Captivating Kebabs
Mihran’s bills itself as a Middle Eastern restaurant, but a good number of the restaurant’s dishes are specifically, and gloriously, Armenian. In fact, in the 20-odd years I’ve lived in the Southland, I’ve never had consistently better Armenian cooking in a restaurant.
The owner of the Tarzana establishment, Mihran Ghadanian, is a Lebanese Armenian who learned to cook in his childhood. This is worth knowing, because not all Armenian cooking is the same. There are Western Armenians, many of whom came here via Lebanon, and Eastern Armenians from the former Armenian Soviet Republic.
The heart and soul of Mihran’s menu is his kebab list, composed of spectacularly delicious marinated meats that the chef flame-broils on a charcoal brazier. They share the table with Lebanese side dishes such as hummus and mutabbal (also known as baba ghannouj) and with Armenian cured meats and savories. The result is a truly sumptuous table, and at friendly prices.
Mihran’s has a simple enough setting. The coral walls are cleverly inset with mirrors and brass light fixtures, so that the entire place glows a faint shade of pink after dark. The tables are nicely set with flowers and white tablecloths. The clientele, overwhelmingly Armenian-speaking, is mostly families who clearly relish the opportunity to dine here.
Normally, I’d begin a review by describing appetizers, but Mihran is so well-known for a main dish--anta kali kebab--that I’d better start out with it. (I’ve never seen the name before, but I’d guess it’s a spelling of antakyali, meaning from the city of Antioch.)
This is the dish you’ll see virtually everyone eating, and it’s about as good an $8 entree as Los Angeles has. You get a giant cylinder of peppery minced beef smothered in parsley, chopped tomatoes and sliced onions. The entire thing is crowned with wedges of grilled pita bread, which turn reddish brown absorbing spicy juices from the meat.
Most diners work up to the kebabs by ordering one of Mihran’s excellent appetizers. I recommend the highly flavored basturma and soujouk, which the chef makes himself. Basturma is thinly sliced raw smoked beef, heavily infused with garlic. As for soujouk, it’s a sort of Armenian pepperoni, a grainy beef sausage served hot from the grill.
Vegetarians will find things to like too. Mihran makes a smoky eggplant puree (mutabbal) that is wonderful on hot pita bread. It’s much like hummus (also available here), using the same sesame paste (tahineh) seasoning but on roasted eggplant instead of garbanzo puree. The most assertive starter would be muhammara, a paste of walnuts, ground red pepper, bread crumbs and pomegranate juice. A few dabs are powerful enough to flavor an entire piece of bread.
The kebabs come with a great rice pilaf, broiled tomatoes and an assortment of pickled vegetables: radishes, yellow peppers and turnips. Shish kebab is a man-sized portion of trim and tender lamb. Lule kebab is oniony minced beef, while its cousin, khashkhash kebab, puts tomato and garlic into the ground meat. All three kebabs come to the table wonderfully juicy, bursting with flavor.
Minced beef happens to be a powerful presence in this restaurant. Sit close enough to the kitchen and you can hear constant echoes of chopping from behind the service door. For the dish arayes Maria, minced meat is mixed with pine nuts and broiled in a large patty. For ras nana, it’s spiced with mint and garlic. In both these dishes, the patty is shielded by toasted pita bread, sandwich style.
The irresistible Armenian salad--chopped lettuce and tomatoes, shredded cabbage and a tangy vinegar and oil dressing laced with thyme and oregano--adds a nice balance to any meal here. So does labneh--tart, thickened yogurt dressed with olive oil; it cuts the richness of these meats like a laser.
At the end of the meal, there is Mrs. Ghadanian’s flaky walnut baklava, or a square of her ashta, a pudding of heavily reduced milk topped with sugar syrup and crushed pistachios. Naturally, you can get a tiny cup of muddy Armenian-style coffee and a wide assortment of araks, the anise-flavored liqueur of the eastern Mediterranean, imported from Turkey, Lebanon and Syria.
BE THERE
Mihran’s, 19560 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. Dinner for two, $19-$32. Suggested dishes: soujouk, $5.50; mutabbal, $3.50; Armenian salad, $3.50; anta kali kebab, $8; khashkhash kebab, $8. Full bar. Parking lot. MasterCard and Visa. (818) 342-2290.