Sheepshead Bay Road’s Chayhana Salom Makes NY Times’ Best Cheap Eats List

A hearty congratulations to our neighbors Chayhana Salom, an Uzbeki restaurant at 1652 Sheepshead Bay Road that made the New York Times’ list of 10 best cheap eats of 2014 today.

It’s been a booming two years for the restaurant. Opening just days before Superstorm Sandy, it was put out of commission by the flood and reopened less than a month later. Since then, they’ve been getting rave reviews. Here’s what the Times had to say about Chayhana Salom:

On one of my visits to this unassuming Uzbek restaurant, a cook emerged from the kitchen and, after asking how we liked the food, confided, “Sometimes I can’t sleep at night, because I’m thinking about what I’m going to cook next.” Don’t mind the shabby exterior: The dining room is painted a cheerful celery-green and hung with pictures framed in twigs; tables are set with gilt-edged china and porcelain donkeys carting miniature barrels of salt and pepper. The food plays down the heaviness that Uzbek cuisine is famed for, favoring freshness in dishes like Tashkent plov (layers of lamb, vegetables and rice, golden and airy) and hot-sour lagman noodles alive with cumin and vinegar.

In response to the “shabby exterior,” it’s worth noting that the restaurant recently redid the storefront and signage, and is much more welcoming. Which suits its name, since Chayhana Salom translates to “welcoming tea house.”

The only other eatery even close to our area that made the Grey Lady’s list is Hard Times Sundaes, the creation of Andrew Zurica, a grillmaster whose short-lived Mill Basin storefront called the Luncheonette was also wiped out by Sandy. Now in a food truck based in the 5700 Avenue U  parking lot behind Kings Plaza, Zurica is still flipping his burgers with growing recognition. We haven’t made it there to try ourselves, but hear they’re the among the best in Brooklyn; if they’re of the quality the Luncheonette served (and why wouldn’t they be?), we can believe it.

Congratulations to both of our neighbors, and wishing them continued success in 2015!