Moby Dick House of Kabob

Moby Dick House of Kabob is a DC-area chain founded by the Sadeghian family that has operated Persian restaurants in the Washington area since the 1990s, building a significant customer base in the DC Persian community and among the broader Washington dining population who has developed an appetite for the kabob tradition of Iranian cooking. The Georgetown address at 1070 31st Street NW is among the Moby Dick locations that serve the city proper alongside the Virginia and Maryland suburban locations.

Persian kabob cooking is the culinary tradition that has most directly influenced the American understanding of the Middle Eastern grilled meat: the koobideh, which is ground lamb or beef mixed with grated onion, salt, and the minimal spice that the Iranian tradition applies, formed around a wide flat skewer and grilled over charcoal or gas, is the preparation that defines Persian kabob cooking for the American customer. The barg, which is a flatted fillet of lamb or beef marinated in saffron, lemon juice, and onion before grilling, represents the more elaborate and expensive kabob tradition. The joojeh, which is marinated chicken kabob with the saffron and lemon preparation, is the poultry option.

The saffron rice that accompanies Persian kabob is itself a significant preparation: the tahdig, which is the crispy rice crust at the bottom of the pot that every Persian rice cook strives to produce, is the most celebrated element of the Persian rice preparation. The saffron-scented rice with a properly formed tahdig is not simply a starch accompaniment but an expression of the Persian culinary tradition’s elevation of the rice as a noble preparation.

The Georgetown 31st Street location at 1070 is on the canal-adjacent block between M Street and the C and O Canal. Hours run from 11am most days and noon Sunday. The Sadeghian family’s Moby Dick chain represents the Persian restaurant tradition that the Washington DC area’s large Iranian diaspora community has supported since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 brought a substantial number of educated, professional Iranians to the DC suburbs. The chain’s growth across the DC metro area reflects the population that established it and the word-of-mouth culture that maintains loyalty to the brand across generations of the diaspora community. The Georgetown 31st Street location at 1070 serves the Georgetown dining community with the most straightforward expression of Persian cooking that Washington offers: the kabob plate with saffron rice, the salad with the fresh herb and radish combination that the Persian table requires, and the yogurt that accompanies the meal in the form that Persian hospitality has always insisted on. The simplicity of the Moby Dick format, which concentrates on doing the kabob preparation correctly rather than expanding into the full Persian restaurant menu, is a virtue rather than a limitation. A well-made koobideh on saffron rice is a complete and satisfying meal that requires no elaboration. The 31st Street canal-adjacent location is accessible from the C and O Canal towpath, which makes Moby Dick a logical stop for the Georgetown waterfront visitor who wants a quick and excellent lunch between waterfront activities. Hours run from 11am most days and noon Sunday.