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The road to great flavors passes through Poway

Like eating a home-cooked Persian meal

A chicken shish kebab platter, featuring shiraz salad, hummus, basmati rice, and a tomato eggplant stew.
A chicken shish kebab platter, featuring shiraz salad, hummus, basmati rice, and a tomato eggplant stew.

A lengthy list of ingredients greets you on the front wall at Silk Road, a late 2016 addition to Poway's shopping center food scene. Three generations work the family business, led by a mother and daughter in the kitchen. They use a litany of herbs, spices, vegetables, and nuts to cook Persian and Mediterranean dishes from scratch. And they do so beautifully.

Place

Silk Road

13538 Poway Road, Suite C, Poway

Just a little family restaurant in a Poway shopping strip.

On the grandson's recommendation, I ordered one of the kebab platters, specifically a skewer's worth of chicken shish kebab. For about 12 bucks, the plate includes flatbread, a scoop of hummus, cilantro and jalapeño chutney, basmati rice, and Shirazi salad — a citrusy mix of Persian cucumber, tomatoes and red onions.

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It also features "vegetables of the day splashed with tzatziki sauce." Which doesn't sound too exciting. Even — or especially — when your hear it's a sautéed stew of eggplant and tomato. But its earthy and fragrant spice blend, led by paprika and coriander, won me over in a big way. The eggplant was as soft as a cooked apple, sweet pepper and acids giving way to the tomato umami.

The chicken impressed me as well — its appealing sear marks had me at first sight, and the charry flavor lived up to expectations. But more than the tasty white meat, there was a comforting homestyle feel to the plate that succeeded on the whole. It felt good to get a wider balance of elements to the meal than the usual protein plus side dish for the price.

Silk Road isn't a large space, just a narrow storefront in a strip of eateries fronting the parking lot of a couple grocery stores, with a little patio seating. If there's any justice it will fill up fast when workers in Poway business parks break for lunch, and stay lively through dinner.

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A chicken shish kebab platter, featuring shiraz salad, hummus, basmati rice, and a tomato eggplant stew.
A chicken shish kebab platter, featuring shiraz salad, hummus, basmati rice, and a tomato eggplant stew.

A lengthy list of ingredients greets you on the front wall at Silk Road, a late 2016 addition to Poway's shopping center food scene. Three generations work the family business, led by a mother and daughter in the kitchen. They use a litany of herbs, spices, vegetables, and nuts to cook Persian and Mediterranean dishes from scratch. And they do so beautifully.

Place

Silk Road

13538 Poway Road, Suite C, Poway

Just a little family restaurant in a Poway shopping strip.

On the grandson's recommendation, I ordered one of the kebab platters, specifically a skewer's worth of chicken shish kebab. For about 12 bucks, the plate includes flatbread, a scoop of hummus, cilantro and jalapeño chutney, basmati rice, and Shirazi salad — a citrusy mix of Persian cucumber, tomatoes and red onions.

Sponsored
Sponsored

It also features "vegetables of the day splashed with tzatziki sauce." Which doesn't sound too exciting. Even — or especially — when your hear it's a sautéed stew of eggplant and tomato. But its earthy and fragrant spice blend, led by paprika and coriander, won me over in a big way. The eggplant was as soft as a cooked apple, sweet pepper and acids giving way to the tomato umami.

The chicken impressed me as well — its appealing sear marks had me at first sight, and the charry flavor lived up to expectations. But more than the tasty white meat, there was a comforting homestyle feel to the plate that succeeded on the whole. It felt good to get a wider balance of elements to the meal than the usual protein plus side dish for the price.

Silk Road isn't a large space, just a narrow storefront in a strip of eateries fronting the parking lot of a couple grocery stores, with a little patio seating. If there's any justice it will fill up fast when workers in Poway business parks break for lunch, and stay lively through dinner.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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