All-You-Can-Eat Authentic Persian Food

This latest Lunchcomber assignment all started with a tweet. I recently discovered Lebneh and became obsessed. Also called Labneh or Lebni, it's a Lebanese yogurt cheese. It might not sound good, but it's amazing. Using Twitter, I asked where I could buy it in North County. A Carlsbad Patch reader named John headed me in the right direction: Persopolis. The Persian food store is located at 327 S. Rancho Sante Fe Rd. in San Marcos. 

After shopping there for several weeks, the owner handed me a flier for the all-you-can-eat buffet she puts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Saturdays it's from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., but you must call in advance. You'll want to keep this number handy: (760) 761-3646.

Ann Zevely and I headed to the buffet hungry on a Friday. The food is served next door to the market in Cafe Papillon. Owner Parein Fathi, originally from Iran, greeted us like old friends even though we had never really met.

The buffet is not like Sizzler or a Vegas casino, it's more like eating in someone's home. Fathi makes everything. She has one person helping her in the kitchen.

The buffet costs $9.98 and includes a drink. The plates are paper and the silverware is plastic. Also, when we started eating we were the only ones in there around 11:45 a.m. A few others came in while we were there to eat. It's easy to judge a place based on the crowd, but I believe people just don't know this place exists. The food was all really good! I'm not a huge fan of rice, so the saffron rice dishes were my least favorite, but I loved her eggplant dish and the vegetables she had on the buffet. One plate with a sample from everything on the buffet filled me up. No room for seconds.

I did, however, have a piece of baklava for dessert and it was amazing! I really liked being able to try new Persian foods that normally I would never get a chance to eat. I also stopped in the store to buy more Lebni and blood oranges (another new obsession).

Zevely said this "was the best buffet I've ever been to." She loved the eggplant dish, and was mad for the salad with raisins and a dash of red pepper.  As we systematically made our way through our meal, Zevely, compelled to fork out a review, commented  "the kabob gets five forks for sure."

Watch our video review and see just how much we enjoyed our first visit to Cafe Papillon and what a great hostess Parein Fathi truly is.