[endymion]

Yeah the rice is excellent. Very much like Middle Eastern food but definitely different. They have a gyro and falafel and I think kibbeh, and I got some grape leaves that were great (with some bizarre Iranian name, but they were just grape leaves) but there is uniquely Persian stuff too.

One interesting thing was the beef kebabs. They aren't "steak" kebabs. It's one big long piece of meat that looks kind of like roast lamb, no skewer. According to my Persian friend, they use ground beef. They mix it with egg and bread crumbs and all kinds of spices and then shape it into ... uh ... well it's ... I don't want to say that it's shaped like a turd but I can't think of any other way to put it. But wow yummy.

They serve both the beef and the chicken kebabs with this sauce that tasted kind of like tzatziki, but with a lot of dill. Maybe a cucumber sauce with spices and dill, but not sure exactly. And they have this sprinkle that goes great on the meat that my friend said is made out of dried pomegranate or cranberries or something like that. Very bold flavors in all of it.

I can't say anything about Iranian food in general, but my lunch today had that combination of sweet and savory notes that you normally only see in Asian food, not in Western food. Americans seem to like either sweet OR savory, never both.