Kabobs and cumbias — South Davis eatery revels in fusion

Family-run restaurant gets back in groove

By Jeff Hudson Enterprise staff writer Kabobs

... and

cumbias?

A kabob, as most people know, involves tasty cubes of seasoned meat and/or vegetables, arranged on a skewer. Kabobs are thought to have originated in Persian cuisine and culture (in an area that is nowadays the country of Iran), though many other countries also prepare kaboblike dishes as well.

The cumbia, on the other hand, is a popular Latin American dance, thought to have originated in South America in the late 17th Century, in country that is nowadays known as Colombia. The cumbia is also quite popular in Mexico, and just about every traditional Mexican-American band in California plays cumbias from time to time.

Kabobs and cumbias may have vastly different origins, but in 21st-century California, all sorts of traditions mix and meld, including kabobs and cumbias.

As evidence, consider the festive occasion planned for early Saturday evening at a South Davis eatery called Stand Up Kabob.

The story starts with Karan Koshcar, who was born in Iran. Koshcar finished the ninth grade in Iran, and then came to Davis as a teenager in 1983, started the tenth grade at Davis High School, speaking a limited amount of English at the outset. His family was one of many that came to the United States from Iran after that country's Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s.

Young Koshcar liked to work with his hands, and he soon gravitated into the auto shop program at the high school, and after graduating he became a mechanic at a Volkswagen dealership in Sacramento. After a few years, he decided to go into business for himself, and launched University Imports Automotive Inc. (aka UIA) in Davis. The business prospered and grew.

But all the while Koshcar developed a deepening interest in traditional Persian food and the customs that go with it. Preparing food in a kitchen also involves working with your hands. When celebrity chef/cookbook author

Samin Nosrat (born in San Diego to parents who fled

Iran following the Islamic Revolution) spoke at the Mondavi Center in January 2020, Koshcar was in the audience, and chatted briefly with Nosrat during the book signing in the lobby.

As you might imagine, Koshcar passed on his interest in Persian cuisine to his daughters Emily and Sophia, who grew up in Davis. And so in 2019, as Karan Koshcar was contemplating his retirement from University Imports Automotive, he and his daughters opened Stand Up Kabob, with the daughters handling many of the day-to-day operations at the restaurant. Soon, lovers of Persian food, many from Davis, but a surprising number from elsewhere, would seek out the little restaurant's modest-sized dining area, or pick up takeout food.

Stand Up Kabob has an unlikely location, hidden away amidst the thicket of auto dealerships and repair shops on Chiles Road east of Mace Boulevard. There aren't a lot of other restaurants nearby. And the fledgling, low-profile restaurant operated on very limited hours, Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant also relies on several parttime employees, as well as several volunteers.

Then, just a few months after the restaurant opened, the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020, and the long lockdown began. Stand Up Kabob (like many other restaurants) closed down for about a year. The restaurant finally reopened partway through the pandemic, but on Fridays only.

But starting this month, Stand Up Kabob is now open again on Saturdays as well. And in months to come, business hours may be added on other days.

Koshcar and his daughters decided that a celebration is in order.

The restaurant will be open this Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and at 6 p.m. there will be live music by the popular local band Raíces, an all-female group that plays cumbias and Spanish-language songs in other Latin American/ Caribbean styles. There will also be flowers (some in the colors of an American flag, others in the colors of the Iranian flag), and metal artwork that Koshcar welded himself, as well as some supporting women's rights in Iran.

The restaurant's menu and address are on the website Standupkabob. com. The website (largely maintained by Koshcar's daughters) contains tips about cultural holidays that include special foods, an essay by daughter Sophia on women's rights in Iran and breast cancer awareness. (Sophia's grandmother, Karan's mom, died in her late 40s from breast cancer that went undiagnosed for too long, and spread.)