Nearly 200,000 members of the Iranian diaspora call Los Angeles home, earning parts of the city the moniker Tehrangeles as a nod to Iran’s capital. While many young Iranians from prosperous families established roots in the U.S. following their college studies in the 1940s, the largest wave of Iranians immigrated in 1979, seeking asylum after the Shah was overthrown in a hostile takeover by the Islamic Regime. During this era, Iranians living in the U.S., including in Los Angeles, believed that they’d eventually return to Iran once political unrest settled, and established insular communities that spoke a shared language (Farsi) and ate more traditional foods.
Throughout the Southland, especially in areas like Westwood and the San Fernando Valley where a large number of Iranians settled, Angelenos can access a wide range of Iranian foods. Many of these early businesses, including Shamshiri Grill, Saffron & Rose, and Attari, still thrive today. With its bountiful use of fruits in many forms (pomegranate molasses, sun-dried limes), vibrant inclusion of fragrant and fresh herbs, and symbolic thread of saffron throughout, Persian cuisine offers mouthwatering juxtapositions of flavors that excite the palate. From aromatic khoreshts (comforting stews) to bountiful polos (rice plates) and succulent saffron-marinated kebabs, here are the essential Persian restaurants in Los Angeles.
New this update: London import Berenjak and modern Persian cafe Meymuni join the list.
Melody Barooni is a filmmaker, writer, and food journalist on a lifelong search to find a ghormeh sabzi as good as her grandmother used to make. Born and raised in LA County to a family of Iranian immigrants, she believes there is something truly magical about ordering a cup of tea at a Persian restaurant and feeling at home — like you’re transported straight into a memory or a fantasy of Tehran.