Founder of First Iranian Kabob House Chain in America Dies of Heart Attack
Independent Aggregator of Iran-related News/Events, Kodoom.com: According to Washington Post, Mike (Nezameddin) Daryoush, founder of Moby Dick House of Kabob fast service chain restaurant, dies at 66 of heart attack in Washington, DC. It is not known if the heart condition was caused by a meat-based diet, genetic or other lifestyle factors.
Named after Herman Melville's masterpiece, also Tehran's famous restaurant in the 70's serving the US Embassy, Mobdy Dick House of Kabob was the first major restaurant chain in the US that served Iranian style Kabobs with reasonable quality and prices.
Nezameddin Daryoush was born in Shiraz in 1953. He lost both his parents by the time he was eight. He lived with an aunt before moving in the mid-1970s to the United States, where he began going by Mike. He studied electrical engineering at George Washington University and then began his work in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher, a waiter and a bartender before he opened his first restaurant — Moby’s Luncheonette in Bethesda, MD — a typical American breakfast-and-lunch joint.
Mr. Daryoush replaced Moby’s Luncheonette with the first Moby Dick House of Kabob in 1989. The second Moby Dick opened in 1992 in Georgetown and the first Northern Virginia location opened in McLean in 1994. The most recent additions to the chain opened in Baltimore and Pikesville, Maryland, in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Moby Dick is currently the sixth-largest locally based restaurant chain, according to Washington Business Journal. Last year, it received the RAMMY Award for Favorite Fast Bites of the Year from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.
Moby Dick appetizers today include a dish of sauteed eggplant and yogurt, called kashk bademjan, and the yogurt shallot dip must-o-mooseer. Kabob platters feature marinated ground beef called kubideh, chenjeh grilled steak, lamb barreh and joojeh grilled chicken breast.
Mr. Daryoush, whose popular fast-casual chain grew over three decades to include 24 locations across the Washington region and gave many local diners their first taste of Persian food, died May 9 at a hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was 66. The cause was a heart attack, said his son Ned Daryoush, a former college football player who is also vice president of the business.
His marriage to Laura Rogers ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 17 years, Suzan Behpour of Potomac, Maryland; two sons from his first marriage, Ned Daryoush of Washington and Josh Daryoush of Nashville; and two sons from his second marriage, Aarod Daryoush and Aaram Daryoush, both of Potomac.
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