By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

Payvand.com - The town of Lavasan is on the east side of Tehran.  It used to be a small village for those weekenders wanting to get away from the city.  Now it is almost a suburb and, with the Bababie expressway, getting there is very easy even though you must drive through a series of hairpin bends through the mountains.  Our friend Tina, who is the queen of cakes and desserts in Tehran, moved there recently and it was she who told us about a little Mexican gem on Lavasan Boulevard.  So last weekend we arranged to go and see her at her most wonderful villa and then go to the Garcia Mexican restaurant for lunch.

Janet Garcia and Masoud Ayvazi are the owners and run the place as well.  They met in Texas where Janet, from Mexico, had gone to study English.  They fell in love, got married in 1996, had a son, Brandon, and moved back to Iran a couple of years ago.  The soaring rental prices in Tehran for any kind of home or business were such that they wanted to move back to the US.  But one day they came to Lavasan and liked it and decided to give things a go here.  They found a very helpful and kind estate agent named Ali who found them this place and they now live above their restaurant.

When I asked Masoud why they decided to open a restaurant, he said that when he was in the States he was involved in a joint business and Janet's cooking was so good that everybody kept coming to their house everywhere to taste her dishes.  Opening a restaurant seemed the obvious thing to do.  They started this place, tiny as it is, as a Mexican restaurant about six months ago, and Janet did all the decor herself.

When I asked her if she liked life in Iran, she said: "I love it here!"�  I truly believed her; you see, like Paul my husband,  some people find a lot of positive things, warmth and kindness here and see the fuller half of the glass of life around them.  Masoud and Janet seemed so relaxed and happy, and they both were doing what they liked to do and loved it!

We tried almost everything on the menu, except the buffalo wings that we will try on our next visit as I am sure that we will call in again; and not just because they are such happy people and run a successful family business and create a wonderful ambiance in their little place and are so friendly to their customers.

We liked their Mexican salad and burritos and quesadillas, the fajitas and tacos; and we loved their tortilla chips.  We thought the salsa sauce was great, and so tasty and fresh. Tina's sons said their hamburgers were great too.  And when we were offered specially iced tea, well can not tell you how wonderful it was on such a warm day, simply fantastic!

We can only recommend that you give it a try yourself, when you next pass through Lavasan.   You can also order take out, and we hope that next time we have a buffet we can persuade them to do the catering - so different and so tasty yet so far away from Mexico.  All that was missing was the tequila!

Garcias Mexican Food   1345 Lavasan, opposite Etehad Street.

Telephone 0221 452 7471.  Open every day except Sunday, 12-3 and 6-10.30

... Payvand News - 06/19/08 ...