In the Land of Self-Evident Restaurant Names

A while back we happened upon this smallish Persian/Afghan place tucked away in a strip mall in Sunnyvale. It is called, appropriately enough, Persian/Afghan Kabob. At the time, we were on our way to the El Pollo Loco in the same plaza, when we turned to each other and asked, do we really want to eat at another chain store? And so, on a whim, we gave this place a try.

It's obviously a tight-knit family-run affair, and eating there is like being invited over to a friend's house for dinner. Few frills, except for the nekkid women dancing on the wall tapestries. Interesting. My previous experience with Persian food/bbq being somewhat dry, I told our server, who happened to be the owner's young son, to give me something with gravy on it. Lots of gravy.

We started out with the hummus ($3.95): straightforward, smooth, nutty and delicious. Next came the lentil soup that was complimentary with all of our entrees. Flavorful stewed lentils with a drizzle of yogurt sauce on top - a nice touch.



What followed was exactly what we wanted: yummy stuff with lots of gravy. We had the aushak ($10.95), a dish of tender dumplings filled with leek and spring onions and slathered with meat sauce topped with yogurt sauce. Also had the quabili polo ($10.95), savory bits of lamb, carrot and raisins mixed into fragrant basmati rice. It reminded me a lot of the Burmese curry chicken rice that my parents make. And the koufta challow ($11.95), delicious savory beef meatballs in a tomato-based sauce over basmati saffron rice. And lastly we couldn't leave without some koubideh a la carte ($3.50), which is probably the only barbequed Persian dish I'd recommend that is juicy rather than dry.

Tender, flavorful aushak.

Tasty and delicious koufta challow.

Koubideh and quabili polo.

Then, the owner's son was so pleased at the pictures we were taking that they asked us to send them the pictures and gave us a piece of flaky, not-too-sweet baklava, on the house. We'll definitely be going back.