Persian Place
Lynn Williams Special to the Jewish Times
December 31, 2004
If you have a friend who leers every time you mention that you're going to a tapas bar ("topless" eh, nudge nudge, wink wink?), you'd better not tell him you're headed for a tapas hookah lounge. It might be more prudent to describe Zeeba Lounge as this cool new Persian place you've just discovered on Federal Hill.
A hookah lounge, explains proprietor Kris Golshan, "is the Middle Eastern equivalent of the English tea house. It's customary after a day at work to gather around a hookah and talk about the day."
In this country, they have become popular in Las Vegas and California, and have recently been adopted by Washington trend setters.
For the uninitiated — or those who may not remember the caterpillar in "Alice In Wonderland" — a hookah is a pipe that includes a central vessel for water, and a flexible tube with a mouthpiece. As the smoke passes through the tube, the water cools it. A communal hookah can have several hoses and mouthpieces to accommodate multiple smokers, who make themselves comfortable on low ottomans.
It sounds quite decadent, yes? Says Mr. Golshan: "We've made it a very romantic place, with very dim lights and a coffee-shop, loungey sort of vibe."
And, he emphasizes, it's not at all smoky. The air-cooled, moist mixture of flavored tobacco and molasses creates more of a scented steam than a smoke. The room is well-ventilated, and no cigarette or cigar smoking is allowed.
The menu of Mediterranean-inspired tapas (or mahzeh, "little tastes" in Farsi) comprises 15 items, including chicken kebabs, stuffed grape leaves, lamb chops and four different wraps. There's no liquor license yet, but customers can bring their own spirits, and on weekends night owls can blow smoke until 4 a.m.
Zeeba Lounge is located at 916 Light St.; the phone number is 410-539-7900.
