Homestyle Uzbek restaurant is serving on Melrose Avenue

| January 23, 2025 | 0 Comments

The Republic of Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in central Asia known for hearty, homey meat dishes. There is a handful of restaurants specializing in Uzbek cuisine in Los Angeles, where the roughly 3,000 Uzbek expats in the Los Angeles area — and others who appreciate comfort food — can indulge in the authentic tastes of the region. The newest such restaurant is Zira Uzbek Kitchen.

The restaurant is a family affair. The husband-and-wife team of Azim Rahmatov and Gulnigor “Gigi” Ganieva own the eatery and aim to create an atmosphere reminiscent of the hospitality of their homeland. He studied hospitality management at Cal Poly Pomona and managed a now closed Uzbekistan restaurant and then worked at luxury hotels. She runs their social media account, although her day job is as a cardiologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She explains that her husband supported her during her cardiology training and now she is supporting his dream to have his own restaurant. Azim’s brother, Azam Rahmatov, is the chef, having last cooked at an Uzbek restaurant in New Jersey.

Homey atmosphere
The two brothers watched YouTube videos to learn how to build furniture and subsequently made the restaurant’s wood tables and cozy booths cushioned with bold patterned pillows. Tables hold vases of cotton branches in honor of Uzbekistan’s biggest crop. Framed fabrics with mosaic patterns adorn the walls, and colorful ceramics from their home country are tucked into wall cubbies. Tea arrives in beautiful Uzbek teapots with geometrically patterned small bowls for sipping. Pendant lamps have charming, fringed shades, adding to the homey atmosphere. Servers wear peasant-style striped vests and doppa, an Uzbek embroidered skullcap. Their only misstep is they need better napkins, not thin paper ones in diner napkin dispensers.

Influences

Uzbek cuisine has been influenced by immigrants from other countries in the region. Uzbeks also were introduced to foreign spices and foods when they were the center of the Silk Road trade route (from 130 B.C. to 1453). One spice whose use spread over the Silk Road is cumin, which is used liberally in Uzbek cooking. In fact, the word “zira” in the restaurant’s name means “cumin.”

We started with a $3.50 pot of very flavorful black tea (they are awaiting their liquor license for beer and wine), a plate of $14.99 pickles (two treatments of cabbage, cucumber pickles and half sour green tomatoes) and some terrific Uzbek bread. $6 brings a large round loaf resembling a turban, served warm with red pepper cream cheese. A lovely way to start.

Salads feature eggplant, beef and kurt (an Uzbek cheese), $6.99 to $15.99, and there are $6 samsas (stuffed pastries), but we went right for the manti (steamed dumplings). They offer both steak and pumpkin versions and we ordered the pumpkin, $18. Five four-inch, thick-skinned, pleated manti were stuffed with grated pumpkin and onions and served with yogurt sauce. I imagined it would resemble sweet pumpkin tortellini, but these were savory and oniony. My husband loved them, but I think I would have preferred the meat version.

A popular Uzbek dish is lagman, hand-pulled noodles with meat, either as a platter, $19, or in a beef soup, $15.99. My husband and I went on a chilly night, so we split the soup version. The cumin-scented beef broth was filled with a tangle of chewy, wonderfully satisfying noodles, chunks of beef, onions and loads of multicolored peppers. It was warming and delicious and similar to a good beef stew, only brothy, not thickened. It tasted like home, even though my home never had a soup like this.

Chicken shashlik, $16, came with one juicy, well-seasoned skewer, a small green salad and potatoes or rice. We selected rice. This is a tasty, well-priced dish. We also tried $19 plov — rice with garlic, carrots, chickpeas and beef — which was a little under-seasoned.

Desserts are $7.50 apiece, and we ordered a slice of honey cake, which they had just added to the menu. Delicious honey-infused cake was layered with honey cream. It was just sweet enough to perfectly accompany our last sips of tea.

The food at Zira Uzbek Kitchen is meant to evoke memories of home kitchens. The food is not delicate or overly complicated. They are not attempting to turn Uzbek dishes into a Michelin-star experience, nor are they adhering to the California penchant for local, veggie-centric cooking, although Gigi, as a cardiologist, insists they cook with less oil than is traditionally used in Uzbekistan, and they do offer some vegetarian options. This is honest, affordable, tasty food in a charming space reflective of Uzbek culture. And I applaud that.

Zira Uzbek Kitchen, 7422 Melrose Ave., 213-332-4086.

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Category: Entertainment

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