Berenjak
Persian restaurant · Downtown Los Angeles ·
Modern Persian cuisine with charcoal-grilled kababs, mazeh, breads
Modern Persian cuisine with charcoal-grilled kababs, mazeh, breads
"A new London import known for coal-grilled kebabs and family-style dining, this swanky Persian spot sits on the garden floor of Soho Warehouse and draws on founder Kian Samyani’s childhood in Tehran. Shared plates invite discovery — like a jammy coal-fired eggplant dip simmered with tomato and strained yogurt with cucumber — and the menu ranges from meze to kebabs to stews in a twinkling, date-night-ready room that leans quiet luxury. Black truffle olivieh renders chicken salad luxurious with mayonnaise, shredded chicken, crunchy pickles, and black truffle, perfect with sesame-crusted taftoon. The hummus uses black chickpeas blended with sunflower seed tahini for an impossibly smooth, nutty dip; tikkeh masti (beef fillet) is so tender it cuts with a fork; and the house rice, tossed with salted butter, saffron, and pops of crispy rice, becomes a savory, textural wonderland. It’s dark and romantic, with low-burning candlesticks and a heater-equipped garden patio that feels like an enchanted forest, though the music can be louder than the room’s intimate mood. For a broad sampling, the $90-per-person Feast menu starts with olives, assorted dips and flatbreads, continues with a selection of kebab, and finishes with date-packed white chocolate cookies." - Kat Thompson
"Now operating on the garden floor of Soho Warehouse in the Arts District, this London-born Iranian restaurant from chef Kian Samyani—founded in 2018 and inspired by Tehran’s vibrant kebab (also spelled “kabab”) houses—arrives with widespread acclaim, including a Michelin Bib Gourmand in London. The LA menu centers on mezze, fresh bread, khoresht, and kebabs; start with taftoon, a wood-oven-baked seeded sourdough, then move to mezze like olives pooled with lemon and garlic or creamy hummus. Kebabs are cooked over coals and include minced lamb shoulder, marinated chicken, beef filet, and more." - Rebecca Roland
"This Iranian kebab restaurantfrom Londonjust opened an LA branch inside the Arts District Soho House, but unlike the members-only location at Soho House Brooklyn, this one is fully open to the public. The space has tall factory windows and garden courtyard seating, and the menu sticks mostly to traditional Persian dishes such as charcoal-grilled koobideh and gormeh sabzi, plus fun cocktails infused with Persian flavors like a saffron carajillo." - Cathy Park
"Coal-grilled kebabs and family-style mezze set the tone at this London-born Iranian restaurant’s first publicly accessible U.S. location on the garden floor of Soho Warehouse, a collaboration between Soho House and JKS Restaurants and founded by chef Kian Samyani in 2018, whose London outposts have earned widespread acclaim, including a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Meals are designed for sharing: start with taftoon, a wood-oven-baked seeded sourdough flatbread, or sangak, a seeded whole wheat flatbread, then mezze like zeytoon (olives with lemon and garlic), panir sabzi (Bulgarian white cheese topped with radish, fresh herbs, and sesame seeds), mast o khiar (strained yogurt with cucumber, mint, and green raisins), and creamy hummus made with black chickpeas and sunflower seed tahini. Kebabs are grilled over coals for deep smokiness and char—options include koobideh with minced lamb shoulder, chicken jujeh marinated in saffron, yogurt, lemon, and tomato, tikkeh masti with beef filet, garlic, onion, and yogurt, chenjeh with onion, saffron, and black pepper, and prawn meygoo—and every platter arrives with sangak. Sofreh and sides round things out, from shirazi salad with diced tomato or saffron-tinged rice to torshi haftebijar (pickled cauliflower and carrots) and shareable fried potatoes, plus two khoresht: gormeh sabzi with lamb, kidney beans, and dried lime, and ghaimeh bademjoon, an eggplant stew with yellow peas, dried lime, and tomato. Drinks lean into Iranian flavors via a full liquor program—think a saffron carajillo and the Grown Up Doogh—with wines spanning California, Lebanon, Armenia, Italy, and Greece, and zero-proof options like a tangy black lime sharbat and bright elderflower sekanjabin with cucumber and apple cider vinegar. The room blends Soho Warehouse’s mid-century style with the feeling of a Tehran garden—rich rugs, scalloped chandeliers, and candlelight flow onto a tree-shaded patio that reads like a secret garden, while gold-framed art evokes a family home, with a separate public entrance on the building’s front side. The name nods to the golden, crispy rice Samyani made in childhood, and hours run 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday." - Rebecca Roland
"London-based Iranian restaurant arriving to the Arts District’s Soho Warehouse in late September, this first publicly accessible U.S. outpost channels Tehran kebab houses via Kian Samyani’s family recipes, serving coal-grilled kebabs and khoresht alongside smaller plates like hummus, sangak (flatbread), and zeytoon (olives); and while there’s already a Dumbo House location, that one is members-only. Set in the ground-floor garden, it will make the most of LA’s year-round outdoor weather." - Rebecca Roland