The last time I was at this Bukharian/Uzbek-Jewish spot was many years ago, long enough that I…read morenever wrote a review. Last time, I remember the place being a bit dark, the service being a bit distant, for lack of better words, and the food being decent, with a particularly good lamb rib shashlik/kebab and a cold green baklava at the end, which fit the service. They apparently updated the interior a couple of years ago, and now it's bright and inviting. None of that would matter if the food were the same, but it happened to be excellent, and this was easily the best Central Asian food I've had in a while, aside from maybe one dish.
We started with an Israeli Salad, which, as the host didn't specify, came in the large size for $16.50. The salad included the typical diced tomato, onion, cucumber, and bell peppers, but there was also a little bit of lettuce, a pepperoncini, and some avocado on top with some sesame seeds, which was a nice touch. I usually don't love this salad, as there's normally a ton of parsley, but this was good with a light, refreshing dressing, and the various fresh veggies weren't too finely chopped.
Next to arrive were the $4 Beef Chebureki, the namesake of this restaurant. I remember these being decent last time, though a bit oily. This time, they were perfect, with a lighter batter on the outside and the middle filled with a large amount of juicy meat and onions. It was juicy enough that the cheburek dripped when cut into, which usually isn't the case. Along with the Samsa below, they were served with a fresh, cold tomato sauce called tomat sousi, which helped cut through the richness.
Said samsa, which were $5.50 each, had a choice of meat or pumpkin filling. We mostly went with meat, with the samsa being gigantic compared to most spots, which explains the higher price point. The outside was hot and crispy, with a light dusting of sesame seeds, and the inside had a mix of meat and onion. The meat was on the slightly fatty end, which made it a tad chewy, so in comparison, I liked the cheburek more, which usually isn't the case.
Our largest plate was the $20 Plov, or rice pilaf with lamb, which is the national dish of most Central Asian countries. The very large platter had a large bed of rice with some mixed carrots and a few raisins for sweetness. Otherwise, there were some chickpeas, a halved hard-boiled egg, roasted garlic, and peppers. The tender rice was cooked nicely, with a mild sweetness but not too much. The lamb on top was a mixture of leaner pieces and fattier ones, still attached to the bone. The meat was excellent, with both the fatty and leaner pieces tender and flavorful. Of course, for those who wanted more fat, there was some lamb bone marrow.
The remaining dishes to round out our meal were a bunch of skewers/kebabs/shashlik, all of which had some sliced red onions, as is typical. My favorite of the bunch, by a tiny bit, was their excellent Lulya, for $5.50 each. These had a mixture of ground beef and lamb, and were tender and excellent. The more flavorful one was the Lamb Ribs for either $7.29 with fat or $9.49 without. We got the former, and they were juicy and rich. Last, but not least, was the standard $7 lamb. The meat was cooked nicely and was pretty tender, and overall it was the most standard, but still good.
Outside of maybe the samsa filling, we had an excellent time here. Good portion sizes and good quality meats. I'd recommend it over Stix or other spots.
