Featured Dessert: Tabla Cart’s Kulfi Pop
Maryse Chevrière — August 24, 2010
Milk Chocolate and Almond Kulfi Pop from Tabla’s seasonal cart.
Here’s a Flatiron dessert option that not only hits the popsicle trend, but also presents a nearby ice cream alternative for those who have already cycled through Shake Shack’s custard calendar: Tabla cart’s Milk Chocolate and Almond Kulfi Pop.
For those unfamiliar with it, kulfi is a type of flavored, milk-based frozen dessert originally from India. At Tabla’s seasonal cart you can have it sandwiched between chocolate chip cookies ($3), or on a stick as a “pop” ($3) that has been dipped in milk chocolate and covered with slivers of raw almond.
Always Informed: Tabla’s Frankie Cart is Back
Arthur Bovino — May 25, 2010
A Frankie being made at Tabla’s Frankie Cart.
Good news for Flatiron frankies fanatics: Tabla’s Frankie Cart is back. The folks at the cart said they started up again last Thursday. If you haven’t had a frankie, it’s an Indian wrap whose construction is similar to a Kati Roll, save for the thin, egg-washed wrap. You can read more about frankies, and their origin in last year’s announcement of the cart’s arrival.
There are apparently a few menu changes this year. The Pao are gone, so too the Sprouted Bean Chaat, but the Chicken Tikka Frankie has been joined by an excellent version with lamb. The Pombupani (Sparkling Limeade with Pomegranate Juice) are still on the offer— they’re refreshing and not-too-sweet. It looks like the cart’s Kulfi Pops have been joined by another Indian dessert: the Chocolate Chip Cookie Kulfi Sandwich.
Location: Outside Tabla at 11 Madison Park.
Notes: Takeaway only.
Featured Restaurant: Banjara
Katie Reisert — March 09, 2010
Clockwise from top: Banjara, Lamb Dumpakht, Chicken Samosas, and Shahi Korma.
Banjara, which sits confidently on the corner of E. 6th Street, is more upscale than the low-ceilinged Indian restaurants nearby, which everyone jokes about sharing a kitchen. As noted, Banjara serves Dumpakht, a sweet, creamy stew in a dome of fluffy naan, which is one of our favorite Indian dishes. But there are other things at this spacious East Village restaurant that are worth checking out.
AlwaysInvestigating: Bunny Chow
Sampurna Satpathy — February 11, 2010
Bunny Chow from left to right: Madiba, Xai Xai, and Bunny Chow.
Pop quiz. What’s bunny chow?
A. Minced bunnies?
B. Chow mien with rabbit?
C.The stage name of your favorite Asian stripper?
D. South Africa’s national dish?
If you guessed D you’re ahead of the crowd (C, and you may be on the wrong site). Actually, South Africa’s national dish has nothing to do with rabbits or strippers— though it does have a virgin. It’s a hollowed-out quarter loaf of white bread, filled with curry that is topped by the removed bread (the ‘virgin’), and sometimes chutneys and sambals. In South Africa, it’s often just called ‘bunnies.’
The name’s origin is ambiguous even in Durban where bunnies are said to originate. Under apartheid, when Indians weren’t allowed in restaurants, bunnies were a convenient meal to carry to work in the fields. One theory is that ‘bunny’ comes from Banias, the name for the Indian business class, with ‘chow’ being slang for food. New Yorkers have three places to eat bunnies: Madiba, Xai Xai, and the four-month-old Bunny Chow. We recently set out to discover whose is best.
AlwaysInformed: Teatime at Tamarind’s Tea Room
The Gluttoness — October 26, 2009
Clockwise from left, tea sandwiches at Tamarind’s Tea Room: Lamb Sholley, Malai Tikka, Saag Paneer and Portobello Mushroom.
It wasn’t surprising to see The Village Voice’s Best of NYC list single out Aamchi Pao and Mumbai Express for “Best Kati Rolls,” and “Best Sammys,” but it got me thinking about Tamarind’s Tea Room, a casual, lunch-only café (daily, 11:30am-3:00pm) whose menu doesn’t offer anything more than $10.
