We couldn't park out front. It looked like Sons of Anarchy biker gang madness on the block and I wanted no part of it, so we had to park around the corner into the neighborhood a couple of blocks away. On the walk over, I stepped on questionable glass and somehow had to pick weed/marijuana buds off my shoe, passed what I was sure was a crack house, but we continued. Once you walk through the doors of what looks to be a hole in the wall from the outside, it opens up to Central Asia/Eastern Europe. Uzbekistan straight up. You couldn't even tell there was chaos right outside the front door.
We had reservations but it seems like they still weren't prepared for us. They weren't prepared for the new found popularity. They weren't prepared for the big leagues. My best friend had to flag them down CONSTANTLY to take our order and it caused doubt to stir. If you can't pay attention to details when it comes to the customer, does the food follow suit? Will the food suffer from lack of attention to detail?
But not too soon after my doubt, we FINALLY got to order and the salads came out thick and fast and I started to relax.
Samarkand salad and Markovcha. Clock it.
The first being fried eggplant with arugula, some other stuff and this soft cheese that felt like a cross between cream cheese and sour cream. It was good and fresh, mixed with cold and hot. I liked it. The second one was purely julienned carrots tossed in spices and a bit of a pickled/vinegar like dressing. I could have used more of the dressing and seasonings, but I totally get where they were going with it. I'm gonna do this dish one day. I'm going to make my own version. So I guess you could say I was inspired.
Next up: fried Chuchvara. Clock it.
Little bitty fried dumplings that SAY they were filled with beef, but I tasted lamb. And it came with a side of a freshly grated tomato sauce for dipping. I liked this. Not my favorite, but it was nice to have small chewy meat filled dough ball dumplings to smack on in between salads. I get the vibe.
Then came the BIG DAWGS, one right after the other:
Uzbek Plov. This was so good and comforting. A warm chopped lamb and rice dish with carrots, garbanzo beans and FLAVOR. I'm a sucker for meat and rice dishes and this is some winter comfort food right here in the summertime. On the restaurant's WORST days, this dish will always be one of the best, I'm sure of it.
Oxtail Stew: big chunks of cooked potatoes and carrots in a stew with sautéed onions and bell peppers accompanied three big pieces of oxtail. The oxtail wasn't fall off the bone and it wasn't very juicy. It felt sticky and drier than other oxtail dishes I've tasted, but oxtail is still full of fat and flavor, so no matter how you do this, as long as you season it properly and cook it well enough, you're okay. There was great flavor on this dish. The oxtail were seasoned nicely. I picked up my oxtail and sucked off all the fat and meat in between the crevices and everything, so clearly it was flavorful even if a bit drier than other times I've had it.
BEEF STROGANOFF. PERFECTION. This dish was made with THICK, freshly made chewy noodles, slices of juicy, tender beef and a cream dill sauce packed full of fresh dill. It didn't have the "sour" taste from sour cream that I'm used to, but it had a very CREAM based profile with a heavy hit of fresh dill. This was a star. Creamy. Hearty noodles. Juicy beef. HEAVY HANDED fresh dill.
We had two types of teas: one, a red floral and refreshing hibiscus red tea. The usual. But then we had another tea that's hard to describe:
TASHKENT TEA. The flavor profile was WILD. The best way to describe it: Smoke. Cigars. Honey. Mouthwash. Lemons and mint. This tea tasted like drinking a lightly sweet green tea after smoking cigars. When I look this tea up online, it's a mixture of black and green teas with fresh mint, citrus slices (lemon & orange) and honey. But it tasted like sweet barbecued cigar tea. Take from that what you will. It grew onto me.
Look...let's figure out this service thing. You need more help. But the food is a hit.
4 stars. read more