Shiraz Mediterranean Grill

Not dressed up, so you’ve got nowhere to go? Well, even dressed in your torn jeans and T-shirt, you still can eat in style at Shiraz Mediterranean Grill. The atmosphere may be low key, but the food is something you’d expect in a much fancier establishment.

Shiraz offers the usual appetizers for a Greek or Middle Eastern restaurant — hummus, the garlicky, smooth dip made of ground chickpeas; Shiraz Eggplant, the eatery’s version of baba ganoush — but it also lists Spicy Avocado Bruschetta, ceviche; Balal, roasted corn prepared the Iranian way with a sea salt bath; and Shiraz Panini, where you get your choice of tabbouleh or quinoa with avocado and Monterey Jack cheese on lavash, the soft Persian flatbread so beloved of the Akrami family, which owns the Shiraz restaurants.

After that comes the really hard part. What to order? Shiraz Mediterranean Grill carries five different kinds of spicy shwarmas: half-pound steak ($9.99), six-ounce lamb ($8.99), half-pound chicken ($8.99), vegetable  ($6.99 for a pound’s worth) and one-quarter-pound ground beef ($5.99). Or perhaps one of the many succulent marinated kabobs will be your choice, whether ground chuck ($6.99), chicken ($8.93), certified Angus beef tenderloin, the true “shish kabob” ($10.49), lamb ($8.99 for lunch and $14.99 for dinner), salmon ($11.99), mahi-mahi ($11.99), shrimp (a half pound for $8.99) or roasted vegetable ($8.49).

You can also get the chicken kabob with a half-order of the Fatoosh salad, which consists of hearts of Romaine lettuce, Persian Sumac, Feta cheese, quinoa, tomatoes and fresh parsley, drizzled with tangy Shiraz dressing. You can add an extra vegetable kabob for $3.49, an extra shrimp kabob for $4.49 and a mushroom kabob for $3.49. For $1 more, you can have grilled onion. For $2.99 more, you get two side dishes and a drink.

The side dishes, each 2 ounces, are hummus, baba ganoush, quinoa, tabbouleh or Shiraz salad, a crunchy salad of diced tomatoes, onion and cucumber that’s a specialty of the area surrounding Shiraz, Iran, an area known for poetry and tangy cooking.

Vegetarians can delight in not just the veggie shwarma and grilled vegetable kabab. They can also opt for Persian-style lentils, an order of Basmati rice and a lentil-Basmati rice mixture — all $2.99 — or tabbouleh or quinoa, both of which are $3.49.

You can check out the full menu by clicking here.

No meal at Shiraz is complete with a piece of baklava ($2.25), of course!

Shiraz Mediterranean Grill has four locations: 2210 Holiday Manor, Suite No. 1; 205 North Hurstbourne Parkway, 2011 Frankfort Ave. in Crescent Hill and 3501 Poplar Level Road in the Quarry Center. Hours vary by location, but the restaurants mostly open at 11:30 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. or later. Click here for exact hours.

Love what you’ve eaten? Shiraz caters, too. You can check out the details — and order, too — by clicking here.

- by Ivonne Rovira, Louisville Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Ivonne Rovira

A graduate of the prestigious Columbia University School of Journalism in New York City, Ivonne Rovira worked as a reporter for the Miami News, The Miami Herald and The Associated Press. She has written articles for The National Catholic Reporter and The Courier-Journal. For more than 15 years, Ivonne wrote and edited articles aimed at middle-school children.