When Caspian Kabob, one of Portland’s best Persian food carts, closed at the end of 2019, the plan was to reopen someday with a full restaurant.
Nearly two years and a pandemic later, Victor and Tracy Darchini have finally broken ground on a brick-and-mortar location in Beaverton.
“I never thought I’d be able to do this, especially when COVID hit and things went really south,” Victor Darchini said. “But then the opportunity came and we took it.”
Victor Darchini taught himself how to cook after moving from Iran to New York City, where he had difficulty finding Persian food. After moving to Portland, Tracy encouraged Victor to turn his cooking skills — honed during summer vacations — into a food cart at the since-closed Southwest 10th and Alder pod. But despite the prominent location, Caspian Kabob’s cut-no-corners cooking style struggled to stand out in a sea of quick-service shawarma spots. Eventually, the cart joined Prost Marketplace in North Portland, helping turn the German beer bar’s pod into the best collection of carts in the city.
The restaurant, which will keep the cart’s name and menu, will be found at Beaverton’s West End District, a new development at the site of the old Kmart where Southwest Murray Boulevard hits the Tualatin Valley Highway. In addition to saffron rice and grilled meat kebabs, Caspian Kabob will offer daily specials including sabzi gormeh (beef stew), salmon kebabs and a lamb shank with dill rice. Neighbors will include a hair salon, boba shop and a new outpost of Portland’s Rovente Pizzeria, Victor Darchini said.
Depending on construction and permitting delays, Victor Darchini hopes to reopen Caspian Kabob sometime this winter at 3807 S.W. Orbit St. #110, Beaverton; kabobpdx.com
