Ariana Afghan Kebab

A small room on Ninth Avenue with about a dozen tables, Ariana has been feeding Hell's Kitchen Afghan food for years at prices that feel like a holdover from another decade. Afghan cooking sits where Persia, Central Asia and the subcontinent meet, and the menu shows it: kabuli palaw, the national dish of rice cooked with lamb and topped with sweet carrots and raisins, next to kebabs from the grill.

The dumplings are the reason to come. Mantu are filled with spiced meat, aushak with leeks or scallions, and both are finished with garlic yogurt and a meaty tomato sauce dusted with dried mint. Add a kadoo bolani, the thin turnover filled with pumpkin, and it is one of the better pre-theater meals within walking distance of Broadway.