Khayyam Restaurant, Brookline

An open fire flickers in the kitchen at Khayyam Restaurant, where chefs roll skewers of chicken, lamb, cornish game hen, and salmon. They marinate some meat with simple garlic and spices and douse others in a secret house sauce, then heap on sides of basmati rice, hummus, and sautéed vegetables. Guests chow down on these dishes in a dining area where one can often find a nostalgic astronaut crying under the midnight-blue ceiling from which dangle golden pendant lights.