Flavors of ancient Persia

In 2005, Iranian-born Alireza “Alex’’ Zarif opened Jasmine Taste of Persia in Watertown, a 20-seat spot that serves very good food but still seems like a glorified kebab shop. Zarif opened Khayyam Restaurant, House of Kebob, named for the 11th-century Persian poet Omar Khayyam, in January. Here he’s trying to dress up the food. The Brookline place has 66 seats and several large tables for groups. The two rooms are sparsely decorated, but small hanging pendants light the tables and make them more intimate.

Kebabs arrive on large white rectangular plates, many drizzled with vegetable sauces in pretty hues of green and pink; tabbouleh, made with cracked wheat and vegetables, often served in a mound, is molded into a fashionable flat cylinder.

Meals start with creamy hummus and warm, homemade pita sent to all the tables. That and a mildly smoky baba ganoush ($4.99) aren’t typically Persian, but they’re beautifully made, with only a faint taste of tahini, lemon, or garlic. The traditional soup aash reshteh ($4.99), a blend of lentils, chickpeas, noodles, beans, parsley, and mint, arrives in a smart-looking bowl shaped like an upturned broad-brimmed hat. Taddig ($4.99), a layer of crispy rice on the bottom and a ladle of beef stew on top, is intensely meaty and crunchy.

All entrees, including a succulent bony lamb shank in tomato sauce ($15.99), are accompanied by the house basmati. That rice is always perfectly cooked, aromatic grains served plain or sprinkled with orange rind, nuts, and barberries as in the chicken dish shirin polo morgh (pictured, $14.99). Traditionally, Zarif tells me, these garnishes are cooked with the rice, but he thinks customers want them separate (we don’t).

Chowpan, which are marinated lamb ribs ($15.99), taste off. Stars here are kebabs: chewy lamb in barreh kebab ($15.99); moist ground chicken in morgh kubideh ($11.99); cubes of chicken breast in morgh barg ($12.99); ground and cubed chicken in soltani morgh ($15.99); lightly charred, lemony saffron salmon in mahi azad ($15.99); and the gem, joojeh kebab ($15.99), cut-up Cornish hen that seems to have been soaked in a tandoori marinade. On many plates, plump roasted tomatoes and bell peppers act as bookends.

You also get generous portions, a reasonable bill, warm service, and a glimpse of an ancient cuisine based on good flavor.