Javan Restaurant is a Persian Rice Temple

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Ever since discovering the awesomeness of freshly cooked sangak, I’ve been kind of obsessed.  Not to be confused with lavash, the flatbread used to make sandwich wraps in many Middle Eastern countries, sangak is the slightly puffy, slightly sour, surfboard size, Persian bread found at specialty bakeries like Naan Hut in West L.A.  I couldn’t imagine a better Persian lunch than a koobideh kebab wrapped inside a fresh piece of sangak with roasted tomatoes.  And then I saw the sour cherry rice from Javan Restaurant on this “Best Persian Food in L.A.” article on The Huffington Post.   Sure, I’ve had sabzi polo- the green herbed basmati rice you’ll find at most Perisan restaurants.  But sour cherry rice?  This was new.  And the best part is, that’s not even close to where the rice craziness ends at Javan.

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Situated on the corner of Santa Monica and Butler, the gigantic, faded sign hanging two stories up from the street makes the restaurant look like a relic of decades past, and the interior doesn’t disappoint.  At night I’m guessing Javan feels like a fancy, upscale Persian restaurant from the 80s- complete with white piano in the middle of the restaurant.  But during the day it looks like it might have once been a Howard Johnson’s.  The nighttime menu is actually kind of pricey, but I was excited to discover that everything on their lunch menu is under $10.

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If you need proof that rice is the thing at Javan, read the lunch menu.  Even dishes that come with proteins are named after the rice dish that accompanies it.  Like the chicken dish recommended by HuffPo… it’s called albolo polo on the menu, the Persian name for the sour cherry rice.  For $7.95 you get a thigh and a leg of stewed fall off the bone chicken, that is moist and delicious.  But, as promised, the sour cherry rice was the star of the show.  The multicolored basmati was cooked perfectly, and the more sweet than sour cherries added this reddish hue to the whole thing.  If you like to mix sweet with salty, this rice is the perfect accompaniment to any of the meats at Javan.  They also serve the same chicken with adas polo (rice with lentils dates and raisins) and zereshk polo (a saffron sweet and sour cranberry rice), but they were out of that the day we were there.

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Prefer koobideh, the popular ground meat kebabs?  They have chicken or beef versions for $7.95 that come with regular basmati rice.  But for an extra $1 they’ll substitute sabzi polo or baghali polo (two herbed basmati rices, one with fava beans one without).

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And for an extra $2 they’ll substitute any of their fancy rices- like the sour cherry rice, or the one we ordered with our chicken koobideh, an orange peel and almond rice known as shirin polo.  Beef koobideh is almost always more flavorful and tender than the chicken versions, but Javan does a great job with their chicken.  It was moist and delicious, and paired perfectly with the mild sweetness of the citrus studded rice.

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Looking for a rice that’s a bit more savory?  (Aka less fruity.)  Their lubia polo- a ground beef, string bean, and tomato basmati rice- is excellent.  It’s a meal unto itself… and you can order it alone off the rice menu for $6.95.  But on the lunch menu it comes with a single log of beef koobideh for $8.95, so quite frankly how could you not!?

The menu also has a few fish dishes, and a ton of Persian stews (which Jonathan Gold wrote about with much fondness in Counter Intelligence.)  I’m sure they’re all great… but whatever you do end up ordering, make sure you get one of the rices. And here’s an extra tip for those who like to really stuff their faces: order the food to go, and you get a TON more rice! (As you can tell from the sabzi polo photo above.)

Not surprisingly the lavash they serve you is pretty pedestrian, especially when compared with the freshly cooked bread available at so many Persian restaurants now.  But one bite of rice and it’s all forgotten.  If you want great bread, go to Naan Hut, or Shaherzad, or even Kabab Mahaleh on Pico.  If you want great rice, head over to Javan.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

  • Rice with different kinds of fruit and nuts in it sounds amazing to me
  • It’s nice to find a restaurant that doesn’t serve super dry basmati rice.  So well cooked!  And with such great flavors…
  • The koobideh is really well cooked as well… so moist and tender.
  • I love that you can substitute any of their fancy rices into any dish.
  • Did I mention I love rice!  I’ll take it over bread any day.

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place will say)

  • I don’t eat carbs
  • Can’t stand lavash.  I need my sangak!
  • Sweet rice sounds gross.  And I hate dried fruit.  Sorry, not my thing.
  • I actually like my basmati a bit on the drier side.  At this place it’s a little too water logged for me.
  • Too business class for me!  I like my Persian food to come from a hole in the wall.

Javan Restaurant, 11500 Santa Monica Blvd, 310-207-5555

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1 Comment

  • It’s the ghormeh sabzi that brings me back across town to Javan. And speaking of rice, you gotta try the stews to also get the sheets of fried tadig! The packaged bread they serve is a total bummer. But another major perk of Javan? Open on Christmas! Our special L.A. tweak to the old school Jewish tradition is having Xmas Eve dinner there.

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