Popular Farmers Market kebab stand opens new restaurant in SLO. Take a look inside

The smell of burning charcoal at Farmers Market in downtown San Luis Obispo brings people to authentic Persian kebabs each Thursday night.

Shekamoo Grill is known for its stand at the market — and now it’s bringing its tasty kebabs to a new corner of San Luis Obispo.

Shekamoo Grill celebrated the grand opening of its new restaurant at SLO Ranch Farms & Marketplace, located at 811 Froom Ranch Way, on Jan. 24.

“When you’re sharing food with people, you’re sharing your spirit,” owner Sina Shakerian told The Tribune during the grand opening. “You’re sharing someone else’s spirit. To me, the one thing that’s been consistent in societies all over the world forever is people sharing food together, finding a way to do more than survive but to grow together.”

“It means everything to me,” he added.

Shakerian said he grew up surrounded by Persian cuisine.

His parents emigrated from Iran when he was young, and he would always cook for friends and family, he said. While studying architectural engineering at Cal Poly, Shakerian said he noticed something the Central Coast was missing: authentic Persian kebabs.

When touring Farmers Market in 2009 with his wife Lindsey Shakerian, he noticed there was no Persian kebab spot. He joked to Lindsey that if there wasn’t a Persian cuisine place in 10 years, he would be the one to make it happen.

What started as a joke turned into a full-fledged business of community, love and spices.

“It’s weird, because I can’t say this is a dream come true, because I never dreamed of anything like this,” Shakerian said. “Really, I didn’t want to have a restaurant because I’ve seen how complicated it is. I’ve gone to a restaurant with family and seen them complain and tear apart the place, because my mom and dad make the best Persian food in the world.”

With that hesitancy, he and his wife did not go into the restaurant business for quite some time, Shakerian said. He instead became a math teacher, while she went to work in the engineering field.

COVID-19 changed their plans.

In 2020, Shakerian stepped away from teaching and turned his focus to catering for friends and family events and pop-ups around the Central Coast.

He worked in three different restaurants to learn the art of cuisine during that time: Jeffry’s Wine Country BBQ, The Hatch Rotisserie & Bar and Les Petit Canailles.

Throughout that, he always said he planned to run his own grill, and in 2021, Shekamoo Grill officially set up a stand at the Farmers Market.

“It wasn’t a switch,” he said. “It was always a plan, and it evolved.”

He continued: “Once we were catering and doing pop-ups and seeing how much work it took to constantly go up and down, loading the van, unloading the van, etc., the thought came to our minds of, ‘What if we could have our own place? What if?’”

Shakerian considered multiple spots around SLO for Shekamoo Grill. But his dealbreaker was that the place had to have a charcoal grill.

SLO Ranch Farms did.

Previously a farming property, SLO Ranch Farms & Marketplace has grown from fairgrounds to farmhouse to a marketplace full of stores and restaurants, according to its website.

“I liked the idea of being in a place where someone who knows Palo Mesa Pizza and knows that they love pizza, but have never heard of Persian food or kebab, are going to walk in here and they’re going to smell that smell,” Shakerian said. “It just seemed like a really good opportunity.”

What’s on the menu at new SLO Ranch Farms restaurant?

The name of the restaurant comes from Lindsey Shakerian’s love of Persian cuisine.

In Farsi, “shekamoo” means “foodie.” Shakerian said his wife was the “shekamoo” when he introduced her to the food his mom would cook.

“I was a meat and potatoes, no grilled onions, no tomatoes, nothing fancy,” Lindsey Shakerian told The Tribune. “But after meeting Sina and trying his mom’s cooking, I learned how accessible it really is. He kind of turned me into a foodie and created this monster.”

She doesn’t take full credit for Shekamoo Grill’s name, however. To her, if you dine at Shekamoo, you are a shekamoo too.

“I like the origin story, but it’s all of us — that’s always kind of been the thing,” she said. “You don’t necessarily know the definition, but you like the food. You’re one of us.”

Many of the people that work with the pair are friends who came to help out one day and “never left,” Shakerian said. One of these people was Sabrina Canady, a longtime friend of Lindsey’s, who came to take orders and bus tables one day.

“There was just so much excitement and love and yeah, I don’t know who doesn’t want to be around that feeling all the time,” Canady told The Tribune.

Shakerian’s passion for sharing Persian cuisine and turning everyone into shekamoos was proved during the restaurant’s recent grand opening.

After the lunch rush, he ran around visiting every occupied table. He asked questions about the food, if it was to people’s liking, and gave handshakes, hugs and pats on the back.

“The burning charcoal brings people in,” Shakerian said — noting a Farsi phrase, “if you put the koobideh on the grill, the people will come.”

Koobideh is a popular kebab made with ground beef, lamb, onions and spices. It is also the most popular menu item at Shekamoo Grill, and brings back memories for Shakerian when his father would make it on the grill.

Beside koobideh, the restaurant also offers Persian kebabs of chicken, steak and vegetarian options and shared plates of loaded potatoes, crostini and eggplant dip.

The Shakerians also show off their creative side with the “Persian version” of dishes like a “lamburger,” paella and nachos with Persian meats and spices.

What’s next for owners of Shekamoo Grill?

The support for their venture to share Persian food has been overwhelming, Shakerian said.

The duo will continue to be at the Farmers Market on Thursday, but said they were excited to share more Persian cuisine from a restaurant space.

“Now you can come to me and I can share my passion with you from my space,” Shakerian said, “and it feels like a warm hug.”

Shekamoo Grill is open Thursday to Monday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m.

The restaurant is closed on Thursday night, but its stand can be found at the Farmers Market from 6 to 9 p.m.

For more information or to place a catering order, visit its website or call 949-939-8724.

This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM.