The last time I was subjected to the water-boarding called looking for a Manhattan apartment, I cast a covetous eye on a beautiful midtown loft. This place had a sunny balcony facing the art deco fantasy of the Chrysler Building, and a motormouth roommate who talked like she was on cocaine. I’d almost convinced myself I could handle the roommate, but one thing she said stuck sourly in my head.
She asked me whether I’d be cooking. ‘I can’t stand that curry smell,’ she said.
Let’s put that trope out of its British Raj-induced misery. Indian dishes as a whole are not called curry. They’re called sabzi or khana in Hindi, or just plain Indian food. In Punjabi cooking, curry is one specific dish: a thick yellow sauce made with yogurt and garbanzo flour, spiced with turmeric and eaten with rice. Some stir munchies like vadas, chicken or mutton into this base.
Calling all Indian food ‘curry’ is like calling all American food ‘Jello’: it’s nonsensical. If you tell me, ‘Let’s get some curry!’ and then order saag paneer, I’m going to laugh at you. Loudly.
Is this just semantic quibbling, when cheap Indian restaurants themselves perpetuate the corruption? Forget Curry in a Hurry, try ordering a Chinese dish by the wrong name. I did that at the tiny takeout place on the corner and got a stern lecture. ‘That not chow mein,’ the owner said. ‘I make you lo mein.’ Damned if it wasn’t better, just like he said.
Furthermore, there ain’t no such thing as chai tea, star-buckers. Chai is tea, so unless you and your sibling are the Doublemint twins, or you’re the mascot for Little Caesars Pizza-Pizza, don’t be ign’ant and run around asking for tea-tea. (Mmm, Doublemint twins.)
On that minty-fresh note, I leave you with these bouts of Kiwi brilliance. From two weeks ago:
A Tauranga woman is accusing a local branch of The Warehouse of racial discrimination after she was denied the right to return purchases because they “smell like curry”… After a brief conversation with a Warehouse employee, the mother of five was allegedly told: “We can’t take these back – they stink like curry”… With the family having eaten roast lamb and vegetables for dinner, Mrs Ali argued there was no chance the clothing could have acquired a “curry smell”.
And in 2003:
A small-town motelier denied an Indian man a unit for a family holiday because she claimed he might make the room smelly by cooking curries… after learning that Mr Roychoudhury is Indian, she said she could not offer the room because she would not be able to get the smell out before the next guests arrived… Mrs Nemhauser had not asked the family if they would be cooking Indian food.
Do the various styles of Indian cooking have characteristic olfactory hues? You bet. So do Thai, Italian, Mexican and sex.
And they’re all orgasmic.
Nina, Devi is absolutely fabulous. We’ve been there for two special occasions. (We also used to frequent Suvir’s former kitchen, Amma… and loved it… which is why we followed him to Devi.) Tasting menu is divine.
Whatever you do, don’t go to Bombay Talkie. Went there twice ’cause everyone was talking about it, and the food was mediocre at best.
in case anyone’s curious, boston is a disaster. one ok dhaba spot, and one homestyle bengali. thassaboutit… if anyone has tips, let me know.
where the houston, atlanta, los angeles people at? in my experience the best indian grub, like the best immigrant grub of any ethnicity, is to be found in stripmalls in sprawl cities.
peace
How true, like in Nashville- Taste of India on 21st Ave, in Village at Vanderbilt. Village at Vandy is a medical office plaza. Go figure.
How much does a meal cost at India Bread Company? Or is it more of a snack place? also, where is it exactly (anyone have a street corner?)
i was working on the assumption that three quarters of these places give us heartburn 🙂 in seriousness, though, that’s good to know. i’ve only eaten there once or twice and never had a problem as far as i remember.
and and all of them violate their workers’ rights (a friend of mine who used to work at a restaurant told me to tip directly to the hand of the person serving you; don’t leave it on the table b/c management will steal it).
who’s up for starting a desi restaurant blog?
Re: sugar in Indian dishes: We Bengalis are also known for adding sugar to certain dishes. I suppose that’s what it gives our food a certain appeal. Have you ever tried sweet & sour masoor dal? Bengali specialty. Flavored with green mangoes, roasted red chilies, and… sugar. It’s awesome. We even add sugar to simple alu gobi dishes and its awesome. Must be the Bengali sweet tooth.
