{"id":242848,"date":"2026-03-30T02:49:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T02:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242848\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T02:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T02:49:25","slug":"review-perse-is-the-most-ambitious-new-persian-restaurant-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242848\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Perse Is the Most Ambitious New Persian Restaurant in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2016, brother-and-sister duo Farbod and Farinaz Pirshirazi opened a casual restaurant, Chicken Chick, in Gardena, eventually expanding the menu with kebabs per customer wishes. In late 2019, they debuted Toranj in Westwood with a traditional approach to Persian cuisine, serving more blistered kebabs and homey stews in an upscale but slightly 1990s-coded dining room. They expanded Toranj to a modern-chic Manhattan Beach location in December 2025, and then opened something completely new with Perse in Brentwood in early February 2026. Occupying a sprawling third-floor space on San Vicente, Perse offers something not often seen in Southern California: refined Persian cuisine rooted in regional dishes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many immigrant-run restaurants in the U.S. adapt a set of dishes that cater to a Western palate; think bibimbap and japchae at Korean restaurants, ramen and sushi for Japanophiles, pupusas at Salvadoran restaurants, and Brazilian churrascarias. Iranian food spans centuries, even longer, with historic ties to the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Silk Road routes. The result, says Farinaz Pirshirazi, is a distinct cuisine that goes beyond the popular kebabs that tend to dominate Persian restaurant menus. Farinaz, who grew up in Iran and came stateside in the 2010s, has ventured across the country to taste regional flavors that highlight pomegranate-glazed steak pocked with chopped walnuts, smoked saffron tahdig studded with slivered almonds, and fish served with a Northern Iranian\u2013style walnut-barberry sauce.<\/p>\n

Perse\u2019s distinguishing feature is its sleek, minimalist aesthetic, punctuated by black-and-white photos and a striking bookshelf displaying Iranian memorabilia. A vibrant bar offers a place to sip on tangy Fall in Tehran, an Old Fashioned\u2013like sipper with aged cognac or bourbon, pomegranate syrup, honeyed saffron, and bitters.<\/p>\n

The banquettes can accommodate groups of six, so be sure to ask for those if you want to order enough food for a huge family. Skip the sour-marinated filet as it can come out a bit drier than expected. Prices here verge on fine dining; expect to pay around $75 or more a person before drinks, tax, and tip.<\/p>\n

The Persian community has been gathering in light of the recent events in Iran<\/a>, and Perse is one of those venues, though its place in Brentwood makes it a more white tablecloth situation. Still, the restaurant serves comfort in the form of plush barbari, smoky golden rice, and charcoal-grilled skewers with a regional flair. It\u2019s ambitious, polished, and feels more timely than ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2016, brother-and-sister duo Farbod and Farinaz Pirshirazi opened a casual restaurant, Chicken Chick, in Gardena, eventually expanding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28829,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-242848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-dining-reports","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-headlines","11":"tag-la-news","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","14":"tag-los-angeles-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}