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Yemen Café is one of several places along and near Atlantic Avenue that seem frozen in time—before much thought was given to Brooklyn restaurant décor. Besides the few photos of Yemen on the wall, the place looks more like a card room, equipped with chairs and folding tables, than a proper restaurant. Fortunately the food turns out to be a good deal more appealing than the restaurant itself. Each meal begins with a complimentary bowl of rich, salty lamb broth, and nearly every table shows someone who has ordered the plain but gloriously tender slabs of roast lamb and rice. Although Yemen is in the Middle East, pita and tabbouleh don’t prevail. Instead, the giant flatbreads that accompany the hearty grub are naan-like, puffy and doughy. Salta, an okra-thickened stew of potatoes and other vegetables, tastes more like the cuisine of Africa than of the Middle East. Other dishes seem ordinary: A tasty pile of scrambled eggs laced with onions, tomatoes, and parsley, described as "Yemen-style," would be at home in any New York diner. So would Yemen House Aseed, a juicy half-bird served alone on a plate, along with a bowl containing a wiggly mountain of dough rising from a lake of deep-brown sauce. It brings to mind nothing so much as delicious mashed potatoes with gravy. — JJ Goode

Roasted lamb, $19; Yemeni house aseed, $10; Yemeni house salta, $10; foul madamas, $8