Re: eating in DC: Minerva rocks. Udupi rocks. I’m going to Heritage in DuPont this weekend. I wrote about these places in the latest Shabash guide…
oh and all you foodies should pick up the Shabash 2.0 guide right now, it’s awesome and i’m in it too. Can’t find the link w/ info on where to buy it, I’ll post later once I dig it up.
$6 for a paneer naanini, $3.50 for an aloo parantha, both delicious. Bleecker between 6th Ave. and Macdougal. Also, some background on Indian Bread Co.
Check out Chowhound and Lulu.
Saurav- Indian Bread Co is at 194 Bleeker (betw 6 & McDougal)
Pricing is quite decent, considering the generous portions…
I’ll meet you there sometime for lunch!
in d.c. it’s heritage india or NOTHING. for south indian food, i have to go all the way to maryland, which means i never do.
ANNA,
Have you tried Amma’s in Georgetown?? It has authentic and inexpensive South Indian food, AND you don’t need to go to Maryland to try it. Whenever I crave my mom’s tamarind rice, I go there. Also, Indique in DC is good too. But, Heritage is the absolute best in DC, I must agree with you there.
There is this great joint in L.A. called Abhi’s Apartment. They have been known to discriminate against men though. The food is still great.
Yeah but the door policy at Chez Abhi’s a bitch: hot date mandatory.
Amma? i take credit for keeping it afloat during its arid first few weeks. 🙂
as a homesick grad student new to GW, i missed my mom’s cooking sum’n FIERCE. when i found this unknown, new Mallu restaurant (they serve AVIAL!), i fell to my knees and wept. i also walked there, every day, to have dinner and study before my evening classes. i credit that 30-block round trip for my then-wondrous abs that co-existed with nightly samosas, mysore masala dosas, kappi and semiya payasam. wind, rain, snow…it didn’t matter. i had dinner with my “chetan” every evening (one of the waiters there is from my dad’s town in kerala).
that familiarity is precisely why i no longer go; they fuss over me (especially cheta), which is AWESOME (my friends report that when they go without me, the experience is far suckier) but this means they also fuss AT me. there’s always a trade-off.
what do i mean? here’s a random sampling: -what are you doing? -did you forget your malayalam? -are you making money?
-did you go to church?
-don’t you want to get married?
-does your sister? -why aren’t you eating more? -were you sick/darkening in the sun/ungrateful and is THAT why we haven’t seen you?
etcetera ad nauseum. 😀
they are kind, consistent, appetizing and quite convenient; it took me years to overcome my blind adoration and loyalty and acknowledge that the mysore dosa at udupi is actually better. 🙂
i’m partial to Vatan on 3rd and 29th-ish. A few blocks from my old apartment. I moved to New York and caught a nasty flu a few weeks later. Desperately in need of some kitchidi & kuddi but couldn’t begin to imagine wheere i could find that in NY.
I went to Vatan a few weeks after i recovered and ate it there as part of the price fixe. Now whenever I’m craving mum’s good guju food, I go to Vatan.
Neither Kati Roll or Indian Bread Company gets the Kati Roll right. I.B.C. gets the filling right but the wrap tastes like a bland chappati. K.R. gets the sizzling paratha right, but the masala filing is terribe and underdeveloped. Always sits in my tummy for hours..(and I keep going back). One day I will surely sit on the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal, equidistant from both storefronts and assemble my own superior kati roll, godammnit.
Before my recent trip to Bomaby, I wondered whether my intense craving for Frankies was just hipster nostalgia. This trip I made sure to gorge on real kati rolls every time I saw them. And my memory of a most sakkath street food was confirmed. word, life.
Priya, so funny, I was just about to post about Vatan as well- it’s the only Guju restaurant my parents truly approve of. Oak Tree Road in Edison also has a few good Guju restaurants, but I’m blanking on their names at the moment.
And if you’re a fan of chaat, Vik’s in Berkeley rocks.
all hail VIK’S in berkeley. yowza, they are GOOD. that’s the only brown food in berkeley i’ll eat. since their owner doesn’t keep sex slaves and whatnot, AFAIK.
Thanks Manish and Desi Dancer. I looked at the menu and now I’m getting hungry like Saheli did. “If only I had a teleporter…” he thinks wistfully.