With more than a dozen teas to choose from, and suggested pairings for each dish, this small tea café adjacent to Tamarind is as much about tea as food. But the six sandwiches are worth the visit alone. The owner, Avatar Walia, explained that in India, high tea is enjoyed with “wraps” and cookies. Indian teatime can be experienced at the cafe with its $32 “Tea for Two,” which includes two pots of tea, two sandwiches, and an assortment of pastries (“Tea for One” includes a teapot, a sandwich and pastries, $15.00). Sandwiches feature warm, house-made, blistered whole-wheat paratha with room temperature ingredients, and include lettuce, tomato, and raita (mango chutney is also excellent). “People don’t have much time, so the idea is to roll everything into one bite,” Walia said.
AlwaysInvestigating: Frying Fowl
The Gluttoness — October 08, 2009
Devi’s Masala Fried Quail with Spicy Indian Slaw and Calcutta Mustard Potato Salad.
The round-ups have been done and The Times did their fried chicken cover, so the trend is officially over. We still love large format fried chicken dinners at Locanda Verde and Momofuku Noodle Bar, and believe that new birds deserve recognition, but since we reported on Momofuku’s Ko-style chicken dinner reservation system and how delicious a deal it is, we haven’t seen any green checkmarks. So it’s time to focus on restaurants like Devi (view) and Park Avenue Autumn (view), which have turned fried chicken preparations to a different fowl: quail. While small, these birds fry up with lots of flavor.
Featured Dish: Dumpakht
Katie Reisert — July 20, 2009
Banjara’s Lamb Dumpakht
The white tableclothes and the comparatively large size of Banjara (restaurant page) make this Indian restaurant on the corner of 6th Street in the East Village stand out among the tiny curry houses of Curry Row. But it is Dumpakht (pronounced, Dumb-Paht), Banjara’s signature dish, which makes it stand out not just among Indian restaurants in New York City, but as one among a handful of establishments serving it across the country. According to the menu, Dumpakht is “a method of cooking by which the cooking vessel is sealed with pastry, resulting in a deliciously moist flavorful dish.”
“Dum” is said to mean steam and “dum pukht” has been translated to mean “to choke off the steam.” The dish’s origins are somewhat murky. According to one story, this style of cooking in India can be traced back to the 18th century when supposedly, a benevolent ruler ordered sealed containers of food to be kept on hand for laborers working on an epic project, thus spawning a style of cooking.
Some compare Dumpakht to chicken pot pie, but at Banjara, the presentation is much more impressive. A shallow copper pot is filled with meat braised in a cream-based, buttery stew that is sealed closed with naan that rises to form a dome two to three-inches in height. Banjara’s Dumpakht is available with lamb, chicken, shrimp or vegetables ($13.95-$19.95).
Steam rises from the colorful stew as you tear open the bread. The sauce contains bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cashews, almonds and a subtle hint of curry— but the taste is more sweet and creamy than intensely spicy. The cooking method results in perfectly tender meat, which has been cooking in its own juices. The highlight of the dish is that it’s self-contained —there’s no need to order extra naan to wipe up the excess delicious sauce as you finish.
AHNY Challenge: Feel the Burn!
Arthur Bovino — June 30, 2009
Chowhound chatter alerted us to the potential for a showdown between what some have called New York’s spiciest dishes, Brick Lane Curry House’s Phaal Challenge and Rhong Tiam’s Pork on Fire. Brick Lane’s menu is the best introduction to phaal (above):
An excruciatingly hot curry, more pain and sweat than flavor, for our customers who do this on a dare, we will require you to state a verbal disclaimer not holding us liable for any physical or emotional damage after eating this curry. If you do manage to finish your serving of curry, a bottle of beer is on us.
Big talk, but documented attempts back it up. In the other corner is “Pork on Fire,” (Moo-Na-Rok, $13) a dish from the West Village restaurant, Rhong Tiam. Last summer, a New York Times article suggested it could be a “contender for spiciest dish in the city,” a suggestion that didn’t go untested.
We decided to see which dish was hotter.
Click to find out which dish is spicier: Phaal or "Pork on Fire" >>
FirstLook: Aamchi Pao
Arthur Bovino — June 17, 2009
“There’s always a right time to reinvent yourself,” Chef Surbhi Sahni, told us recently at Aamchi Pao.
No, Chef Sahni isn’t leaving her post as Devi’s pastry chef. But she has joined Nandini Mukherjee as co-owner at the reincarnation of Mukherjee’s West Village restaurant of almost six years, the Indian Bread Co. As previously reported, the Stuffed Parathas and Naanwhichs (grilled Indian “panini”) are gone. There are still Kathi Rolls, but the Naan sandwiches have been replaced by “Pao,” renditions of Pav Bhaji, a Mumbai street food that is essentially an Indian Slider. The word “Pav,” in Marathi (the language of southwestern India), is said to come from Pão, the Portuguese word for bread.
