Omar Khayyam

Just off the corner of Brighton Beach Avenue, on the Coney Island Avenue stretch where Brighton's Central Asian kitchens cluster, Omar Khayyam is an Uzbek café named for the Persian poet of the Rubaiyat. It is an everyday neighborhood room rather than a destination dining hall, which is part of its appeal: the kind of place where regulars come back for the same plate every week.

Start with plov, the Uzbek rice dish cooked with carrots and meat until fragrant, then samsa, flaky pastries baked golden and stuffed with seasoned meat. Ask what the kitchen recommends that day, and bring friends; this is food meant for a crowded table.