Magic Carpet Ride to Shaherzad

Westwood and Beverly Hills are large Persian communities, so it is therefore no surprise to find some of the best Persian food there. Topping that list is Shaherzad. Enormous portions and exotic spices, exactly what you expect from Middle Eastern food. For most of us, our knowledge of Middle Eastern food ends with kabobs and falafal, and they have a lot of those.

There are a great many varieties, tastes and textures of Middle Eastern food, so its a shame there aren't more exposure.

Well, that secret is our gain. Kabobs are definitely the centerpiece of their menu, but the flavored rice is something that adds an exciting extra dimension.



Like Indian food, it's vital to get bread with your meal. Funny enough, there are similar culinary terms in Farsi and Indian. Persians have a tandour oven, just as Indians have a tandoori. The bread is called nan-e lavash (or nan-e barbari and sangak), Indians have naan bread which is similar in look and cooking method in the tandoor.

We also got a side bowl Mast'o Khiar, which is yogurt, herbs and cucumber that tastes like a zingy, slightly minty, tzhiki (You Lika Da Sauce?). Not only is it a refreshing dipping sauce, but they give you a generous portion with which we scurried away.

We each ordered a version of a kabob. I got the chicken kubideh plate with cherry and saffron rice, and Nayan got the beef kubideh sandwich. Kubideh is ground, spiced meat formed back onto a skewer and cooked over an open flame. Other kabobs are thick cut meat like marinated tenderloin or lamb.



I love kubideh, it has a very pungent smell with a rich flavor, no matter what the base meat is. Shaherzad is the only place I've seen flavored rice, and the cherry rice really had a semi-sweet cherry infusion.



Look how reddish-purple the rice is, contrasting brilliantly against the saturated gold saffron rice grains. The whole plate is a colorful pallete, with the yellow of the kubideh dividing the green and orange of the side salad and roasted tomato from the vibrant rice.

To my surprise, the rice was semi sweet, and not sour or savory like I thought. When I heard about cherry rice, I figured it was a variation like dark unsweeted chocolate, but it was light and refreshing. The tiny cherries burst with a sweet and sour punch.

The portions are Claim Jumper sized. I took two-thirds of my meal home, along with flatbread and yogurt sauce.

Shaherzad sets the standard for Persian food in Los Angeles. Go there first, then compare all the other places, I think you'll be very long in finding an equal.