Iran’s cuisine historically has had distinct expressions inside and outside the home. Family settings involve dishes that can be exceptionally labor-intensive or stews so nuanced they defy professional kitchen standardization. Most restaurant menus are designed around crowd-pleasing, fire-kissed kebabs, creamy dips and snowdrifts of seasoned rice. Cody Ma and Misha Sesar have poignantly narrowed the divide at their Silver Lake cafe. The star among their concise mix of mazeh (cold small plates), sandwiches and mains is the kofteh Tabrizi, a giant beef-and-rice meatball riddled with herbs and steeped in a tomato-based sauce electric with Persian dried lime. Find its sweet, secret heart: dried apricots, prunes, barberries and walnuts. Look to turmeric-marinated chicken over rice for sheer comfort. In the several years that Azizam ran as a pop-up, Ma and Sesar explored the similarities and differences in their families’ regional recipes. As they settle in, I’m betting we’ll see more intricate khoresht (seasonal stew) specials like a brothy June stunner of lamb neck with apricots. — B.A.

2943 SUNSET BLVD., LOS ANGELES, (323) 928-2286 l AZIZAMLA.COM