An email from Gayot a few days ago warned of the five rising chefs in America. Amazingly, only one was from New York. Zakary Pelaccio's distinctly pizza-parlor name hid a penchant for peddling inexpensive Malaysian food in superhip Meatpacking District. This Saturday, suitably encouraged by my stomach, I headed into Fatty Crab to check the... Continue Reading →
The Daily Grind
One of my biggest challenges to cooking Indian food, surprisingly enough, has been to do with grinding spices. Wet or dry grinding is a staple with Indian spieces. This may not sound like much of a challenge but it's huge. To start with, the quantity problem; most appliances (such as coffee grinders) are suited for... Continue Reading →
French Stars
The Michelin Guide is the most famous of restaurant guides. Till recently, however, Michelin stars weren't available to American chefs; not having never set up an office across the pond, the Michelin guide kept its opinions of American eateries to itself. That changed yesterday, when Michelin announced its ratings for New York - the first... Continue Reading →
Chainsmokin
I've always had a low opinion about chains and their ability to create anything resembling gourmet cuisine. Chains, are fine for steaks and fast food, but by the very nature of their business, focus on standardization and repeat production than on the finer, more complex processes of producing great food. It was with some trepidation,... Continue Reading →
Parking in Dallas
When I went to Dallas people joked about how I was going to have to stick to steak everyday, and for the first week (not knowing any better) thats what I did - and a New York steakhouse at that. A little enthusiasm on the Internet showed me, however, that Dallas had a very lively... Continue Reading →
Skin flick
Vegetables often have these inconvenient biological barriers that need to be removed using advanced devices called peelers. There's obviously quite some tachnology involved, given the wide variety of different kinds of peelers in the market, but they all serve the same basic purpose - to strip certain kinds of veggies naked and fill up garbage... Continue Reading →
Airport food
Most airports have boring food; at best, a range of fast food choices or minimal cheesygreasy food to go with beer. International airports generally fare better - London or Amsterdam in particular, and also see my raves about Milan - but some domestic ones are catching on too. Jetblue is a pioneer of a kind... Continue Reading →
Sausages and Smoke
Texas is barbecue land, so of course I had to go chasing down some of the real stuff. My first experience of Texas barbecue started with Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse in Dallas, which I was told was famous. One of the eight branches of Sonny Bryan wasn't too far from the office, so I headed there... Continue Reading →
Porks and Chops
My uncle in Calcutta would go to a lot of trouble for pork chops. They were a special treat at his house, served only when guests came from out of town. Good pork is not common in India; in this case he would leg it all the way to a single vendor in New Market's... Continue Reading →
Fishes in the Steam
Steaming is a time-honored way of cooking fishes, mostly because the results are so good. Microwaves aren't exactly time-honored, but they seem to be a great way to steam fishes without ...well... steaming them. The exotic Bengali word for steam is bhapa, and the most famous of the bhapa varieties are undoubtedly the one where... Continue Reading →
The Well Fed Bong 