Amidst the North Beach bustle of expected Italian eats is an unusual anchor resident. Maykadeh has quietly welcomed local diners and visitors for the past nineteen years, and Mahmoud, its venerable grandpa-figure owner, likes it this way. Despite other businesses running under his watch, as varied as Mo's Burgers a few blocks away and a flower distribution operation, Maykadeh is Mahmoud's prize child. "It's my baby."

Mahmoud proudly describes the menu as wholly traditional, devoid of any trendy Cal or western influence. Indeed, in this pocket of North Beach, stands the city's own maykadeh - a "house of wine" in long-ago Persia that provided sanctuary for intellectuals, poets, and artists from the Muslim ordinance against alcohol.

- Excerpt from Maykadeh Restaurant, The warm promise of Persia by Enmi Sung