The King of All (Persian) Kabobs

It feels like I went on a wild goose chase to find the best Persian kabobs out there (minus the home made kind from my girl MA). After trying three different restaurants (there can't be TOO many more in the city), my vote goes for Cazba in Lonsdale, North Vancouver. The price was unbeatable, portions were ginormous and the tenderness and flavor of the meats was undeniably the best. For those of you who haven't tried these kabobs, I really encourage you to go out and get some. Kabobs have a way with me. For some strange reason, I can eat them all day, any day, and the problem is, I can't stop eating even when I'm full. I hate to admit it, but it's my crack. A definite PHAN FAVE!

The above two photos are from Cazba. I can't say I've tried too many items on these Persian menus but I don't think you can ever go wrong with my two choices of the Kabob Koobideh (two skewers of ground beef) or the Jujeh Kabob (one skewer of boneless chicken breast). Each are marinated to the tee with their herbs and spices and then bbq-ed to perfection on the grill and de-skewered on your plate. Always accompanied by a grilled tomato and a heaping amount of rice, this meal will have you wanting more. Something in the rice really gets me going as well, maybe it's the oil or butter that's soaked into each grain, I don't know, but it's scrumptious!!! Plus Cazba was the cheapest of the three ranging from $6.95-10.95 per dish! BEAT THAT!

And of course, you must order one or both of the yogurts to enjoy at first as an appetizer but then paired with your meats and rice with every spoonful. Above you will find the Mast-o Moosir (yogurt with shallots) and the Mas-o Khair (yogurt with cucumber). Both are divine and an absolute must when dining Persian. Now we've moved on to restaurant #2, Darcin. They used to be on Davie but I've recently heard that they've re-located to Pacific. I have yet to track this place down and give it a second whirl.

The one other dish I had a bite of was their heavily spiced and slow cooked lamb chops. I've looked for an alike dish like this at Daria and Cazba, no luck so I'll need to visit this place soon.

And again, the chicken and beef kabob skewers. Yummmmmm! Out of the 3 places I tried, Darcin was the most expensive ranging from about $11-$14 a dish. One thing to add, don't expect amazing service at these places, you go there strictly for the authentic food and for sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the posh Persian crowd!

And finally, I've learned to combine my cravings of both kabobs and order the combination of both! This time, I dined with LC at Daria on Denman. It was a take out food atmosphere and I expcted the food to come quick and come cheap but it was the opposite of that. So my fellow food lovers out there, take a lesson from my book and choose Cazba!