Owners are serving family recipes at this hidden garden restaurant. Find it on Wilshire, just east of La Cienega. The stews and kabobs are especially flavorful.

West LA's Super Sun Market is one of the best Iranian owned grocery stores in the city. Tucked away in the back is a deli counter that serves fresh kabobs, grilled-to-order and an enormous array of take-out.

Javan's dining room is well-lit and especially pleasant during dinner on the weekends. There's a debate over whether their kababs are better than their stews that's best settled by a side by side taste test.

Though the dining room can only be described as gaudy, Darya in West LA serves some of the city's freshest kabobs. Their stews are not among the best, but the sweets, especially if they have the Zoolbia (a funnel-cake like fritter) are a great way to end the meal.

The belly dancers during dinner provoke smirks among Iranian clientele because none of them are actually of Iranian descent. Nevertheless, Caspian serves an honorable Persian buffet during weekend lunch that draws businessmen, students and ladies who lunch.

Tucked inside the South Coast Plaza shopping complex is this elegant Persian dining room, not to be confused with the Darya in West LA. The kashka bademjan, an eggplant dip with a topping of crispy, caramelized onions, is a must-taste.

The tadig is great here, made with plenty of butter and sometimes made with potatoes too, but the cherry rice and chicken kabob combination is a favorite among regulars.

Though Armenian restaurants outnumber Iranian ones in Glendale, Raffi's Place offers a good blend of Iranian cuisine with some Armenian influence.

There are perhaps a dozen Persian restaurants along this stretch of Westwood Boulevard, but most of them are serving sub-par food. Shaherzad stands out for serving juicy koobideh kabobs, the kind made from ground meat, onions and fresh herbs.