Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sushi of Gari

There is only one word I can use to describe the delectable, mouthwatering sushi served at Gari's restaurants: heaven. Sushi purists may be turned off by the nontraditional style of his offerings but one taste and they will be convinced. Each piece, which can be ordered "Gari style", comes paired with it's own elegant and creative topping. Fatty tuna with hummus, salmon with roasted tomatoes, snapper with garlic and onion, the list is endless and ever changing. Having grown up in the land locked state of Tennesse, I was never very adventurous with sushi before moving to New York, and now I have been spoiled for life. I have celebrated every birthday at Gari since moving to New York and find simply any excuse I can to enjoy a meal there. I am very ritualistic about my experience though, each piece must be fully appreciated, and yes, I have been brought to near tears by some of their sushi. When anyone asks me my favorite New York spot, I always unhesitatingly reply Gari. While the decor is nothing to be impressed by, it's all about the food here. The price tag is not for the faint of heart, but I can guarantee a life changing experience. Here I am celebrating my latest birthday (28!).

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Mercado Central (Fish Market)

Wow, this place was awesome. It had fish and things that lived in the sea which I had never even heard of before, let alone seen. There were literally tentacles sticking out of shells probing the air like cockroach antennae. But, everything looked incredibly fresh and therefore tasty (with the exception of aforementioned tentacle/barnacle hybrids). After a quick tour of the market (I grew tired of everyone asking me to buy stuff), I sat down at a restaurant that was actually inside the market. I ordered a conger eel soup and paella especial. The conger eel soup was so-so, I only got it because it is very famous in Chile. The paella though was amazing with some of the freshest seafood I have ever eaten. Some of this stuff was alive just hours ago. All in all, a great trip, I will definitely go back at some point and try some of the other, more adventurous options they had.



Monday, August 17, 2009

Sugar Cafe/Pommes Frites - August 16, 2009


What are post call days for if not for taking long naps and eating a disgusting amount of food? Last Sunday, I woke up in my usual post call haze and decided I needed some retail therapy to get over the horrible night. We made our way to the LES for some browsing and stopped at a little dessert cafe we had probably passed a dozen times. It's a place called Sugar Cafe on Allen and Houston. The 100 degree heat and humidity had us craving something cool so we got some gelato (cookies and cream and blood orange - i'll let you guess who ordered what). The pies and cakes looked good but we didn't manage to try them on this visit.


One of my favorite things about New York is the plenitude of restaurants/shops that specialize in only one product. You know what I'm talking about - S'mac, Rice to Riches, Dumpling Man, the PB&J Company; the list is endless. Well, after our ice cream, we stopped by Pommes Frites for some Belgian Fries. Yup, all they have is fries and about 100 sauces to choose from and I love it. It's a good thing we did a lot of walking because nothing we ate on Sunday was very good for us. Oh well!

Pearl Oyster Bar - August 14, 2009


When Bindu first came to visit us in New York about two years ago, she introduced us to this amazing thing we had never even heard of before: the lobster roll. Not having grown up in the Northeast, I had totally missed out on this incredible creation. We had our first one at Mary's Fish Camp (an offshoot of Pearl) and since then we've been searching for the best (we've tried Mermaid Inn and some in Newport, RI), but the best I've ever had is at Pearl. It really is a mountain of lobster with just the right amount of sauce and that perfect, buttery roll. Other things we've had at pearl and loved are the clam chowder and fried oysters (with a homemade remoulade - see right). We finished off our meal with the blueberry cobbler (they do it just like in the South - it reminds me of WayCrazy BBQ on Lookout Mountain). On top of having great food, Pearl also happens to be in our favorite neighborhood - the West Village. There it is below! The delicious lobster roll and shoestring fries, well worth the pricetag!
Pearl revisited - 12/18/09
During my dad's annual Decemeber trip to NYC, Ankur, Geeta, and I took him out to Pearl to the try the lobster rolls and seared cod. The bottom line is that Pearl never disappoints. My dad, a very tough critic, declared the food "excellent", and the praline parfait for dessert was so well received that we had to get two!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Carrot Halwa - August 7-9, 2009



A couple of months ago, after Praveen and Neha had decided the date for their engagment party, Ankur approached me with a question. Ever the loving the brother, he wanted to MAKE something in honor of his sister's big day. I racked my brain for something that could be made ahead and time and that would be easy to transport from NYC to Orlando. The answer...carrot halwa! I made the poor guy grate about two dozen carrots and, as you can see from the picture, the remainder of the ingredients were pretty easy to mix in. This; however, is only the tip of all the amazing eating we did this weekend. Friday night, my in laws hosted a lovely dinner for the happy couple and we got to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday as well. Many speeches were made and tears shed about my fantastic mom! On Saturday, we celebrated the official engagement at Pinni's house. Neha hated being the center of attention but she looked absolutely gorgeous. It was a deja vu experience reliving our own engagement. I couldn't pick just a few, so here are several pictures from our memorable weekend.

