Jon Emami says food is part of the core of a culture.
Its tastes, smells, the ingredients and the care that go into its preparation all are part of a culture’s song. The menu at Emami’s Persepolis Café, in downtown Willmar, is Persian, Italian, Greek and American. Everything is delicious, and much of it is unique, but if you want to taste Iran, where Emami came from two decades ago, the persimmon meatball soup is your food tune.
“I wanted to bring some diversity to Willmar,” Emami said. “But if people aren’t ready to change yet we still have something for them.”
The Persepolis Café didn’t bring diversity to downtown Willmar but its address, 145 Litchfield Ave. S.W., makes it the gateway to a United Nations of central Minnesota. On a particular Saturday afternoon a sidewalk jazz saxophonist, of European descent, accompanied by a team of knitters, in front of the Potato Eater Gallery, marks a stroller’s passage.
Past the Gallery, and to the left, is Antonio Tejeda’s law office. Tejeda is Puerto Rican. He is currently headed to Iraq with the National Guard. Across the street is La Casita Feliz, or happy little house. It sells first communion and children’s party clothes.
A block away is La Fiesta, a busy combination grocery and travel agency. They specialize in Central American pork carnitas. Two blocks away, Victor Vargas, originally from Durango, Mexico, presides over meat cutting for Cubans, Salvadorans, Hondurans, Colombians and Mexican-Americans from Texas.
La Michoacana No. 3, where Vargas works, has only been open a few months but it is packed with customers and feels like it’s been on Fifth Street for years. So does Bihi’s General Merchandise, only a block away. Bihi’s, surrounded by Somali men, advertises goat meat and phone cards. Inside are large sacks of basmati rice and small bags of dry cow peas.
Nearby is Rosita’s Barbacoa (barbecue) with rich smells that Emami would appreciate and next door three Somali girls, in shimmering long skirts the color of Africa, lead the stroller into the bazaar at Centre Point Mall. The aromas, the kaleidoscope of colors and the language are beautiful and unintelligible.
Your average central Minnesotan, of European descent, may require the comfort of a muffin at the nearby coffee shop. It is best to contemplate these remarkable changes fortified by a nice warm muffin.
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<i>Originally published in the June 26, 2009, print edition.</i>
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