there was some quite amazing art on the walls.
I ended up having a talk with the young gentleman. I know just a tiny bit of Persian history--for a variety of reasons, I’m interested in Eastern Indo-European language speakers in general, and Persian (i.e., Farsi) in particular, and that was enough to get us started. He was justifiably proud of his heritage, and pleased that I knew even a little bit about the country of his origin.(3)
Then he told me that they’d named their cafe “Ferdosi” after Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi, who is one of the greatest names in Iranian literature. For Iran, he is basically what Shakespeare is to English and Dante is to Italian.(4)
I was charmed by that, and I think he was pleased that I’d heard of Ferdosi. I gathered that not many of the Cafe’s guests had.
Anyway, we finished our tour, and our lunch, and I must say I greatly enjoyed both.
After that, we finished up, toured the city a bit, and then we all went our various ways. Joanne headed to her home. Vincent was off to his. And we were on our way to our hotel. It would be an early night for us. We were tired.
And...in the morning...we had plans. They would involve a very large, very metal...
Bull.
More to come.
Footnotes:
1. As I said a few posts back, Cafe Ferdosi has a website here: https://cafeferdosi.com/. However, the site seemed only under development when I wrote this in late April 2025. However, as I also said, the Cafe does have an excellent Instagram page, with lovely pictures of its meal offerings, here: https://www.instagram.com/nccafeferdosi/
2. The The Iranian Cultural Society of North Carolina (ICSNC) and the Aria Cultural Center have their webpages here: https://www.icsnc.org/
Also, check out its facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ICSNC/
3. Yet I also picked up an odd, melancholy vibe from him. He was an immigrant, after all. He’d left Iran because the current regime is repressive and brutal. It must be difficult to be proud of your culture, and the nation it represents, while knowing that it has turned its back on you.
Alas, it may be that, in time, it is a feeling that many Americans will themselves know too well.
4. Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (940-1040 AD) was one of the greatest of Persian language poets, and indeed one of the great poets in any language. The Persian literary tradition had been suppressed after the Arab conquest (7th century). But Ferdosi was one of Iranian-speaking literati who brought Persian back. His Shahnameh ("Book of Kings”), which recounts the history of pre-Islamic Persia and its heroes and rulers, helped re-establish Persian are the literary language of the Iranian world. It is considered the national epic of Iran, and it is venerated throughout the Iranic-speaking world. For Ferdosi, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi. For the Shahnameh, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahnameh
ABOUT THE PHOTOS
First, the exterior of the Cafe Ferdosi. Definitely give it a visit if you are in Durham.
Second, here is a page and illustration from the Shahnameh. This is “The Court of Kayumars,” Folio from the Shahnameh (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp. This image if from Wikimedia and can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Court_of_Gayumars_(Cropped).jpg. The piece resides at the Aga Kahn Museum in Toronto.
This image is believed to be in the public domain.
Third, and finally, and nothing to do with the story (I just like the photo), here’s a snap of Martha down by the River in Georgetown. I think she looks kinda Persian in the picture, don’t you?
Copyright©2025 Michael Jay Tucker
Care to help out?
I provide these blog postings for free. That’s fine and I’m happy to do so. But, long ago and far away, I was told that if you give away your material, that means you don’t really think it has any value.
So, to get beyond that, I’ve decided to make it possible for you to leave me a “tip” for my posts.
If you like what I write or the videos I produce, and feel you could make a small contribution to support my efforts, please go here:
That will take you to a Gumroad page where you’ll have the option of leaving me a few pence by way of encouragement.
Again, I don’t mind if you don’t. I just want to provide you with the option so that I won’t feel quite so much like I’m just tossing my works into the wind.
Either way, thanks hugely for dropping by the blog :-)
~mjt
That was an interesting story and the restaurant looks yummy for sure. Thanks for sharing