"Fifteen, sixteen, bye." We had called Rose International Market to place a large dinner order, which took up two numbers on the market's impenetrable ordering sheet. "Fifteen, sixteen, bye," was all the guy on the phone had time to say.

I'm not sure what calling ahead accomplished. We got there and still had to wait. It was a Saturday night, after all.

Rose Market is not a fast-food outlet. It is a family-owned business with a little outdoor seating on plastic chairs, and an astonishing array of Persian and Middle Eastern foods in three formats: made-to-order, house-made in the deli case, and packaged by purveyors from Sunnyvale to Tehran.

Cruise around the store and check out the international goods, described to me as "Persian-plus." Survey the deli counter, where you pick up incredible stews and rice dishes. Pay at the cash register, also the place to peruse the kebab menu and place an order. Take a number and wander around the store again. Find something you missed and get back in line. You'll have time.

You'll likely scent the barbecue on the way in, around the parking lot. Lamb chops ($8.99) are popular but overcooked. I'd save a few bucks and get spicy chicken tikka ($5.99), tandoori chicken ($4.99) or a kebab of ground lamb and beef ($2.49). Strips of marinated top sirloin ($4.99) also are good.

If you order to-go, the meats come swaddled in thin lavash bread and foil, to keep them warm. If you're going to "eat in" at the outdoor tables, they are served on the lavash "with vegetables if available." Ask what this means at your own risk.

Barbecue side dishes include the must-have charbroiled tomato (99 cents). For you organ fans, there are sides of charbroiled lamb liver, heart and kidney ($2.99 each). My husband liked the kidney, which to me looked like nice enough, like a porcini mushroom, but tasted like very overcooked liver.

White basmati rice costs an extra $2.49. It's a lot of rice, with some saffron. If you get your rice at the deli counter, ask for the buttery, crunchy top hat called tah dig. It's like eating a candy bar of rice, without the sugar.

The vegetarian's refuge is a falafel wrap ($3.99). The other wrap choices are chicken, beef, and, inexplicably, mortadella.

If you eat meat, do not leave without a khoresht ($3.99 for small) or two. These are sauces and stews to enrich the rice or roll up in lavash. They are not beautiful to look at — the signature fensenjan, chicken cooked in pomegranate juice and powdered walnut, looks like mud — but they pack fragrance and flavor in a heady mix of herbs. Some have beans and greens. Ghormeh sabzi is bittersweet, with dried lime and fenugreek, scallions and leek, spinach, kidney beans and tender beef. Just typing these ingredients makes me hungry.

Ash reshtah is a hearty, slightly sour three-bean soup (lentils, garbanzo and pinto) with leeks, spinach and noodles. Kashk badenjan may be the best babaganoush ever. Ask for it "dressed," which means topped with yogurt, whey and fried mint.

To drink, there are sodas, thin yogurts and teas. A box of sour cherry juice ($4.99), exported from Iran, is absolutely fabulous.

For dessert, where do we begin? Perhaps with the deli case's slab of baklava, oozing honey. But take a walk around the cookies. The mix of French cookies from Nobel Bakery, of Hollywood, is a crowd-pleaser.

We also loved the Golnazar company's signature saffron pistachio ice cream, just a little aromatic, with chewy nuts. This is a family company started in Tehran in 1947, now with a factory in the East Bay city of San Ramon.

The Rose Market family consists of brothers Ali, Javad and Saied Mehranfar. They have a smaller Rose in Saratoga, and still plan to redo the Piccolo restaurant in Los Altos and reopen as Hozkhouneh.

To recap: No method is foolproof, but if time is short my best suggestion is to order and pay for your barbecue first, then hit the deli and cruise around the store.