House of Kabobs in downtown Sunnyvale

[sairuh]

I have passed the House of Kabobs several times, and finally decided to try it out. It's located in the old Andoh location (*sniff* I miss their ten-musu), facing Sunnyvale Ave. on the backside of Murphy St. Their focus is, as the name states, kabobs, but with several other Persian dishes.

I must say, HoK serves some of the *best* kashk bademjan, ever. It rivals the version done at Afgan-Persian (formerly Paradise in Mtn View, now in Sunnyvale on Mary). It's made of roasted mashed eggplant, topped with Persian sour cream (kashk), chopped walnuts and minted olive oil. You scoop it up and eat with lavash or pita.

I've tried two of the kabobs: chicken koobideh (based on ground chicken) and chicken breast chunks. Strangely and surprisingly (in a good way), the ground version is much more juicy and flavorful than the chunk version. The chunky one had a pleasantly strong lemon-saffron flavor, but was somewhat on the dry side.

Kabobs are served with a generous amount of buttered saffron rice and a roasted tomato. Three sauces are offered: a yummy, tart garlicky yogurt one, a red spicy one (a smoother, slightly more interestingly subtle version than at other falafel places), and a pinkish-orange one I don't care for (a vaguely spicy thousand island? unclear).

I had the veggie appetizer combo once. The falafel is heavy and not inspiring (House of Falafel and the Flying Falafel are far superior, IMO). The dolmas were minty and good, but not great enough that I'd order them regularly. I don't remember what I thought of the hummus, alas.

There are a couple stews served (I have not tried), but unfortunately no fasenjan.

I haven't tried their tea or sweets, as I've only gotten take away so far.

[katya]

I haven't tried the chicken koobideh, but I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Here's my report:

Ground Shaking Persian Food at Sunnyvale’s House of Kabobs
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/425075

And my Persian rankings:

1. Khayyam's - Albany (the master - now closed - against which all Persian restaurants will forever be judged
)2. Pomegranate - Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Concord (great barg and joojeh kabob with zereshk polo; pomegranate chicken is good but sweet taste can be cloying)
3. Shalizaar - Belmont (I've only been to the old San Mateo location)
4. HOUSE OF KABOBS - SUNNYVALE
5. Chelokababi - Sunnyvale
6. Yas - San Jose (really impressive selection of polos - but other food is just OK)
7. Afghan Persian Kabob - Sunnyvale
8. Leila - San Francisco
9. Kabob House Halal - Santa Clara
10. Rose Market - Mountain View
11. City Kabob - Sunnyvale
12. Alborz - Berkeley
13. Kabob House - Pleasant Hill
14. Bijan - Fremont (food too oily, and stews either too sweet or too ketchup-y)