A good chicken kebab is hard to find. At many skewer houses, the lamb gets all the attention, and poultry versions–especially boneless–end up dry. That’s not the case at this plain but well-kept strip-mall dining room. Here, even the white meat stays wonderfully juicy. The lamb kebab is just as good–only the filet mignon was disappointing. Accompany all that meat with a generous plate of the sweet, fragrant rice-and-carrot pilaf called shirin polo and a dish of warm eggplant dip.
One thing you won’t find to go with your meal is alcohol, or even bottled water. Most sips, save for Persian tea and the sour yogurt drink called doogh, come from the soda fountain in the back corner. Service is fast and attentive–when one server noticed the sun beaming onto our faces, he rushed to close the shades.
Also good: Salad shirazi, a mix of tomato, onion, and cucumber; Cornish-hen kebabs; rice with barberries.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
