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My wife and I own a restaurant. It's a tough business. I feel like there must be more interest among native-born Americans in foreign food these days, based o

by RajT88 3mo ago

My wife and I own a restaurant. It's a tough business. I feel like there must be more interest among native-born Americans in foreign food these days, based on the fact there's 3 Uzbek restaurants within a couple of neighboring cities (which are maybe 200k people total). There's apparently only ~2000 Uzbek-Americans in all of northern IL! And mostly concentrated over an hour's drive away from where these restaurants are. That said, my wife and I were very interested to try the Tashkent bread. I think this article calls it out - it's better very fresh. It was really good, but not as amazing as we expected (maybe lunch is the time to dine at the Uzbek place closest to us). I still find it amazing that even (probably) family-run restaurants for such a niche cuisine can make a go of it. I take it as a good sign about American dining preferences.

alephnerd 3mo ago
Much of the Uzbek and Central Asian community is largely located in the Bay, NYC, and DMV. There are around 3 Uzbek restaurants in SF alone.
- YuriNiyazov 3mo ago
  Theres Sofia (ex-Uzbek) and uzbegim, what’s the third one?
  - alephnerd 3mo ago
    There used to be a third one a couple blocks away from Sofiya/Halal Dastarkhan in Tenderloin, but I think that may have shut down. There also used to be 2 actual ethnic Uyghur restaurants (not Chinese from Xinjiang) in SF but they shut down as well.
- chadash 3mo ago
  It’s wild how NYC trumps every other city for ethnic food by miles. The number of central Asian places (mostly Uzbek and Georgian) is probably closer to 100.
  - dyauspitr 3mo ago
    NYC is just a wonderful place. I lived there for a decade and loved every minute of it. I don’t want to live there anymore because now I have a family and I like having a huge amount of land and living in nature and serenity and all of that but New York City is one of the best places on the planet.
netsharc 3mo ago
I guess if you're a migrant, an ethnic restaurant (is that term politically correct?) is one of the most obvious businesses you can start. The Thai government used to sponsor (not sure if they still do) Thai diaspora who want to open a restaurant in a foreign country, it was their way to market the country and attract tourists.
- RajT88 3mo ago
  Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think. Migrants move around to follow the work. (Think more like "Nomad") Immigrants resettle in new places. I'm reading more about it, and probably these restaurants survive based on a combination of: - Family run, keeping labor low (labor always number 1 cost) - Central Asian and Muslim customers (much more than just Uzbeks) - Setting up in low-rent locations like strip malls So a few big nights a week can sustain the family business. I guess there's a way it adds up to a profitable business.
  - knome 3mo ago
    >Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think. immigrant, im- (variant of in-) ; migrant into your country emigrant, ex- ; migrant out of your country both are still migrants. there is no specific cause for migration required to be an migrant. you just need to move somewhere new to live.
    - RajT88 3mo ago
      You are technically correct. The best kind of correct! In terms of common usage though, it's as I said, especially in North America.
      - ComputerPerson 3mo ago
        I believe they were asking whether or not "ethnic" is the correct term. "Foreign food" or "foreign restaurant" seems to be the norm where I live, but maybe I'm uncultured. "Ethnic" wouldn't offend anyone I don't think.
deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]
oa335 3mo ago
"There's apparently only ~2000 Uzbek-Americans in all of northern IL" where did you get this number? does that include chicago, because i live in Chicago area ... seems low.
- RajT88 3mo ago
  https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/lists/uzbek-population-in-cook-county-il-by-city/ https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/lists/uzbek-population-in... Figuring some fudge factor too. It could be low - it's hard to find numbers for nationality counts for central Asians broken down by state.
  - oa335 3mo ago
    that websites estimates are definitely too low - e.g. there are definitely more than 40 Uzbek people in Chicago... I've been to 3 uzbek restaurants in Chicago proper myself.
    - RajT88 3mo ago
      Broadly (in another comment I made) I think I've made sense of it. Regardless of the real population, it's probably not just the Uzbek population sustaining these places. That most likely wouldn't be viable. My wife's restaurant for example targets a nationality that is wayyyy more numerous (not Mexicans; that'd be easy enough), and it's tough for us to stay profitable.

by RajT88 3mo ago

alephnerd 3mo ago

Much of the Uzbek and Central Asian community is largely located in the Bay, NYC, and DMV. There are around 3 Uzbek restaurants in SF alone.

YuriNiyazov 3mo ago
Theres Sofia (ex-Uzbek) and uzbegim, what’s the third one?
- alephnerd 3mo ago
  There used to be a third one a couple blocks away from Sofiya/Halal Dastarkhan in Tenderloin, but I think that may have shut down. There also used to be 2 actual ethnic Uyghur restaurants (not Chinese from Xinjiang) in SF but they shut down as well.
chadash 3mo ago
It’s wild how NYC trumps every other city for ethnic food by miles. The number of central Asian places (mostly Uzbek and Georgian) is probably closer to 100.
- dyauspitr 3mo ago
  NYC is just a wonderful place. I lived there for a decade and loved every minute of it. I don’t want to live there anymore because now I have a family and I like having a huge amount of land and living in nature and serenity and all of that but New York City is one of the best places on the planet.

netsharc 3mo ago

I guess if you're a migrant, an ethnic restaurant (is that term politically correct?) is one of the most obvious businesses you can start. The Thai government used to sponsor (not sure if they still do) Thai diaspora who want to open a restaurant in a foreign country, it was their way to market the country and attract tourists.

RajT88 3mo ago
Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think. Migrants move around to follow the work. (Think more like "Nomad") Immigrants resettle in new places. I'm reading more about it, and probably these restaurants survive based on a combination of: - Family run, keeping labor low (labor always number 1 cost) - Central Asian and Muslim customers (much more than just Uzbeks) - Setting up in low-rent locations like strip malls So a few big nights a week can sustain the family business. I guess there's a way it adds up to a profitable business.
- knome 3mo ago
  >Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think. immigrant, im- (variant of in-) ; migrant into your country emigrant, ex- ; migrant out of your country both are still migrants. there is no specific cause for migration required to be an migrant. you just need to move somewhere new to live.
  - RajT88 3mo ago
    You are technically correct. The best kind of correct! In terms of common usage though, it's as I said, especially in North America.
    - ComputerPerson 3mo ago
      I believe they were asking whether or not "ethnic" is the correct term. "Foreign food" or "foreign restaurant" seems to be the norm where I live, but maybe I'm uncultured. "Ethnic" wouldn't offend anyone I don't think.

deleted 3mo ago

[deleted]

oa335 3mo ago

"There's apparently only ~2000 Uzbek-Americans in all of northern IL" where did you get this number? does that include chicago, because i live in Chicago area ... seems low.

RajT88 3mo ago
https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/lists/uzbek-population-in-cook-county-il-by-city/ https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/lists/uzbek-population-in... Figuring some fudge factor too. It could be low - it's hard to find numbers for nationality counts for central Asians broken down by state.
- oa335 3mo ago
  that websites estimates are definitely too low - e.g. there are definitely more than 40 Uzbek people in Chicago... I've been to 3 uzbek restaurants in Chicago proper myself.
  - RajT88 3mo ago
    Broadly (in another comment I made) I think I've made sense of it. Regardless of the real population, it's probably not just the Uzbek population sustaining these places. That most likely wouldn't be viable. My wife's restaurant for example targets a nationality that is wayyyy more numerous (not Mexicans; that'd be easy enough), and it's tough for us to stay profitable.