Persian pilsner and purpose: Davis brewer raises a glass against Iranian regime

Karan Khoshcar lived through the Iranian revolution, immigrated to Davis in 1983 and crafted a career repairing cars in the Sacramento area. Now pseudo-retired, he’s able to pursue his passion project: advocating one beer at a time against the fundamentalist regime that transformed his homeland.

Khoshcar is the creator of Rostam 36, an easy-drinking pilsner that draws from Persian culture but bears no love for the nation’s Islamic leaders. Brennan Fleming, Khoshcar’s friend and owner of Dunloe Brewing in Davis, produced the initial batch of 3,000 cans this summer, at which point Khoshcar set off in his Rostam 36-branded van to place them in restaurants up and down California.

The first beer made from malted barley was created in what is now western Iran; today, the sale and consumption of alcohol are banned in the Middle East nation. But Persians Americans have crafted their own booze culture using native flavors — midtown Sacramento star Maydoon, for example, serves cocktails with pomegranate liqueur, sour cherry syrup and cardamom.

Rostam 36 balances its hops’ bitterness with the addition of orange blossoms, whose floral taste frequently appears in Persian entrees and desserts. The 5.5% ABV beer is currently sold for about $7 at 16 restaurants including Maydoon, Famous Kabob in Arden Arcade, Shahrzad Fine Persian Cuisine in Rancho Cordova, Oshima Sushi Sports Bar in North Natomas and Davis’ Delta of Venus and Stand Up Kabob, the latter of which Khoshcar owned until selling it to his daughter’s fiancé in June.

Shoppers can buy four-packs of Rostam 36 from Yolo Fruit Stand along Interstate 80 and the Yolo Causeway just east of town. Khoshcar plans to eventually debut Rostam hard cider and 750-milliliter bottles of Rostam 36 dyed “blood red” with saffron, he said.

Rostam is a legendary figure in Persian mythology, his exploits immortalized in “Shahnameh,” a 10th-century epic poem crafted over 33 years by the poet Ferdowsi that’s also known as “The Persian Book of Kings.” His bearded face graces the front of Khoshcar’s sea-blue cans, while the back hosts his resistance to current authoritarian laws.

There’s an image of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested in 2022 for not wearing her hijab to the Iranian morality police’s liking and died in custody under suspicious circumstances, tugging on the Grand Ayatollah’s beard with her hair free-flowing. “Standing With Iranian Women Revolution Globally,” is stamped beneath.

Khoshcar’s father was working as a bank executive when the Iranian Revolution erupted in the late 1970s. He became a truck driver, often doing roadside repairs on the old GMC with 10-year-old Karan in tow.

The lessons stuck, and Khoshcar became an auto repairman in 1987 after finishing his education at Davis High School. He worked at area dealerships until buying the building at 5100 Chiles Road, the site of his first employer, in 2012. It now houses used car dealer Shoman Auto Group, as well as Stand Up Kabob in the back.

Khoshcar and Fleming have produced about 30,000 cans of Rostam 36 so far. It’s unlikely to become a lucrative revenue stream anytime soon, but that doesn’t bother the creator.

“Everything I do is with passion. ... I do what I believe in, not necessarily what makes money,“ Khoshcar said. “Having seen the unfair treatment of people, I would really like to oppose extremism, and that’s why I’ve spent so much of my life over the last couple of years trying to defeat extremism.”

What I’m Eating

Palermo Ristorante Italiano is a family affair. Giovanni Toccagino Sr. immigrated from Palermo, Sicily’s capital, and ran his upscale-yet-unpretentious Southern Italian restaurant in Palo Alto from 1993 to 2003 before opening the Elk Grove iteration in 2005.

Giovanni Sr. and his wife Pina are still dining room fixtures in their early ’80s, but Giovanni Jr. now runs the kitchen off Elk Grove Boulevard. His sister, Oriana, manages the front-of-house, and two grandchildren wait tables in the reflection of the dining room’s angled mirrors and dark wood bar.

Heads turn in Palermo’s dining room as servers deliver heaping towers of lasagna ($38), each five-pound slice gargantuan enough to easily satiate three customers. It’s Palermo’s most popular and time-consuming dish, 18 thick layers of pasta, tomato sauce and ground pork and beef still prepped by Giovanni Sr. each morning.

The city of Palermo abuts the Tyrrhenian Sea, and seafood is huge part of Sicilian cuisine. Palermo Ristorante Italiano’s specials menu regularly features playful dishes such as Sicilian cannelloni ($35), a crab-scallop-shrimp-salmon mixture inside a pasta tube topped with vodka sauce, while risotto frutti di mare ($36) on the main menu is a try-it-all collection of squid, green-lipped mussels, the fish of the day and more.

Pesto linguine spills out of Palermo’s eggplant alla Norma ($21) like Medusa’s writhing snakes, hidden with prosciutto cotto and mascarpone under fried aubergines slices, melted mozzarella and a layer of tomato sauce.

Palermo Ristorante Italiano

Address: 9632 Emerald Oak Drive, Suite L, Elk Grove

Hours: 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday; 4-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; closed Monday

Phone: 916-686-1582

Website: palermo-ristorante.com

Drinks: Full bar

Vegetarian options: A few appetizers, Caesar salad ($11) and linguine alla carrettiera ($16) with garlic and crushed red pepper are all available, and customers can design their own pasta from a range of shapes and sauces.

Noise level: Quiet with a rumbling undercurrent of conversation

Outdoor seating: None

Openings & Closings

▪ Greenhouse Penryn held its grand opening Jan. 3 at 3129 Penryn Road, the small Placer County town’s first new restaurant in quite some time. A farm-to-table ethos influences waffles, toasts, sandwiches and salads at the breakfast-and-lunch spot open seven days a week.

▪ Orale Cantina opened Jan. 4 at 3701 Stockton Blvd., the Oak Park space where Mighty Kong Cafe previously was. Gabriela Sanchez and Haleem Haider’s Mexican fusion concept rolls out Sinaloan-style sushi, mariscos, tacos and more.

▪ 5 Tacos & Beers opened its long-awaited midtown Sacramento location Sunday at 1627 16th St., formerly home to Hot Italian. Customers have long enjoyed its craft beers and taco platters filled with Mary’s Chicken al pastor, grilled octopus or sauteed portobello mushrooms at three sister locations in the East Bay.

This story was originally published January 9, 2025 at 8:49 AM.