These three kebab houses prove what fast food at its best can do: nurture and sustain a local population with authentic cooking.
Owners Mohammad Afzal and Abdul Alnoor are hands-on, and their skewered meats ($8.99 to $13.99), baked-to-order breads, and stews are superb. Also try the shareable karahis ($19.99), hunks of grilled meat doused in a heady sauce of tomatoes, chilies, ginger, and garlic and served in a hammered-metal wok.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
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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.
