la.foodblogging

One of the annual fundraisers of the Westside UCLA Bruins is the ethnic dinner. This year, the theme was Iran with our guest speaker Professor M. Rahim Shayegan and the dinner was at Darya Restaurant.

The organizers ordered up the menu for all of us. The descriptions below are straight off their web page.

For starters, we had:
BORANI - A medley of sautéed eggplant, yogurt, onions, garlic & mint.
PANIR SABZI - Colorful plate of imported feta cheese, walnuts & fresh herbs (mint, basil, watercress, tarragon, radish, & green onion).
MAUST’KHIAR - Yogurt & chopped cucumber, with mint.
PERSIAN SALAD (SHIRAZI) - Fresh chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, & onion, with virgin olive oil & fresh lime juice dressing.

The main course was a meat platter containing chicken, beef, lamb and salmon. Delicious!

There were also various Basmati rice dishes circulating around the tables.

Dessert was super sweet tasting:
ZOOLBIA - Flour, sugar, honey, rosewater; made into a pretzel shape.
BAMIEH - Flour, sugar, honey, and rosewater.
BAKHLAVA - Crushed walnuts, almonds, & pistachios with honey.

Atmosphere of the restaurant is very nice and the service attentive.

I hope to go back sometime. As I mention, it is a fine restaurant and quite suitable for the special occasion dinner.

Would love to hear recommendations and reports about other Persian places!

Darya Restaurant
2130 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Tel: 310-442-9000

By Rene (see more of his posts). You can find more of Rene's writing at his own website Rene's Ramblings