As a connoisseur of desi food all over NYC, I’m going to add my two annas.
For those who aren’t veg. and are okay with “Pakistani” food (I’m not sure I necessarily understand this term, but I will assume the poster simply meant to identify it as non-veg) Haandi on Lexington and 29th is quite good. It’s as close to home cooking as I’ve ever seen in a restaurant, but then again, I’m one of those “bougeouis” N. Indian Muslims who eats stuff like biryani and korma at home. 😛
Also, there’s a place on Greenwich that is called Lassi. It’s owned by two non-Indian chefs and they make parathas and… well, lassi. It’s pretty good, they’ve got the technique down pat, but there’s some oomph missing. Back in the homeland, we used to refer to it as “haathon ki mahl” – which, indelicately, refers to the fact that the best food is indeed “dirty” street food. Yum.
I personally didn’t like Devi very much. My bf was estatic to see they had tindas on the menu, so we ordered them only to find them exorbitantly oversalted. The bhelpuri was okay, and the lamb, not bad but not great. The desserts, especially the falooda fusion, were awesome. Maybe I’ll give Suvir Saran’s restaurant another try sometime, because I love his cookbook to death, but let me tell you, the first go wasn’t what I expected it to be. I’ve felt more satisfied at Kati Roll.
I’m also a fan of Bukhara Grill – the spinach with corn is amazing. I don’t usually like palak desi style, but man — it was awesome.
Sheereen Mahal in JH makes the best laddoo, IMO. Kababish is also not bad, for cheap kababs and naan, also in JH.
I also had an amazing Bangali biryani in Astoria (can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s across the street from Kabir’s bakery). I like it better than Mughlai biryani.
I love Amma’s in DC and I’m glad you were a devout Amma lover, Anna.
I hate Indique (overpriced South Asian fusion food).
Going to Heritage for the first time this weekend to celebrate! Glad/relieved that Sepia DC foodies like/love it.
I’m really enjoying reading all the ladies describing restaurants & food in such mouth-watering detail. I like women with healthy appetites. There’s nothing worse than going to a restaurant with a girl who eats two leafs of lettuce. No, I like food-girls.
Your article is very to the point. I wrote something similar which can be found here: http://cooking4her.blogspot.com/2005/04/commentary-lets-talk-curry.html
But we could continue to rant about many things as English continues to evolve. For example, I felt the same way about Chai, we call it cha in Bengal, but Latte in Italian means milk, unless you call say Caffe Latte you are just asking for milk, get it?
I am less irritated by people calling the food curry than thinking that there is one spice called curry that goes into the preparation!
I live and grew up in the Baltimore Area. I envy New York because it may be the only city in the U.S. with a lot of cool indian restaurants without the mughlai/punjabi standard fare(maybe San Fran has some). I dont eat at Indian restaurants often. Of the ones Ive been to my favorite has to be Bombay Grill in Baltimore. I also like Madras Palace (south indian veg) in Greenbelt/Lanham, MD a few min from a South Indian and a Tamil temple.I grew up in a si vegetarian family so I feel more at home there than the standard Indian restaurants. Plus the si indian restaurants may have the ni things too like paneer mateer. There is an Indian Fusion Restaurant on Charles Streetin Baltimore(operated by Tony Chemmanoor the owner of bombay grill chain of restaurants in baltimore area) called Saffron that I want to try. It was on the 2004 baltimore magazine best restaurant list. http://www.baltimoremag.com/annuals/best_restaurants04/best_restaurants_2004.asp There is also a weird combo indian restaurant I read about near John Hopkins university in Baltimore called Tamber’s that combines 50’s food and atmosphere with Indian food.
attn: baltimore is ghetto watch out http://www.jhu.edu/~newslett/10-12-00/DiningGuide/28.html
Here is the url for saffron: http://www.saffronusa.com/ although baltimore can be sketchy so watch out baltimore is known for its murders, durg addiction, crack whores, prostitutes etc although it shouldnt be that bad just park closeby and walk to the bombay grill
anyone know of any south indian non-veg restaurants in the balt/dc area or anywhere in the us?
Aaaaargh. That’s my pet peeve too. The only such place I know of is in new york – Asaivam, opposite Udupi(?) in Lexington. That wasn’t very good, either. Any idea of such a place in DC area? I vividly remember the great Andhra food I used to have in Bangalore. Andhra-style briyani beats mughlai briyani anytime..