Click here to read more about Aamchi Pao's Mumbai Sliders >>
AlwaysInvestigating: Tabla’s Frankie Cart
The Gluttoness — April 22, 2009
Left to right: a Frankie being made at Tabla’s Frankie Cart, and a composed Frankie.
Yesterday, Yum Sugar quoted Tom Colicchio musing about what could possibly be the post-banh mi, trendsetting ethnic sandwich. He suggested Indian street food, citing the sandwich with a “funny name,” meaning the chicken frankie. It just so happens that last week, in advance of Colicchio’s predictions, the Tabla Frankie Cart resumed outdoor business in front of the restaurant at 11 Madison.
For the uninitiated, a Frankie is an Indian wrap— liken it to the Mumbai burrito. Its construction is similar to a Kati (Roti) roll. Talking about kati rolls and frankies is kind of like an Indian version of the New York and Chicago-style pizza debate. Kati rolls are inexpensive street food first popularized in Kolkata said to have been invented by busy street vendors who didn’t have time to wash plates. Instead, they started serving their marinated and grilled kebabs wrapped in paratha or roti. Aside from the kebab, a typical kati roll includes a spicy coriander chutney, and onions.
Frankies are unique to Mumbai and are distinguished by the egg washing of their casings. They’re said to have been created by a Mr. Amarjit Singh Tibb. Supposedly, Tibb wasn’t inspired by the kati roll, but by a Lebanese preparation of stuffed pita bread similar to shawarma. After a trip to Lebanon in 1967, he worked on creating the right curried fillings, and named his creation for the famed West Indian cricketer, Frank Worrell, actually trademarking the term. The first “Tibbs Frankie” opened in Mumbai more than thirty years ago, and now the chain has franchised locations.
The specialty at Tabla’s Frankie Cart is the Chicken Tikka Frankie (above). It features Bread Bar Chicken Tikka and mint chutney wrapped in an egg-washed “roti.” The wash contains cilantro, chilis and scallion. Inside are moist pieces of chicken that have been marinated in green curry, cumin, pepper, garlic, ginger and scallion. The exterior is surprisingly eggy, the chicken is flavorful, and the green chutney exudes vibrant hints of garlic and mint. Currently, the chicken is the only variety available, but Tabla plans to offer additional vegetarian options once the Greenmarket is better stocked.
Location: Outside Tabla at 11 Madison Park.
Notes: Takeaway only.
AlwaysHungryNY: All About Doubles
Arthur Bovino — March 25, 2009
Picture a Caribbean setting. It’s dawn. Hungry Trinidadians en route to work, stop money in hand to surround a street-side food vendor. He furiously spoons curried channa into two pieces of bara, dresses them with sauces and condiments, wraps, flips and exchanges it for cash then begins the hypnotic rhythm again. Customers are so eager to eat, they’re practically still on line, untwisting wax paper ends and eating something so hot, steam rises into the warm air.
The clamored-for snacks above are called ‘Doubles,’ a vegetarian street food from Trinidad. A Doubles consists of two pieces of fried, usually golden, flat, palm-sized pieces of quick bread, served with chickpea curry, called channa. The bara, as the bread is called, resembles a fried version of Indian naan or roti. The presentation of Doubles varies slightly. Depending on the vendor, they could resemble a soft-taco, a sandwich, or a mini-burrito. While it’s possible to find Doubles throughout the day, they’re predominantly enjoyed either for breakfast or as a late-night snack after or during ‘liming,’ a Trinidadian term for hanging out.
Click for the History of Doubles Complete With a Recipe >>
AlwaysInformed: Socarrat’s Maiden Voyage
The Gluttoness — March 05, 2009
The AlwaysHungry Council of Eaters were perfectly poised to test drive Socarrat’s brand new delivery feature. Eager to see how the actual socarrat would hold up in a delivery container (Philippe Express’ Crispy Beef is rarely crispy), we made it our business to be the first to find out if their normally delicious paella was indeed delivery-friendly. As many of our staff were out on assignment, our first order was a modest one—two orders of Paella de Carne and a single Fideua.
As we hoped, AlwaysHungry’s order was the first, it arrived today at 1:00pm, hand-delivered by Socarrat’s manager, Grant Nathan. When asked if he was nervous about the paella holding up en route—he confidently replied, “We are blessed with a wonderful chef, he knows what to do.”
