Guy Fieri visited Hamid Shirdel at his Kababi Cafe restaurant. 

Hamid Shirdel, a veteran Broward restaurateur and Iran native who opened Kababi Café in 2014, describes Persian cuisine as “middle of the road.” The meats are halal, and no pork is served, and there are many options for vegetarians. Persian food is a blend of the many influences found in a cradle-of-civilization country in the Middle East that is not Arabic (Farsi is the dominant language). Empires and shahs have come and gone, replaced by ayatollahs and upheaval and a U.S. designation as being part of an “Axis of Evil,” but warmth, hospitality and strong family bonds are the hallmarks of Persian culture.

And so it is at Kababi Café, where Shirdel’s 26-year-old daughter, Chelsea, works the front of the house, and his 83-year-old father can be found cleaning up and helping out during the daily lunch buffet. Service is gracious and friendly, and our non-Middle Eastern server dutifully ran to the kitchen to get our questions answered when they arose. “Very good order,” he complimented after our crew selected a wide range of dishes. Each was very good. Nothing went amiss. When space began getting tight at our square four-top table, he opened up collapsible leaves that expanded it into a circle. That’s my kind of place.

The space once housed an Italian restaurant, and Shirdel kept the interior design of brick walls and faux storefront display windows and dressed them with Persian touches, such as rugs and Scheherazade sculptures. The pace is relaxed, with diners allowed to stagger their orders. When Shirdel adds a new dish to the menu, he often peeks from the kitchen to see if customers enjoy it.

Shirdel came to the U.S. from Tehran in 1979, just before the revolution that toppled the shah. He attended high school in Paramus, N.J., and college in Brooklyn and had dreams of playing soccer professionally until the North American Soccer League folded. He tooled around as a musician in New York, and started his culinary career when he moved to South Florida. His family has run several restaurants in Plantation, Tamarac and Sunrise over the past two decades, including Kuluck Persian Restaurant, which closed after the great recession of 2008.