Kosher Critic: Not much Tov in Taam

This week I present one of the strangest meals I have ever eaten. Not strange in its unique quality of food or alternative menu options, but in its entire restaurant experience. Taam Tov, located at 41 W 47th Street, came as a result of a friend’s Jdeals coupon. Eager to try this Bukharian eatery, my wife and I reached building 41, with nothing but an open doorway with a sad little sign that read “Taam Tov Upstairs.” We climbed two flights of dingy stairs to find the heart of Taam Tov. The interior strongly reminded me of mid-level restaurants in Israel. The walls are decorated with intricate murals depicting some bygone vision of what bygone Jewish life in the hinterlands of the Central Asia.
On our evening, the restaurant was empty save for a mashgiach slumped in a corner watching ESPN, a lone couple, two waiters and a greasy looking chef. My wife and I were seated at a scarred wooden table next to an open window. One of the things I liked about Taam Tov was the menu. It is filled with diverse offerings, many of which can only be found in the kitchen of a Bukharian family. We ordered samsa, a dumpling filled with spiced beef; pickled salad, an arrangement of pickled vegetables; a chicken and a lamb kabab; and an Uzbek pilaf, a spiced rice dish with lamb and carrots. For good measure I also ordered fries and a drink called apple sherbet, a sickly sweet apple and licorice drink. I will be perfectly honest. I did not like the food. It was adequate food that was hot, intricately spiced and different from most things I had eaten. It was also very heavy having been cooked with an abundance of oil that I feel detracted from some of the dish’s more delicate flavors. If Taam Tov could cut back on the amount of cooking oil, the quality would take a drastic jump upward.
The Samsa, for instance, was quite good. The filling was rich and slightly gamey but the dumping was slick and rubbery from the oil. Had the dumpling been less toothsome I feel like the dish would have been not just acceptable but great. Maybe even fantastic. Over the course of my meal, a steady trickle of people began to come in to the restaurant. I couldn’t help but notice that all of them ordered soup.
Feeling far too hot and stuffed with oily dumplings to even consider ordering soup I made a quick mental note to go back to Taam Tov to try the dish that seemed to be the crowd favorite. I guess what made my meal so odd for me was not only the strange location and bizarre moment in time stillness that seems to permeate the Diamond District at night but also the fact that Taam Tov is either on the precipice of being a really good restaurant or looking behind at its self in younger better days. I think the perfect metaphor came to me as I walked down 59th Street and saw all of the hansom cabs decked out for tourists.
Some of the horses and carriages were well-kept and adorned in finery and some looked rough around the edges. The latter’s horses all looking in need of a bath, and perhaps a vet. That’s Taam Tov, a little rough looking but with the right tweaks, capable of being a really wonderful experience. I reserve total judgment until I have been able to go back and try one of their many interesting soups. One final thing that I say without sarcasm is this. The fries were unbelievably good.

Zechariah Mehler is a widely published food writer and expert in social marketing. Follow him on Twitter @thekoshercritic