Kavé Pourzanjani
East Village, New York
Bars should be fun. Paradise Lost spares no expense in making your experience from door to check one of total glee. The Tikki-meets-hell decor leaves you feeling like you fell straight outta heaven and into somewhere better—not to mention the drinks which take on a delicious life of their own. We chatted with Kavé Pourzanjani, Co-Owner, Manager and ringleader of PL, while he whipped us up a Saturn: gin, passionfruit, orgeat, and Falernum…plus of course a special Paradise Lost twist of smoking dry ice. Read on below!
Full name, age, where are you from?
Kavé Pourzanjani, 34, Los Angeles, please don't hold it against me.
What is your title and where do you work?
Co-owner, Creative Director, Manager, Village Idiot at Paradise Lost.
Was food a big part of your upbringing?
Mehmoonis are a big part of Iranian culture. Essentially a big get-together of family and friends who may as well be family to celebrate nothing in particular. Think Thanksgiving, but it happens every month or two. The adults would sit around laughing and telling jokes in Farsi that used a lot of words that I started to recognize but never quite learned the definition of, while the kids gathered around the N64 to play Duke Nukem or mess around on the internet. But what always brought us together was a giant table of food. A pile of basmati rice three feet tall twinged yellow by Persian saffron. An assortment of stews with split peas and beef, chicken and walnuts, or lamb and okra. And enough kabob to feed a small village because a small village was what we were. I can't overstate how formative these days were for me. I first heard the Beatles at a mehmooni. I tasted beef tongue for the first time at a mehmooni. I even figured out what a couple of those words meant. I learned what life was for around that table of food.
What are your earliest memories of dining out?
It was really important to my parents that I broaden my horizons at a young age, so many of my earliest memories were wondering why they were torturing me into eating what I could only assume were various poisonous materials. It all turned around for me, however, when they had me try sushi and uni in particular. I was flabbergasted that anyone could eat this weird, snotty stuff. So much so that I started daring friends to order a couple pieces, telling them I'd have one with them if they gave it a go. This usually ended with a very upset friend and a few laughs over how gross the stuff was. Until maybe the fifth or sixth piece I'd had. I started realizing that I really loved the stuff. The way it melts in your mouth, the complexity of the flavors, and how light and delicate they can be. After that, it was no-holds-barred. Now, I'll eat just about anything twice, and when a friend and I order uni, I get to have both pieces.
If you could give a piece of advice to someone who wanted to pursue your career, what would it be?
Everything is a remix. Pull inspiration from everywhere and anywhere. The weirder, the better in my book. Inspiration for Paradise Lost was pulled from Tales of the Crypt comics, demonology, Chaos Magick, horror films like Near Dark and Return of the Living Dead, and the 2021 American stop-motion adult animated experimental film Mad God, just to name a few. After that, trust the vision and lean in. Commit to the bit and trust yourself to know what's good.
What's your favorite dish/drink on the menu?
My favorite drink has gotta be the Tarman. I wish I could take a little credit for this one, but the Tarman is wholly the baby of our beverage director and resident mad scientist, Ray Sakover. An incredibly potent clarified zombie using three very strong rums, falernum (a liqueur or, in this case, a syrup made with ginger, lime, almond, and clove), cinnamon, grenadine, and citrus. One of the few 5/5 skull drinks on our menu (skulls denote strength), the Tarman sips all too easily for a cocktail that will knock you out of your seat if you're not looking. I'm so impressed that Ray was able to pull this one off. And how can my favorite dish be anything but Spam Musubi? One of the few items on our menu that really sticks to the classic, a simple combination of pan-fried marinated spam, sushi rice, and nori. Spam Musubi somehow takes me back to childhood. Which is really weird because I didn't have my first musubi till I was in college.
What is your favorite place to go out and eat at and what are you ordering?
These days, my meals are usually late in the evening and eaten on the couch, but whether ordering out or dining in, I have an unhealthy obsession with Wei's salt and pepper shrimp. I have no idea what they're putting in that stuff, but I could eat that dish every day for the rest of the Sun's natural life cycle. I literally just housed an order half an hour ago. Luckily, Wei's has also curated a really special space and atmosphere. The lighting is always the perfect tinge of orange, everyone at the bar is always laughing, and the booths are filled with the contented faces of people I wish I were cool enough to hang out with.
What shoes are you rocking during service?
Back when I was behind the stick, I rocked the crustiest pair of Doc Martens you'd ever seen. Probably went through a pair a year before they eventually dissolved into sludge from all of the acid and sugar (I've never claimed to be the tidiest of bartenders). Now that I'm on the floor more than behind the bar, I've upgraded to a crisper pair of Solovairs.
Is there anything new and exciting coming up for you?
No way, man. I just opened a bar. I need a break.