The Crispy Fideua (pictured left), topped with an ample amount of seafood, unfortunately fell victim to a cardboard like consistency. Although unpleasant, it was unclear whether this was delivery related or not. Conversely, the Paella de Carne (pictured right), chock full of pork, chicken, duck and chorizo, was absolutely delicious. A mushroom soffrito packed it full of flavor, and the varied, well-cooked meats kept this taste train going. The texture of the bomba rice was dead on, but the dish was totally void of the prized socarrat from which they took their name. The sacrifices we make for delivery…
While tasty, the paella was missing its distinct flavor. Maybe it was lacking in saffron, maybe something else, but the taste caused confusion. Jeff thought it tasted like the love child of fried rice and risotto, while I felt it was more like a mixed meat version of Arroz con Pollo. A blind taste test by our next door neighbor yielded “Chicken Tikka Masala,” further demonstrating the collective confusion over the origin of this paella’s indistinguishable taste. Also, at $20 a pop, the portions were very small. The small aluminum containers were quickly devoured in only a few minutes time.
At the end of the day, the maiden voyage of Socarrat’s Paella was not what we expected. The flavor profile threw us off and the bottom could have definitely been crisper, but that being said, it was a very enoyable eating experience that I am sure we will have again. Next time, we will just have to order six of them.
Menus Made Simple: Double Crown
The Gluttoness — November 18, 2008
The cuisine at AvroKO’s newest restaurant, Double Crown, is described as a celebration of the food that emerged during nineteenth-century British colonialism in the Far East. The result appears to be an amalgamation of global cuisines, making the eclectic menu particularly interesting and definitely worthy of translation:
- Whitebait: young fish that are tender and entirely edible; often times used in reference to Herring
- Piccalilli: pickle relish of chopped vegetables and spices depending on region
- Labne: very thick, strained yoghurt cheese
- Pomelo: sweet, large citrus fruit that looks like a grapefruit on steroids
- Shrimp Floss: shrimp meat that is thinly sliced and fried
- Tatsoi: dark green plant with spooned leaves that form a thick rosette, subtle favor and soft texture
- Scotch Egg: a hard/soft-boiled egg that is wrapped in sausage, coated in breadcrumbs and then deep-fried
- Goan Curry: sauce inspired by the fusion of Indian, Arab and Portuguese culinary traditions with coconut as the primary flavor
- Red Lentil Dhal: vegetarian stew seasoned with coriander, cumin, cardamom and chili
- Laksa: spicy noodle soup, indigenous too many Far Eastern cultures, each with their own variety
AlwaysPartying: Taste of the Village
The Hungry Goat — September 11, 2008
Last night’s Taste of the Village event was a block party perfectly befitting Greenwich Village as it celebrated both the neighborhood’s flavor and its spirit. Held in a large tent amid the construction site that is Washington Square Park, the 20-plus tasting stations attracted an impressive crowd of hungry Village locals, NYU students, and general food enthusiasts. Mario Batali even made a brief cameo— staying just long enough to stand for pictures and support the fabulous gelato kart provided by his restaurant Otto. Elettaria head chef Akhtar Nawab showed up as well, manning his own station in an impressive demonstration of pride and humility. But this event wasn’t about glitz and glam or which restaurant had a better reputation; for one night, high and low seamlessly integrated for the sake of celebrating cuisine. The station from the famed Blue Hill (which served a glorified tomato soup that was beyond disappointing) was right at home next the less-decorated La Palapa table (which offered a mean vegetarian tostada), while the 8th Street Winecellar hit it out of the park with its fiery Mac & Cheese and swine-tastic P.L.T slider (as in Prosciutto, Lettuce & Tomato).
Here is a list of the event’s palate-pleasing highlights:
• 8th Street Winecellar: P.L.T. (Pancetta, Lettuce, & Tomato); Baked Macdougal and Cheese
• North Square: Corn Chowder with Peppers, Red Chili Oil, and Parmesan Cheese; Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta
• Village Restaurant: Prosciutto with Arugula, Peaches, Hazelnuts & Balsamic
• Le Pain Quotidien: Crostini with Ricotta, Mission Figs & Honey drizzle; Mini Belgian Chocolate Muffin
• SushiSamba 7: Kampachi Tiradito; Chocolate Mousse Duo
• Café Spice: Chicken Achari Kebab
• Gizzi’s Coffee: Mini Red Velvet Cupcake; Chocolate Brownie
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