Persian Power

As we discussed in a previous post the term Mediterranean food is a broad term encompassing many different cultures and Persian is definitely one of my favorites under that umbrella.  It has many of the dishes that you might be familiar with in Greek or Lebanese cooking but a few twist thrown in there.

I am combing a few lunch outings into this one post in order to give you a broader sampling of this pretty awesome cuisine.  Shish Kabob Café II is located at Fry and I-10, it is a small hole-in-the-wall located in the Target strip center, unassuming yet so delicious.  You food is served on fine china of styrafoam and plastic baskets, but I could care less about presentation and as you know am all about the flavor.

The hummus here is a very hardy dish, no photo, but it is a little too smoky for my liking along with the pita being a little too tough for my liking.  So that has led me to one of my other favorite appetizers that you can find in most Med restaurants.

Dolmas are stuffed grape leaves, filled with rice and spices, and then covered in an olive oil.  These are great because they are light and the olive oil is accented with a twist of lemon.  Smack dab in the middle of the plate is a dollop of yogurt, and a sprinkling of pepper that kicks the flavor up.

Then there is the good old Med staple, the gyro.  I am a big fan of lamb meat in my gyro, nothing like some tender lamb to scarf down in a warm pita.  Granted, the pita here is a tougher pita than I am used to it does not really add to the quality of the ingredients but the insides are good enough to carry this weak bread.  The other difference here is the sauce and fillings compared to other gyros I am used to.  Usually, a gyro in my mind is lettuce, and a tzatziki sauce (a creamy cucumber sauce), but this one uses a pickled veggie mix along with the plain yogurt.  I love this combo, you get a much spicier gyro and it is completely different than what you tend to find at the Greek restaurants. 

My other favorite meal here is koobideh (various spellings available), basically a meat kebab made up of minced meat formed into a long shape and thrown on a grill.  The chicken and beef here is pretty delicious, two tender juicy strips grilled up to awesome. 

The perfect accompaniment to this meat is the veggies; first you get some grilled tomatoes, one of my favorite grilled veggies, tender and drizzled in an oil/spice blend.  Then there is the salad, a cold mix of onions, tomatoes, oil and spices full of tart and bold flavors.  The bed of rice is known as Polo, a long grain rice (similar to basmati) cooked up with some great flavor.