The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Related Content

• Ike's At the Airport
• That Was The Year That Was: Gastronomic Highlights of 2008

I stopped in at Shiraz Fireroasted Cuisine for dinner the other night, to check out the new menu and the belly dancing, and at 8:30 on a Saturday night, the place was nearly empty. That's really a shame, because it is a charming little restaurant, with good food and an ambience of Persian arts and crafts that's stylish enough for a date. On earlier visits, I grumbled about the lack of vegetarian and fish entrees, but that flaw has been fixed — they now offer salmon kabobs, a spinach pie, and a couple of meatless Persian stews.

Maybe Persian cuisine sounds too exotic, but it's really not: the heart of the menu is the grilled kabobs of beef or chicken. There are a few more exotic items on the menu, like the fesenjan, chicken in a pomegranate and walnut sauce, and the gheimeh, a beef tenderloin stew with yellow lentils and dried limes, but many other dishes are familiar from other Middle Eastern cuisines: hummus, eggplant dip, stuffed grape leaves.

You can check all this out on their website, which also features an entertaining video about Persian cuisine, narrated by a very folksy Midwesterner.

Prices are extremely reasonable. The koubideh (skewers of seasoned ground beef or chicken, highly recommended) served over saffron rice are priced at $10, including flatbread and soup or salad, and the most expensive entrees, shish kabobs and the salmon kabobs are priced at $14. They've got a full bar and a limited wine list, including wines by the glass for $6-$8.

The belly dancing, featured Fridays and Saturdays from 7 to 10 p.m., was pretty low-key, but it's hard to play to an empty house.

6042 Nicollet Ave S., Minneapolis, 612-861-5500