The decision to eat at Shamshiri Grill was riddled with bickering and mudslinging. Between myself, WonTuan, Tofu, The Face Puncher, and The Communist, we spent a whole afternoon wavering between Indonesian (suggested by The Communist) vs. Persian food (craved by WonTuan and me) for the evening’s dinner. Soprano Man was lucky enough to be ignorant of the whole ordeal. Under severe pressure and threats of violence against her life, The Communist bowed out and Persian food it was!
I’m not quite sure why Shamshiri Grill only has 3.5 stars on Yelp. I do rather enjoy the food as have most other people I’ve brought here. I may even like its neighbor up the street a bit more, Flame. In any case, we came, we ate, we conquered!
Shirazi Salad diced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, parsley, lemon dressing
The Face Puncher and I took over the reigns when it came to order. Men are extremely useless sometimes. I think we did a good job with regard to balance and portions. I never had this exact salad before, but recognized the flavors. It reminded me of tabouleh, but with cucumbers. I really found it refreshing.
Basmati Rice
Soprano Man exclaimed “Oh look, there’s cheese on the rice!” I said no, Soprano Man, that is Saffron infused rice. The Face Puncher did not believe me, but WonTuan helped me convince the culinary savages that it was not in fact cheese, but saffron infused rice. There was plenty of basmatic rice to go around.
Gheymeh Bademjan eggplant stew, sautéed diced beef, onions and yellow split peas, saffron tomato sauce
One of my favorite Persian stews! I almost love anything tomato-ey, and this is no exception. The subtle hint of saffron combined with the tomatoes and yellow split peas made a delicious base of flavor for the added beef and eggplant. I highly recommend this one!
Gormeh Sabzi fresh green herbs, sautéed and stewed with kidney beans, dried lime, lamb shank
This stew was probably less enjoyed at our table. The stewed green herbs made for a really herbaceous flavor that was such a contrast to the previous stew. The lamb shank was tender and falling off the bone.
Koobideh
Now on to the meat, which is of course, is the real star of the show in any Persian meal. The koobideh here is delicious seasoned and grilled to moist perfection. Our order came with 2 logs of poop which I happily divided up into mini poop logs for everyone to enjoy.
Lamb Kabob
The lamb was juicy and tender. I would order this one again.
For a solid Persian meal, I would recommend Shamshiri. I know my company was pretty happy with the food. Good food always fuels good conversation, which we had a lot of that night. The meal was a great affordable price too. Flame probably has better meat dishes, but its waaay pricier.
1712 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Overworked. Underfed. 