The New West Village Tashkent Was Worth the Wait

I admit that for a couple of days there, I was worried about the food offerings at the new Tashkent Supermarket in Manhattan. We've been burned before.

Tashkent, the glorious Central Asian grocery chain beloved for its seemingly endless hot and cold buffets, first opened in Sheepshead Bay in 2012, but is perhaps best known for its Brighton Beach location. It's become a summertime ritual for a certain sort of beachgoer to hit the place after a day in the sun and head back to the boardwalk to wolf down platters of Uzbek plov and bulging manti, flaky samsa, and sexy "fantasy salad." 

So for the past few years, ever since everyone first spotted those Tashkent "Coming Soon" and "We're Hiring" signs papering the windows on a West Village corner just a block away from Washington Square Park, anticipation has been through the roof. And then finally, finally, last Wednesday, Tashkent flung open its door with what at first glance appeared to be a vast array of hot food and cold salads. Hell yeah, plov picnic summer, baby!