Hearty Uzbek Fare at Taste of
Samarkand in Middle Village
LEFRAK CITY COURIER | WWW.QNS.COM | DECEMBER 2017 27
» BY JOE DISTEFANO
More than a dozen kosher restaurants
in Rego Park and
Forest Hills serve hearty
Uzbek fare beloved by Bukharian Jews.
Some are gaudy banquet halls specializing
in weddings that draw hundreds
of guests, while others feel more like
social clubs. Kebabs — fatty lamb riblets
and chunks of beef — or shashlik
served on fl at, swordlike skewers are
the one common denominator.
Taste of Samarkand also serves
shashlik, but one of the things that
distinguishes it from its brethren apart
from warm service and great food is its
location, on a stretch of Woodhaven
Boulevard about a fi ve-minute drive
from the bustling Bukharian Broadway
of 108th Street in Forest Hills. It
shares the block with a Peruvian restaurant
and a Turkish bakery. Step inside,
though, and you’ll be transported
to Samarkand itself as a waitress clad
in a traditional Uzbek chapan robe
and tubeteika cap, both ornamented
with golden brocade, leads you to table
in the rustic dining room.
Grab a pot of green tea while perusing
the menu. Along with the gilded
blue and white teapot comes a little dish
that holds sugar cubes, candied ginger,
currants, and crunchy fried chickpeas
encrusted in a sweet white coating.
Th ose garbanzos reappear in nakhot
garmack ($10), a veal stew topped with
raw onions and crushed red pepper, the
circumference of the plate girded with
slices of bread. Th e latter make an excellent
vehicle for the rich broth. Th e
menu breathlessly describes the dish
as “veal tail braised for an eternity with
chickpeas, until its soul leached into the
surrounding broth.” It’s not far off .
Raw white onions also crown skewers
of fatty lamb riblets and tender veal
liver ($4.50 each). And then there’s the
quail kebab ($8). Th e fl attened bird
calls to mind a miniature version of
chicken tabaka. Th e juicy, lacquered
bird is served with a tangle of crunchy
shoestring fries and good enough to
warrant ordering two for the table.
Lepyoshka ($2), a hubcap-shaped
traditional bread, goes great with the
shashlik, as does Uzbek pilaf ($9).
More commonly known as plov, it’s
served with lamb or beef. Cooked in
sesame oil, the hearty one-pot dish is
shot through with tender bits of carrot
and tiny barberries that impart little
bursts of fruity acidity.
Salads like achik-chuk ($5 small,
$8 large) — a bright combo of thinly
sliced tomato, onions and hot peppers
— and fresh cabbage ($7) make a great
counterpoint to the fatty kebabs. Th e
latter is an Uzbek coleslaw of sorts fl avored
with dill. Slightly sweet, it calls
to mind the new pickles one fi nds on
the table at such venerable Jewish delicatessen
as Katz’s.
Jiz-biz with lamb ribs ($16) is so rich
that it comes with its very own acidity,
slices of lemon. Th ey’re arranged around
the circumference of the plate, whose
center contains the star, deep fried lamb
ribs festooned with raw onions. Underneath
that are what the menu describes
as homemade French fries, but are actually
potato chips. Some of the discs are
shatteringly crisp while others sport a
crunchy exterior and pillowy interior.
Grab a rib, anoint it with a squeeze of
lemon and dig into the best plate of Uzbek
meat and potatoes around.
With all of its fatty meats and a
beverage roster that includes the
Georgian seltzer Borjomi, Taste of Samarkand
is truly a Bukharian version
of the classic old school Jewish deli.
Th ere’s even the equivalent of kishka.
Called hasib ($15 small/$25 large),
it’s an off al lover’s delight packed with
ground beef, beef heart, liver, spleen,
and rice. It may not be for everyone,
but the rest of Taste of Samarkand’s
hearty fare and homey hospitality are
sure to satisfy.
Tip: For an even more decadent
version of jiz-biz, try the version
made with lamb chops ($20).
Taste of Samarkand, 62-16 Woodhaven
Blvd., Middle Village, (718) 672-2121
DINING OUT