#sangak

Sangak Grill is a Persian restaurant in the heart of Pico-Robertson (a Jewish neighborhood). The food is kosher and dairy free. They’re one of the few places that bakes their own sangak bread. A couple of people came just for some fresh sangak bread ($3.50). There was a big oven in the kitchen but the baker wasn’t making bread during my visit. They make leftover sangak into sangak chips.

The restaurant is fairly large and very casual. There are murals on the wall and they play Middle Eastern music and have a few tvs on. Order at the counter.

The menu includes appetizers, sides, soups, salads, wraps, entrees (kabobs) and desserts. The menu says they’re famous for their barley soup, hummus, and beef koobideh. Entrees come with basmati rice, grilled tomato and sangak bread.

I ordered takeout and the food containers felt nice and heavy.

* Sangak: I’ve had sangak a couple of places. Sangak Grill’s was softer, thinner, and the indents were smaller. It wasn’t my favorite sangak.

* Beef koobideh ($14.99 for two skewers): The food was simple but delicious. The ground beef was tender and spiced without being too salty. There was so much rice. I always enjoy a grilled tomato and this one had a nice char on it. I wrapped the koobideh in the soft sangak with some fresh herbs and raw white onion – so good. I would have preferred pickles to raw onion but I don’t think that’s the Persian way?

* Vegan plate (dolmas, tabouli, hummus, shirazi cucumber salad, sangak chips): Mr. Froyo ate it silently, which usually means it’s really good. He thinks it had MSG though, because he had a reaction. It looked fresh and appetizing. I didn’t get to try anything.

4.5 out of 5 stars

I’ve been to many Armenian markets, big and small. Golden Market is medium sized with wider aisles. It looks cleaner than most of the other Armenian markets in the area. They have a meat, seafood, cheese and deli counter with some of their housemade dips, salads, noodles, rice, and dolmas/sarma. They don’t make their own hummus though. They have seasoned meat for kabobs! And lots of smoked fish.

The market also has fresh produce (looked nice, they even had quince), nuts, dried fruit, ice cream, frozen foods, spices, liquor, baked goods from local bakeries (including sangak).

Raw almonds were $6.99/lb. Persian cucumbers were $1.99/lb. Button mushrooms were $3.99/lb. The prices are a little higher here than the other Armenian markets but it does look nicer inside.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Super Sun is a medium sized Persian market in the Persian part of town. It has a huge deli with all kinds of prepared Persian food (rice, appetizers, soups, meat dishes, stews), fresh produce, frozen food, Mashti Malone’s Persian ice cream, dairy, nuts, dried fruit, meat, etc. The produce looked fresh. There is no in-store bakery but they carry baked goods from other bakeries, including pita, lavash, and sangak. The market was clean.

Noodle soup (quart, $9.99): chickpeas, fava beans, soft noodles, onion, spinach, etc. It’s like chicken noodle soup only with beans and greens. I think I detected mint in there too. Comforting soup with lots of greens. I added yogurt, so good.

Park in the rear. There are a few tables out front.

4 out of 5 stars