House of Kabab Home to Authentic Armenian Dishes

Montebello is home to more than 5,000 residents of Armenian descent but only one Armenian restaurant. “One is enough,” jests Ohannes Loussararian, owner of that restaurant, the House of Kabab. “It just means more business for us.”

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Loussararian planned a career as a hotelier; he went to Switzerland and studied at the famed hotel school in Lausanne. When he arrived in Los Angeles in 1967, his plans were still intact, but he was persuaded to enter the catering business, then dominated by Armenians. After 10 lucrative catering years, he bought the restaurant that had been known as Sibian’s, changing the name and little else.

The House of Kabab is simply decorated, highlighted by a few chandeliers and mirrors. The tables are set around an open space used as a dance floor during banquets, or even during regular dinner hours, whenever one of the customers is moved by the Middle Eastern rhythms that reverberate through the room.

Despite the name of the restaurant, the menu is not dominated by kebabs. In fact, there are only three: shish kebab ($12.25), grilled chunks from the leg of lamb; lule kebab ($11.60), or ground lamb; and shish tavuk ($12.25), a boneless, skinless chicken breast.

A highlight of the menu is the lamb shank ($13.20), seasoned with garlic, onion and tomato paste and baked with carrots and celery for four hours. The meltingly tender meat is placed on a hillock of rice pilaf enriched by the dripping juices of the shank.

Every entree comes with a bowl of lentil soup and a small sampling of meze (appetizers): grape leaves stuffed with rice and onions, string cheese, marinated kidney beans and pickled cabbage.

At lunch, you can get sarma ($6.15) grape leaves stuffed with ground lamb, rice and tomato and served warm with a garlic-infused yogurt dipping sauce, or a shish kebab sandwich ($5.15) using pita bread.

The House of Kabab is at 2210 W. Whittier Blvd., Montebello. (213) 721-8956. Lunch 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 5-9:30 p.m. Friday, 4:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday, 1-9 p.m. Sunday.