Zhemchuzhina Restaurant (CLOSED)

At this shoebox-size Kosher eatery that was once Shalom Restaurant, a red neon sign declares hot samsa. Consider this a command to order one. The dish is a benchmark of Bukharan cuisine—Central Asian Jewish food heavy on hearty meats—and it’s a stomach stuffer: a flaky, baseball-shaped pastry crammed with sautéed onions and minced lamb. Equally irresistible is the mashed-potato–filled chebureki. It’s like a fried pierogi, and costs just $1.50. For another few bucks you can add skirt-steak kebab or lulya, a cylinder of ground lamb dressed with raw onions. Bad breath never tasted so good.