Uzbeki in the Diamond District

We were quite happy with our meal at the Uruguayan restaurant and decided to check off another ‘U’ in our culinary alphabet tour.  Taam Tov is an Uzbeki restaurant in the middle of the Diamond District on 47th Street.  You have to walk up to the third floor; it’s easy to miss as you pass all the Jewish jewelry merchants on the street.

We first ordered a samsa which is a baked meat pie, very much like our empanadas.  For our main course, we ordered plov (more commonly spelled ‘pilaf’) which featured chunks of lamb served over rice and carrots.  It’s the national dish of Uzbekistan.  Marita had their chicken tabaka which is fried chicken cooked in a light garlic sauce.  It was good and it reminded me a little of Max’s Chicken.

Afterwards, we strolled down 47th and heard many thick accents as we oohed and aahed over the diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other jewels in the displays.  The Diamond District is still dominated by Orthodox Jewish merchants so you’ll hear a lot of Hebrew and Yiddish.  Hard to believe that just one street over on 46th, you’ll hear a lot of Portuguese and can eat feijoada and pao de queijo and other Brazilian fare in New York’s Little Brazil.

We have one last ‘U’ in our tour – Ukrainian.  I’m going to do a little research on this one.  The last time we went to a Ukrainian restaurant in the East Village, the waiter actually told me not to order something I picked on the menu.  His actual words were “Don’t order that. It’s very bad.”  The meal turned out to be, in a word, bad.  I hope we have better luck next time.

Leave a Reply