How two brothers from Delhi went from serving H-addled clubgoers to serving coke-addled agents:

The L.A. segment of their story began when the newly arrived Sean G, now a fit, head-shaven 34-year-old, was working as a parking attendant at Tower Video on Sunset. A regular customer often chatted with him. Sean G enjoyed the talks but was curious why this young man always drew a crowd. He soon realized he’d been talking to Johnny Depp, who got him a job in the cashier’s booth at the Viper Room, which Depp owned at the time. The idea of Sean G greeting habitues of the Viper Room has a certain Candide-like charm. He is hardly the image of perdition. He runs upwards of ten miles a day, has never been late for a job or called in sick. Even the way he came to work at Barney Greengrass is based on the desire for self-improvement that night workers occasionally flirt with. “I should do something with my days,” Sean G remembers thinking. “I should learn something.” A Viper Room barman brought him to the deli and showed him the ropes. “I never ate this food,” Sean G says. “I didn’t know what a bagel was, or nova, or cream cheese.” He got his brother a job there, too. [Los Angeles Magazine]

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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.

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What is a Freshizza? A Fresh-pizza of course. It has the type of hip, cool sounding name that will entice young people with a disposable income to eat it. Right? I mean Mentos were known as “the freshmaker” and they were cool. Will Smith was a nobody until he became the Fresh Prince. The Hindustan Times reports:

Pizza Hut, the world’s largest pizza chain, on Wednesday launched a new product, Freshizza. The launch was marked by an innovative cookery show hosted by the fresh face of Bollywood actor Zayed Khan and food critic Rashmi Uday Singh.

The highlight of the show included a special demonstration of the pizza dough being made fresh at the restaurant in Janpath, New Delhi. The new crust is neither too thick nor too thin. It has delightfully soft texture and uses a uniquely flavoured tomato sauce, Mozzarella cheese, combined with an exciting range of toppings and garnished with orange Cheddar cheese.

Wow. Janpath must have been rocking in an orgy of excitement as that dough was worked over. I can only imagine. Where can I get me some Freshizza? Apparently google.com hasn’t yet heard of it. Neither has the official Pizza Hut website. Folks, I think Delhi has finally arrived as a world-class city, a trend-setter.

It is the result of months of pioneering effort by the Indian and international research and development team. India is the first market to launch this product.”

Holy crap. This is like the Pizza equivalent of the Manhattan Project. I’m glad major Indian news media is covering this. Continue reading →

A non-desi former pastry chef has opened a restaurant in Greenwich Village which serves traditional dhaba food, lassi and paranthas (thanks, BridalBeer). The new place is called Lassi:

From delicate plate-dwarfing dosas at Hampton Chutney Co. and the N.Y. Dosa cart, to wraplike rolls at Roomali and the Kati Roll Co., to the colorful, crunchy chaat of Sukhadia’s Gokul, we’re undoubtedly having a Southeast Asian street-food moment…

I think they mean South Asian, but carry on:

Catchily named for the frothy yogurt drinks on offer in mango-flavored profusion all over town, Lassi is much more than an ethnic smoothie shop (though its premade featured beverages, in potent, refreshing flavors ranging from spice-flecked cardamom and vanilla to a complex and curdy lemon, can easily become an après-gym addiction).

… Lassi is bright and cheerful–like its owner, Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez, the former pastry chef of L’Impero and Veritas. A chance encounter with a Punjabi student in a pastry class she was teaching–and many stereotype-shattering home-cooked Indian meals– inspired Carlucci-Rodriguez to change culinary course. And even though she’s an unlikely Indian-restaurant owner, she’s a passionate one. Her food tastes unlike any other Indian in town–fresher, cleaner, but undiluted in its intricately spiced essence.

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London’s Restaurant magazine just released their annual list of the 50 best places to get fat– and of course I’d be the Mutineer to post on this. 😉

I am slightly miffed that the list is not down with anything brown, unless New York’s lauded, pan-Asian-street-food mecca Spice Market counts. Since I cannot partake of their “chicken samosas” with cilantro-yogurt, I’m inclined to say…”NO”. 🙂

Now last year, the greatest place in the world for Dal Makhni made both the list AND the award for “Best Asian Restaurant”– I’m talking about New Delhi’s legendary Bukhara, mais oui. What a difference twelve months makes? Oh, well. I’m just amazed that a Brit magazine that listed no less than FOUR English restaurants in their top 10 couldn’t find a decent curry. Whatevs. Continue reading →

As if desis could get any more passionate about their comida, food diversity in India is rising with income (thanks, Rohit):

The amount spent nationally on meals outside the home has more than doubled in the past decade, to about $5 billion a year, and is expected to double again in about half that time…

“In the 1970’s and 1980’s our international menu consisted of Russian salad, shrimp cocktail, French fries … oh, and something baked,” Mr. Desai said. “Recently, though, I had a conservative Hindu lady explain to me the specifics of a risotto she wants for her son’s wedding, and a traditional Bohri Muslim family requested Mongolian hot pots…”

“When I first opened Diva people would send back al dente risotto because they were used to very soft cooked basmati rice…”

While I’m complaining about not getting arbi, Bombayites were complaining about not getting Italian:

The legendary Crawford Market in Mumbai… sells broccoli, iceberg lettuce, thyme, basil, rosemary, bell peppers and other non-Indian vegetables. Pasta in bulk is available alongside basmati rice.

It’s all causing drama with the saas:

“Much to my mother’s chagrin I use store-bought yogurt,” said Rujuta Jog, 24, a recently married office worker. “And my mother-in-law was upset when she saw that I use Pillsbury flour to make rotis. She still prefers to buy wheat and grind it fresh…”

“In the old days, since only the men worked outside the home, they were served first,” said Sathya Saran, a senior executive at Worldwide Media, one of India’s largest publishing companies. “Now everyone eats together, and the entire family dynamic has begun to shift.”

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