Marko C.
Yelp
I was invited to eat lunch at Shaherzad by one of my Persian friends. He said that this restaurant was the best in town. I ate, I smiled, & I agreed! 4.5 stars!!
Shaherzad is a cute little restaurant located on Westood Blvd, close to Wilshire. It is tucked away among many of the shops that front Westwood Blvd. Don't blink too quickly, or you might miss the restaurant! Once you find it, you will have discovered "A Whole New World" of Persian Cuisine!
I have to once again begin my review by stating that service always begins and makes a meal for me. When I arrived at the restaurant, the very friendly and super energetic server, Seegar (spelling? Sounds like Cigar) greeted me with tons of love. She was an awesome server throughout the meal! She really worked hard to make it a great experience for me. Thank you!
We started off our meal by sipping a House Doogh, which is a yogurt based drink that has added salt and spices. Here at Shaherzad, it tasted like they added oregano to the yogurt drink. It was salty, yet refreshing to drink. It goes very well with the meal as the yogurt base helps to smooth out much of the flavors from the meal.
For appetizers, we were given flat bread that was served with a cucumber and yogurt dip, butter, and raw onions. They make the bread FRESH right in the back of the restaurant (you can watch them make it) and it is super hot, cripsy on the outside, and chewy on the inside. Delish!
Another appetizer we had was the Kashk Bademjan. This dish was seasoned eggplant with a topping of kashk yogurt sauce, sautéed onion, and mint. It was fun to get this appetizer and eat it with the flat bread. The eggplant was cooked so well, that it blended well with the sautee'd onions (almost caramalized). What a treat!
For my main meal, I had a combination plate with two types of meat. The first was the Chelo Kabob Barg. This was a flat tender slices of all natural filet mignon, marinated in special house recipe, broiled on open flame. I have to be honest - I LOVED this dish. I typically don't like fillet mignon because of it's iron taste, but this dish was bursting with flavors. The meat was tender, and cooked to perfection where all of the meat's natural favors came rushing to my tongue.
The second meat was the Beef Koobideh. This was seasoned ground sirloin mixed with grated onions and rolled around skewer, broiled on open flame. Upon my first bite, I thought of meatloaf but very fancy. It was flavorful and succulent seasonings in this meat skewer that just transported me back to the ancient Persian culture. Very delish and recommended!
Both meats were served on one platter, and it was accompanied by white and yellow rice, and a grilled tomato. I was instructed that the trick is to break apart the tomato and mix it with the two rice types, along with some butter. Heaven!
We ended the meal with two treats: The first treat was the Turkish Coffee. A cute little cup of espresso-like coffee that had a HUGE bark & bite! The coffee was nice an flavorful and strong. You add two packets of sugar to it to bring out the flavors in the coffee. If you are out for an adventure, ask your server to read your coffee grounds on the bottom of the cup after you've finished, as the Persians think that this is a good source of fortune telling. FUN!
We also ate the Persian Baklava. Okay, so I've had many types of Baklava in my life, but this was my first experience of eating Persian Baklava. It wasn't sweet like many of the others that I've tried. It was sort of chewy (like jelly filling chewy) and had HUGE flavors of pistacio, cinnamon and I believe rosewater! I actually wanted a second piece, but wasn't brave enough to ask for one! hahah!
You KNOW I'll be back to get more yummy-ness from this restaurant!
Service Grade: A+ (Did I mention that Seegar / Cigar ROCKS?!). Thank you!
Food Grade: A-.
Overall impression: A-