LavShash Kebab is a long way from the numerous storefront kebab shops of Glendale, where those grab-and-gos are an exercise in minimalism — including a much vaunted kebabery called Mini Kebab on Vine Street that’s just a window in front of a tiny shop.
As for LavShash Kebab in Old Pasadena, it offers all the comforts of sit-down dining in a spacious room dominated by a glass case in which you can indulge in the admiration of skewers packed with sliced and spiced hunks of meat. There’s more to the menu, but at LavShash, meat is the name of the game.
As is true of many of the dishes from the Middle East, kebabs have a lineage stretching back through the centuries. At LavShash, all the meat is cooked on skewers, which is how kebabs are always done these days. For us, a kebab is as much defined by the skewer as it is by the meat. But a millennium ago in Turkey, kebabs referred not to the skewers, but to the meats — which were fried in a pan, or cooked over a blazing fire.
It was most likely the nomad tribes of the region who came up with the concept of skewers, since they by necessity traveled light. And so, the first skewers were very probably … swords. You fight your enemies with your sword during the day, and cook lamb on the sword at night — very efficient!
Chicken lule kebabs at LavShash Kebab in Pasadena (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
Beef kebabs at LavShash Kebab in Pasadena (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
LavShash Kebab is a celebration of the joys of grilled meat on skewers, served in a large space on the eastern edge of Old Pasadena. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
Show Caption
1 of 3
Chicken lule kebabs at LavShash Kebab in Pasadena (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
Expand
It was the chefs of the Ottoman Turks who codified the spices, the meats used, the side dishes, and the choice of bread or rice to absorb the juices and make the meal complete. Over the centuries, one culture after another adopted kebabs as their own, adding more side dishes, but never changing the basic notion of skewered meats, cooked over an open flame.
The flavor verges on obsession, the pleasure (for those who crave meat) greater than anything found at our local steak houses. A jumbo Porterhouse on a plate is a wonderful thing. But it never gives me the joy of a beef tenderloin kebab. Or a lamb chop kebab. I grow peckish just thinking about it.
More Merrill: Here are 4 of the best vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley
I think of that glass case at the heart of LavShash packed with raw skewered meats as a religious shrine for carnivores. It’s strangely hypnotic for the meat to glisten in the bright lights of the case, glowing with an inner light that cries out for flames and spice — served in combinations on family sized trays with rice or potatoes, grilled vegetables and onions.
The meat on the family trays are always combinations: lamb chop and chicken; beef tenderloin and lule (ground) chicken; beef lule and chicken lule; pork loin and chicken — all the way up to the grand plates of five and six kebabs, the biggest of which combine pork loin, beef tenderloin, chicken chunks, beef lule and chicken lule. That’s essentially the whole menu. But not quite.
Though there are no vegetable skewers, there is a salmon skewer. There are chicken and beef wraps as well. There’s a wonderful side dish of fire grilled halloumi cheese, made of a blend of goat and sheep milk, which ungrilled has a rubbery texture referred to as “squeaky.” There are mashed spuds with cream and butter, a reminder that we’re in Pasadena and not Istanbul. There’s an appetizer of refried beans, too, along with chicken noodle sauce and beef soup with meatballs.
There’s an Italian caprese salad. And a green salad referred to as a Plate of Freshness. The Caesar salad is from Tijuana. But the kachapuri is a cheese bread from Georgia. Not Georgia in the American South, but Georgia in the Caucasus. The puri is a deep-fried bread from India. The baba ghanoush is from Lebanon. This menu does get around.
But the bottomline are the kebabs, best ordered as a group meal, with much of the menu spread out on your table like a Middle Eastern sultan, fed as much as you want, with food to yet take home.
LavShash pays homage to a style of cooking that’s been around as long as civilization. It’s a taste of antiquity, served in a new world setting. It connects now with then. And it does so with an abundance of flavor.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
LavShash Kebab
Rating: 2.5 stars
Address: 115 E. Colorado Blvd., Old Pasadena
Information: 747-310-7900, www.kebabrestaurantpasadena.com
Cuisine: Persian Kebabs
When: Lunch and dinner, Tuesday through Sunday
Details: Wine and beer; reservations helpful
The food: A celebration of the joys of grilled meat on skewers, served in a large space on the eastern edge of Old Pasadena.
Prices: About $50 per person
On the menu: 13 Appetizers ($2-$18), 2 Soups ($8), 5 Salads ($10-$12), 9 Kebab Plates ($16-$29), 11 Skewers ($8-$43), 2 Wraps ($12-$14), 5 Side Dishes ($8-$10)
Credit cards: MC, V
What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.)
Originally Published: February 20, 2025 at 11:16 AM PST