A friend of mine wanted me to cook for her, but had no spices at home. We made a pact; I'd cook something truly Indian with only what's available at her local supermarket - which sounded like a huge challenge till I discovered her 'local' was a WholeFoods with neary every kind of spice there... Continue Reading →
Dining About Town
I've been spending the last fortnight entertaining my mother and aunt, which means trying out some nice new restaurants. My travels took me to some new ones, and some old favorites. One of the new ones was Vong, the much reviewed restaurant from celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s chain of restaurants. It's hidden away under the... Continue Reading →
The South West Experiment
I've finally inspired other people. Here's the review (unedited except for links and capitalization) sent in a few days ago by the very friend of mine that fished in hell in with me. Last week, this foodie friend of mine suggested that we try sampling fare at restaurants/bars named after their addresses. I found the... Continue Reading →
Cheap in the Village
I know you're running out of money. What better than a free magazine to recommend cheap joints, so here's the 2005 cheap&best list from Village Voice. And cheap&best was in fashion in earlier years too; here are the previous lists - Italian (2004) , Latin (2003), Asian (2002) and the Original List in 2001. No,... Continue Reading →
More Dal Stuff
While Masoor starts life as pink, a little persuasion by hot water quickly converts it to a pale yellow. It's color makes it the easiest dal to recognise but people usually see the prepared version and go looking for a yellow dal. Bengalis use it a lot by itself while most other communities mix it... Continue Reading →
Recipe magic
I found a good place to post formal recipes - RecipeGullet. They have a nice editor for entering recipes; it even comes out looking pretty (on the web page, at least). And, they have a fancy-shmancy search engine. Here, for instance, is my super-quick recipe for Aloo Golki.
Never a Dal Day
Dal pretty much the core of Indian food. One could argue that it is more imporant that even rice, since many areas of India are wheat-centered. Dal is eaten everyday by pretty much all of India in some form or the other. Dals are pulses (dried food crops of of the legume family), and come... Continue Reading →
The Burger is the King too
Nothing quite defines the American food experience like the burger. And nothing quite defines the burger experience like a fast food chain. When I'm on the road driving the back roads, the only food I'm likely to get consistently is a burger. Sure, there's the occassional hippie who's opened a chai-latte place in the middle... Continue Reading →
Dosa is the king
The search has come to an end. The best Indian food in the continent is to be found in a strip mall on Red Hill Avenue in Tutsin CA. It's called Dosa Place, and produces dosas that would make most chefs in Chennai sweat. Luckily, its well hidden by Del Taco and Chinese takeouts. Ok,... Continue Reading →
And now the French
I discovered myself in French food fairly regularly in the last few days. I also realized that for some reason all French restaurants in New York look very similar. The first was Les Halles, one branch of which is right around the corner from my house and open till midnight. yes there's a celebrity chef... Continue Reading →
The Well Fed Bong 