After finding a career in finance to be unfulfilling, Mohib Rahmati turned toward the Afghan comfort food he learned to cook from his mother, Zeigul. He started with a food truck and graduated to a stand in Midtown Manhattan. Things picked up and the New York Times stopped by before Covid ground everything to a halt in 2020.
But things weren’t all bleak: Around the same time, Mohib met his wife, Komel, a fellow hiker. Together, they discovered Beacon and decided to move there and build out a brick-and-mortar for Mohibi’s Afghan comfort food concept a few steps off Main Street.
Many visitors think the name Nansense refers to the Indian-style bread, but “nan means food in Farsi, so it’s really about sensible food,” says Komel, an interior designer who decorated the restaurant’s elegant yet casual interior.
Several tables and brass stools offer seating at this fast casual spot. Handcrafted turmeric-toned zellige tiles from Morocco cover the wall behind the serving station, which is custom-built for the space with reclaimed, live-edge wood.
Penny round floor tiles evoke the couple’s roots in Queens, where “all the old apartment buildings have them,” Komel says. Both are first-generation Americans. Her parents are from Pakistan, which shares a border and cultural elements with Afghanistan. “Pakistanis love Afghani food,” she says.
His parents came over as refugees after the Taliban defeated the Soviet Union in the 1980s. “Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires,” says Mohib. Refugees are known for establishing small chicken chains in the city, like Kennedy Fried Chicken.
Mohib now has some elbow room in an orderly and gleaming kitchen, where he creates weighty metal bowls of food from scratch and seeks to skewer the cliché of meat kabobs served with rice and a tomato.
Many dishes are kormas, or slow-cooked stews. Because Afghan food is little known in the United States, Mohib sees himself as an ambassador and the menu is simple and straightforward.
“We didn’t want to overwhelm with too many choices, especially as people get acclimated to the cuisine,” says Komel. “But we’re always open to expanding.” After a soft launch last week, they jettisoned a couple of dishes.
Consistent ingredients include tomato, eggplant, onions, garlic, coriander, and cumin. Assistant chef Garret Flowers cuts so many onions that he uses a dicer to help get the job done. “I’ll probably have to get some goggles, though my nose will still be runny,” he says.
Vegan and vegetarian options are available. Mohib tries to adhere to tradition, but his signature smash burger Americanizes chapli kebab, a dish from the Pashtun region made with ground beef with diced onions, tomato, cilantro, and traditional Afghan seasoning. Single ($7), double ($11) and triple ($15) stacks keep burger ordering simple. Add on masala shoestring fries ($5), served with seasoning and spicy ketchup.
Heat can be dialed in for the basmati rice-based bowls ($15, mild, medium, spicy), which come with a layer of kabuli (carrots and raisins) topped with a lemon zesty salad and choice of two out of three items: beans, beef ($2), and eggplant. Add-ons include mint-garlic yogurt ($1), Afghan bread ($1), and extra sauces ($.75).
A trio of small bites includes crispy bolani (stuffed flatbread) with a mint-garlic yogurt dipping sauce ($11) and banjan, an eggplant dish with a tomato and onion base, topped with the same yogurt and served with naan ($10). The Taco-bab is another fusion item that stuffs a crispy tortilla with meat, a salad, and chutney mayo ($9). To really eat “the Afghan way,” according to the menu, the Mehmani Plate ($25) is named for a gathering or party and offers a little bit of everything.
The limited sweets selection includes firni (milk pudding) and shyr birinj (rice pudding) for $6, which are infused with cardamom and topped with crumbled pistachios. There’s also Greek baklava ($5).
Afghans love lemonade ($5), says Komel. In addition to classic, mango, and pomegranate flavors, Nansense’s signature selection, made with mint and rose juice that turns the drink dark pink, is sweet but not saccharine.
This new spot, “the only Afghan restaurant in the entire valley,” says Komel, complements the Thai (Sukhothai), Nepalese (Momo Valley), Turkish (Nilufer’s Home Kitchen), Middle Eastern (Ziatun), and specialty Mexican (La Barbirria) joints in town.
Everything at Nansense is Halal and no alcohol will be served, but the casual spot is BYOB. For fun, Komel placed stickers with their logo over the faces of Michael Jordan, the Mona Lisa, and the figure in The Scream painting, which hang in a short hallway.
Mohib and Komel also sell compact Afghan rugs, which hang on the walls, but really, it’s all about the food. A painted slogan on the wall reads Nooshe Jain, “is what Afghans say when they give someone food,” says Komel. “May it nurture your soul.”
Nansense
2 Eliza Street, Beacon
