by Jacqueline Pennington

In April 2024, Rashad Pirmatov took his background in restaurants and expertise in cooking the food of his home country to open Mazali in Wesley Height’s City Kitch. Mazali means tasty in Uzbek and Pirmatov thinks that embodies exactly what kind of flavors his authentic Uzbek food can bring to Charlotte.

Pirmatov came to the United States in 2013 after spending 18 years working in the hospitality and restaurant industry in Uzbekistan. He spent five years living in New York before coming to Charlotte in 2018 for a job with Wells Fargo. Once his talent for cooking was discovered by his friends, Pirmatov found himself acting as the chef for the holidays and celebrations in Charlotte’s Uzbek community. This was no easy task, with about 50 families in attendance at each one. Cooking for those around him brought Pirmativ back to his roots working in the hospitality industry. The praise of his cooking from his friends and community sparked an idea to make the transition from community chef to professional chef.

“I saw the opportunity to bring the food to the whole Charlotte area, so I started working on opening a kitchen,” says Pirmatov. In April, Pirmatov and his wife, Khilola Pirmatova, opened Mazali, bringing authentic Uzbek cuisine — with its rich flavors, aromatic spices, and hearty rice and noodle dishes influenced by its location in central Asia — to Charlotte.

When it comes to Uzbek cuisine, Pirmatov notes that freshness is key. “Our food is made from scratch,” he says. “Everything is made fresh on a daily basis, and that’s what Uzbek cuisine is. We love everything fresh, not from frozen products. I would love the Charlotte consumers to have the ability to eat fresh food every day.”

Mazali’s menu includes Uzbekistan’s national dish, plov, which is a hearty dish of rice, meat, vegetables, and spices, and samsa, a savory pastry made with a variety of fillings. “Uzbekistan was in the center of the Great Silk Road, and we had different spices going in and out from Uzbekistan and different kinds of cuisine like Indian, Chinese, Persian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and European cuisine as well,” Piramov says. “We have a mixture of cultures and a mixture of foods so we have a lot to introduce to Charlotte.”

When asked what his favorite dish on the menu is, Pirmatov mentioned two options that Mazali offers. “My favorite thing is, of course, plov because it’s our national dish,” he says. “But, the second favorite is lagman. Lagman is a rich, homemade, hand-pulled noodle dish with vegetables and beef generally seasoned with spices like star anise and cumin. It can be done with broth or it can be fried noodles, which will be called boso lagman.”

Pirmatov hopes to expand the menu to share more Uzbek cuisine with Charlotte. He would love to add new dishes, like the regional variations of plov or kebabs, once he can grow his team. In the meantime, his current selection of Uzbek dishes can be enjoyed Tuesday through Saturday at City Kitch.