Over a decade ago, former Westword food editor Mark Antonation began his food-writing career by eating his way up Federal Boulevard. Now, we’re turning our attention to another vibrant culinary corridor.
The four-plus-mile stretch of Havana Street between Dartmouth and Sixth Avenue in Aurora is home to the most diverse array of international cuisine available in the metro area. From restaurants and markets to take-and-go shops and stands, food lovers of nearly any ethnicity or interest can find a place that will remind them of home or open new culinary doors. In Eat Up Havana, Westword contributor Antony Bruno will visit them all, one by one, week by week.
Previous stops:
Next Up: Watan Restaurant and Bakery
Tucked away in the corner of Watan Restaurant & Bakery on Aurora’s Havana Street is a framed black-and-white poster behind a cracked piece of glass.
It hangs where the wall meets the ceiling against the windowed building facade, almost invisible behind the left shoulder of anyone entering the establishment. Pictured is a young boy of maybe six years old. Head shaved. Woven sweater. Hands clutching the fabric of his loose, cloth pants.
Published by UNHCR — the UN international agency for displaced children — the photo was taken at the Shamak refugee camp in the Pul-I-Kumri region of Afghanistan in 1996, where the boy had fled Taliban forces and the civil war that was ravishing the country at the time.
It lists no name and no indication of what’s happened to him since. At first glance, it’s just another unknown, innocent victim of the global unrest waged by his elders.
Only he is not nameless. His is Abdulaziz Azimi, and he is the owner of the very restaurant in which that poster now hangs.
What has this got to do with the food? Well…everything.
“It’s Not American Bread”
“Watan” in Arabic translates roughly to “homeland” and although Azimi was forced to flee his homeland with little more than the few possessions he could carry, his knowledge of baking and the flavors of his native country could not be left behind.
After leaving Afghanistan, Azimi was relocated to Turkey, where he eventually got work at a bakery and learned the craft, which he brought with him to the U.S. Instead of trying to adapt his knowledge to American-style baking, Watan Restaurant & Bakery features a wide variety of baked goods hailing from Afghanistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Iran.
That includes Uzbek non, a round, thick, fluffy pita-like bread that can serve as the base for all manner of meals (think wrapped around grilled kebabs, or as a container for fried-chickpea falafel) or just torn up into chunks and served with a meal.
Other featured breads include barbari bread (a golden-brown flatbread with a pretzel-like texture), Irani taftan (a round, chewy bread similar to Indian naan), and Turkish simit (a ringed loaf encrusted with sesame seeds).
Watan also offers a number of sweet and flavored breads, including the Persian milk bread shirmal, the traditional date-sweetened khajor, and baklava-like zaban cookies.
“It’s not American bread,” Azimi says. “American bread has too much salt. Too much baking soda. All my customers love this bread.”
Many of those customers are fellow immigrants or their children, seeking their own connection to the “homeland.” There’s a steady flow of customers entering the store, speaking Arabic or Farsi, and walking out with bags of bread and rolls to bring home for their family meals. Azimi’s breads can also be found at many of the Middle Eastern markets he distributes to, such as the Arash International Market. Soon, if Azimi has his way, he’ll expand his reach to markets across Colorado.
Beyond the Kebab
Azimi came to the U.S. in 2013 and operated a market in Texas before moving to Colorado. In 2019, he opened Sara’s Market and Bakery and five months ago, he renamed and relocated the business.
In addition to the move and the rebranding, Watan expanded into a sit-down restaurant that is also focused on traditional Afghani fare. That includes a variety of kebabs, such as the ground beef koobideh and others made with chunks of chicken and lamb, as well as lamb chops, falafel and spiced meatballs.
For the real Afghani deal, however, put aside the safety of the kebab and opt instead for the Qabili Uzbaki, a massive marinated and braised lamb shank covered with rice, caramelized carrots and raisins — pictures don’t do it justice, as the rice completely buries the meat.
Another popular favorite, according to Azimi, is bolani: a pancake-like mix of potatoes, cilantro and scallions.
The Bread Connection
All of it, of course, is more than just food. For Azimi and his customers, it’s a connection to their home and a memory of their past. For those without the same background, it’s a brief taste of another land and culture.
Food is a reflection of culture and identity, and bread is perhaps the most telling indicator of all. Despite mostly using the same four ingredients — flour, water, salt and yeast — bread takes different forms and has different purposes depending on where it’s from. The shape of your bread is an avatar of sorts for your entire cultural identity, be that a French baguette, an Italian ciabatta, an Uzbek non or Wonder Bread.
It’s the reason why so many other Middle Eastern bakeries across the country use the word “Watan” in their names — the bread they bake is a mainline back to the homeland.
For someone like Azimi, forced away from that homeland as a small child and living in a foreign land, baking and sharing the bread from his childhood seems a fitting way to regain some measure of control, comfort and connection.
Watan Restaurant & Bakery is located at 2680 South Havana Street in Aurora and is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. To view the menu and find more information, visit watanrestaurantbakery.com.