A return to Shukette, Chelsea, NYC + MJ The Musical

Our afternoon started on our feet, applauding the amazing performances in MJ the Musical — telling the story of Michael Jackson — at the Neil Simon theatre. It won four Tony awards, including best actor in a musical (Myles Frost) and best choreography (Christopher Wheeldon). I highly recommend.

From there, we headed downtown to 24th Street and Ninth Avenue for an early dinner at Shukette, serving the creative cooking of Brooklyn-born Chef Ayesha J. Nurdjaja. The name is from the Hebrew word for an open-air market, shuk.

Again, we were seated inside, at the front of the restaurant, yet this time not surrounded by others. The noise was much easier to handle — we could even hear each other. A few of us had wine-based cocktails from the three on the menu. (They don’t have a liquor license!) We liked the refreshing Tyne made with a blend of amaro, blanc vermouth, passionfruit, ginger and habañero ($16). Others sipped their rose cider ($12) and the Pere Mata rosè ($15).

At a mid-Eastern restaurant, a meze is always de rigueur. We opted for the thick, rich labneh dotted with sugar plum slices and toasted hazelnuts and seasoned with coriander and tarragon ($12); their smoked bluefish taramasalata with trout roe and crispy capers ($12); and their “not your average hummus” topped with marinated chickpeas and their spicy bang bang shata hot sauce ($11) with frena, a Moroccan bread topped with roasted garlic ($6 each). I’d recommend each, although some at our table were not wild about the fishy taramasalata.

We continued with their delicious shwarma spiced fries ($8) with two sauces for dipping, the bang bang sauce used to garnish their hummus and the white harissa ($2 each). Don’t miss the pickled turnip, kohlrabi, string beans and peppers ($10).

Daringly, we tried their grilled blowfish tails ($19), which were incredibly meaty! The artic char meatballs with preserved lemon yogurt, ginger and pickled chili ($16) were interesting, but I wouldn’t order again as a bit odd tasting. I would order the tender and incredibly moist grilled Joojeh half-chicken ($24) with its smooth garlic sauce and fiery chili sauce.

They served us their classic, unusually yummy and refreshing dessert to thank us for our patronage after a slight mishap. We all shared the soft serve tahini (Who knew?) with fresh sliced strawberries, feathery halva floss and crunchy toasted hazelnuts ($12).