RESTAURANT REVIEW : Shamshiri Serves Honest, Superb Iranian Cuisine

Going out for ethnic food should by rights mean eating food that ethnic cooks prepare for their own people--but it rarely does. Most often we end up eating food that ethnic cooks--Italian, Chinese, French, etc.--have adapted to whatever they think our taste might be. The result is often a hash, and usually not a particularly tasty one.

Northridge and Reseda are now the center of an Iranian community, which happily has led to the opening of several eateries that principally serve its own members. Among them is Shamshiri, a reasonably priced offshoot of the more luxurious restaurant of the same name in Westwood. But don’t let the simple mini-mall setting put you off. Its cooking is just as exciting.

As with other unadulterated ethnic cuisines, it is helpful to approach Iranian cooking without our habitual taste expectations. Its concepts of sour and sweet, for instance, are not the same as ours, and a mistaken expectation can easily put us off otherwise appealing, even taste-expanding dishes.

I am thinking, in particular, of fesenjon , sections of chicken buried in what looks like an Italian meat sauce and which is misleadingly described on Shamshiri’s menu as a “sweet and soure (sic) cream.” Spelling problems aside, this reflects the common difficulty of describing dishes from another culture, even those as familiar as French and Italian.

Fesenjon is a terrific dish--but one that has no parallel in the cooking of Europe or the Americas. Like Mexican mole , its sauce is such a harmonious marriage of disparate flavors, and its taste is so new, that none of its elements--pomegranate juice, onion, walnut, lemon, tumeric--can be identified, even though each one has a strong character of its own.

The result is richly appealing, sweet but not sugar-sweet, tart but not puckery-tart. It is served with a sheet of golden crispy rice (from the bottom of a rice tray), a welcome contrast to the soft chicken and sauce.

Just as satisfying as the fesenjon is the dense soup ashemast (unfortunately not available every day). Its principal ingredients--lentils, rice, greens (spinach?), yogurt--do not even hint at the pleasure it gives, although its ornamental pool of olive oil afloat with rosemary leaflets does. It is a complex and exciting experience.

Shamshiri’s appetizers are refreshing and less unexpected. Mastokhiar is a yogurt, cucumber, herb mixture; dolmeh , stuffed grape leaves; borany , a roasted eggplant puree. On the whole these are really dips. I recommend ordering several to be shared with the table as a sort of sassy antipasto to awaken dormant taste buds and prepare them for the entrees.

Some of the entrees have familiar names, even if their flavors are more vivid than we expect. Familiar, that is, if we remember that kebab means no more than “roasted meat.” There are the usual, though especially tasty, chunk-style kebabs--boneless lamb and boneless chicken--but also unexpected “bone-in lamb kebab” which is actually small lamb chops and “chicken kebab,” which is a whole Cornish game hen. They are all full-flavored and served with an enormous plate of rice and a broiled tomato.

More adventurous diners may want to try the sour beef stew, gorme sabzi . Its combination of beef, kidney beans, lime, onion, leafy greens and spices like fenugreek and tumeric is probably too rich to eat much of, but it could be enjoyed as a shared dish. Dough , a thin yogurt beverage pronounced something like “dug,” is sour at first but then becomes delightfully bittersweet like Campari. I find it refreshing.

As appealing as certain dishes will be, others may be turn-offs. This is one of the risks in dealing with the unfamiliar. However, the downside of an exotic meal--at Shamshiri or elsewhere--can be minimized by dining in a group of four or more, and sharing each dish. That way no one will be stuck with a plate of unwanted food.

There is certainly enough variety at Shamshiri to ensure that all diners in a group (except vegetarians) will find something to their liking. Staying away out of fear of disliking what you’ve chosen would deprive you of what could be an especially tasty and convivial experience.

Shamshiri, 19249 Roscoe Blvd., Northridge. (818) 885-7846. Open from noon to 10 p.m. daily. No alcohol. Cash only. Dinner for two, food only, $25-$30.

Recommended dishes: ashemast, $2.50; mastokhiar, $2; fesenjon, $6.50; lamb kebab, $6.95.