Persian food El Salvador style

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hala and I traveled to Washington, D.C. for this month's "Inside the Middle East" show shoot.

The story I found most interesting was our profile of Juan Alberto Melgar, one of the area's most renowned chefs of Persian food. What made Juan particularly interesting was the fact that as a native of El Salvador, he managed to move to the U.S. without speaking English, ultimately mastering a cuisine foreign to him.

The other thing which became quickly apparent is that Juan is not only a masterful chef, but truly a man so embraced by the Persian community.

All night we watched his clients -- many of them friends -- come and chat with Juan and express their support of him.

Juan's kitchen was a sight to behold -- such a small space but so orderly and clean. And every one of the cooks in the kitchen is Hispanic.

As Hala said in her piece, it looks like the El Salvadorians are cornering the Persian cooking market!

-- From Inside the Middle East Producer Kristin Cuff E-mail to a friend