Sapphire in Laurel,MD is also a good Indian restaurant in DC area. For veggie food, Amma’s rocks.
70+ comments and no one asked what Michael Jackson’s doing on the saag-paneer link?
My entire family diversified their business ventures to include restaurants. My uncle Surinder Samra owns the India Oven on Haight and Filmore in San Fran (tres maqnifique food cooked by the most jovial Pakistani-punjabi you will ever meet but I must say that the food is really geared to Western tastes, though the biryani is quite good). Say hi to my uncle, he’s super friendly. My other mamaji owns a great little place on the strip in Las Vegas called “tamba”. Haven’t been there as of yet, but heard great things. Besides, it’s my cousin’s venture and he knows how to be trendy. My parents own two restaurants (India Oven) in the Portland, Oregon area. The one in Portland is the best because my mother is a very talented cook. Oh and one last place in Monterey, CA. The India Clay Oven. Owned by my uncle. The food is okay. I hadn’t realized that the corner-shop of yesteryear became the restaurant today. Haha.
vatan (gujrati) and chola (pan-Indian; sounds scary, I know, but its really good)in manhattan
have people tried “Cafe Spice”? It’s on University Place around 11th street (near NYU)?
re: food smells. Maybe because I eat mainly vegetarian, I find the smell of meat – steaks, chops or whatever else, being heated in a pan pretty overpowering (and not in a good way ;-)).
agree about the smell of fish in microwave ovens. Why can’t everyone just eat sushi 😉
Largely, yes. I have to admit that in hindsight, there may been some unconscious essentializing/racism going into it too. Sigh…sorry.
Ask (or click on the picture yourself) and ye shall receive:
Headline: ‘Michael Jackson wants Saag Paneer’ Excerpts:
one of my fav places in Jackson Heights is Al Naimat, which is a Pakistani restaurant with a kick ass buffet, and everything from their chicken biriyani to their palak paneer is yummy! Its the only place apart from Coney Island Ave that I go to satify my nihari and haleem cravings..and their kababs are just divine! I don’t particularly like Kabab King (the one next to Eagle theater) much except for their masala chai…I think one of the things that puts me off is the look you get going in there as a single desi woman.
I really miss desi chinese food! I haven’t yet been to a restaurant in NY which even comes close to the taste of chinese food in India…I think Kolkata’s Tangra has the best desi chinese food…I went to this one new chinese restaurant in J-H which is owned and operated by Bangladeshis and everything, even the vegetarian stuff tasted like fish! of course, as a fellow bong, I don’t mind fish, but not in my vegetarian hakka noodles! ok, all this food talk is making me hungry!
There is also a good place called Food Factory on rt 1 in college park, md. It would be described as a Pakistani Place. Perhaps Afghani. Its like madras Palace no decor nothing but decent food.
Seeker – you give Gurpreet too little credit. He has lived in India for an extended period of time and is familiar with home cooking. I don’t agree with his characterization, I just know that his opinions are formed through exposure.
He loves Indian food the way it’s done in Scotland…hah..I love it! Thanks Saurav.
for really good south indian veg and non veg food and great desserts try Minerva in Fairfax, VA. their weekend brunches are the best. service ain’t that great otherwise.
I was suprised to learn Germans like “curry”, or at least curry powder.
(German Chancellor) Schroeder, whose taste is known to run to “currywurst”, a Berlin speciality involving grilled sausage doused in tomato ketchup and curry powder… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3337001a4560,00.html
About “Chai Tea” and Starbucks… In the stores in the US, they now call it “Chai Latte” at least, altho they dont on their website… And Starbucks in Britain still calls it “Chai Tea Latte” in their stores!
There’s actually a well known South Asian American publicist type of gal called “Chai T. Latte” who sends out informational emails, which people round the country seem to get – she’s gotten a fair amount of reputation, because of the memorable name. I beleive she started it the very week that Starbucks introduced their drink, as a parody.
Starbucks’ chai tastes vile anyway.
Though Chai T. Latte would be a great desi-drag queen name…
Oh my goodness you are awesome! I can’t tell you how long that has been waiting to be said. Also another important point, all Indians do not speak TAMIL!
Cheers, Tash.
P.S. i came across your site while browsing. 🙂 have a good one!