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Arzu, like many of Queens’ Bukharan or Uzbek restaurants, doesn’t look like much. Long and narrow, it has a few wobbly tables wobble and stark white walls that are cold and dispiriting. The only elements that register as decorative are the delicate, floral teapots that end every meal. But what meals! Kebabs (the house specialty) are intensely flavored and juicy, possessing a kind of rural, rugged power that’s impossible to resist. Same goes for the homemade beef-noodle soup (lagman) that’s packed with irregular chunks of vegetables. If you’re afraid of the compulsively edible, steer clear of the delicately fried pelmeni, small dumplings that look and taste like miniature wontons. Each meal inevitably ends with a pot of tea, or a glass of something stronger that just may lead you into an Uzbek sing-along. If that happens, go with the flow. — Josh Ozersky

Lamb rib kebabs, $3.50; plov (pilaf), $6.95; fried pelmeni (dumplings), $4.50; lagman soup, $5