From the top, (1) the happy couple (2) Naveen speaking about Mom (3) Ankur and I cutting our anniversary cake with Kiran's help (4) Pinni and Babu Mama giving a speech about Mom. Below: (1) Bagaku Forever! (2) The Reddy Women (3) Me, Neha, and Harpreet (Abhi's girlfriend) who my family became oddly obsessed with (4) Sefali Mami with her Falafel feast (5) Me, Ankur, and Geeta after we gave up on the Indian clothes (6) The Vyas Family minus Praveen










Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Mad for Chicken - Tuesday, August 4, 2009 (Kavi)



After M&M conference, a couple of my residency friends and I were supposed to have our weekly study group. This quickly disintegrated when we decided the weather was too nice and the sun too bright to be caught up indoors with our books. So Fleurise, Caroline, Alex, and I made the trek to 32nd and Park for some Korean fried chicken at Mad for Chicken (formerly known as Bon Chon). Fleurise introduced me to my first taste of Korean fried chicken several months ago and I've been hooked ever since. Somehow, they manage to make the chicken incredibly crispy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside. On top of that it's got a fantastic spiciness to it. It's just unlike any other fried chicken I've ever had (and even comes close to Gus' of Memphis in my book). The exterior is pretty nondescript and you would probably pass right by it if you didn't have an insider introduce you to it. Amazingly, it's actually a pretty hip bar and restaurant and is always packed! In addition to the yummo chicken, I always really enjoy their corn. It's roasted and then covered with some type of sauce and then rolled in parmesan cheese! How much better does it get than that? It was fun to play hooky on a nice, summer day!
Take a look at our chicken, pickled veggies, and corn.

Chola - Saturday, August 1, 2009 (Kavi)

I woke up post call last Saturday, or I should say I was rudely woken up by Ankur, for a trip to an Indian restaurant to meet up with some of Neha's best friends. I was glad my nap had been cut short; however, when I finally got to meet the elusive, top secret, formerly imaginary Ankita. Ankita is one of Neha's (my sister-in-law) oldest childhood friends. I've known Neha for ten years now and met almost everyone important in her life so it was a long standing joke between us that so many years had managed to pass without my getting to know Ankita. We were joined by Rita (another one of Neha's friends - the spunkiest of the bunch in my view!) and some of Rita's family. We were forced into the Saturday lunch buffet. Chola is one of those Indian restaurants that tries to be super fancy and expensive, but I have to say I was a little disappointed. The appetizers were tasty enough, but the massive food buffet was just ok. It consisted of all your usual Indian buffet staples - chicken tikka masala, various oily vegetables, naan, the works. Ankur says it's better for dinner when you order off the menu, but I'm not convinced. In any case, the trip was well worth it for the company and the fact that Ankita is no longer imaginary - Neha sure does have a great group of friends!

Rita, me, and Ankita walking around Central Park after lunch. She does exist!

chocolate chip cookies on a rainy day (Bindu)

This past weekend I went home with the boys. On saturday because of the rain we ended up at the mall and kiran and kethan feasted on their one fast food love affair chick- fil-A. As a surprise my father brought the boys cookies. Kiran was so excited he had to have his before we got to the car and as a result he ended up dropping it in a big puddle. In her true fashion mom decided she felt so upset by all of this that she had to make chocolate chip cookies with ghiradelli chips. Is there anything quite as comforting as warm cookies out of the oven dipped in milk? What a great evening we had sitting in the rain around the kitchen table with our chocolate chip cookies!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Stone Barns - Saturday, July 25, 2009 (Kavi)


Anyone who has lived in New York for any period of time can understand the need to just get away from it all for a little while, even if just for a few hours. With our crazy work schedules, it's hard to find time to get out of the city, but on this occasion we did. After breakfast, Ankur spontaneously decided we should take a trip to Tarrytown, New York for a visit to Stone Barns, the location of Blue Hill restaurant. Ankur rarely decides to do anything spontaneously so I eagerly followed along. We boarded the train at Grand Central and made the 45 minute journey to this quaint town. Unfortunately, Blue Hill is only open for dinner so we had to make due with lunch at their cafe. We feasted on roasted vegetables with fresh herbs, quiche, chilled carrot ginger soup, and of course some treats from their bakery. I don't care what anyone says, but fresh, organic foods really do taste better. After lunch, we spent a few hours walking around the farm. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Tarrytown (not much to explore here). I definitely want to return to Stone Barns to try out Blue Hill, or at the very least make it to their West Village location. Yay for Ankur deciding to be spontaneous!

Daniel - Saturday, August 1, 2009 (Kavi)


To celebrate our 4th anniversary, Ankur and I went to Daniel (restaurant of famed chef Daniel Boulud). It's the kind of upper east side restaurant where you can't help but feel a little out of place. The dining room was expansive and beautiful and the service extraordinary (I had barely folded my napkin and placed it on the table to get up to go to the bathroom when someone was behind me to pull out my chair). The service was matched only by the phenomenal food. It was truly a once in a lifetime dining experience. We started our meal with a trio of canape's all based around the use of peas. Ankur doesn't even like peas and he was practically licking his plate. As an appetizer, I had the subtle quartet of heirloom tomatoes and Ankur enjoyed rabbit porchetta. His was good, mine was better. For our entrees we shared the lamb and the black sea bass. I think what I enjoyed even more than the food (I've definitely had more flavorful food), was the precision and beauty with which everything was presented, the fantastic wine pairings, and of course the best company I could ask for. I don't think we will ever make it back to Daniel - there are so many places to try in New York, but it was a memorable and unique dining experience.

The evening started out with the beautiful flowers above (yes, I married a nice guy)
All my yummy tomatoes.
And here we are with our desserts (three!) plus more petit fours which we had to bring home because we were so stuffed!

Welcome (Kavi)

And so it begins. A couple of weeks ago, a friend from residency introduced me to her food blog (check it out - www.chungfood.com) and I was really impressed by how she and her husband were able to chronicle their lives through their culinary experiences. I'm no food expert, but it got me thinking about how many memories I have from sitting in my mother's kitchen, from dinners out with friends and family, from celebrating momentous occasions at a favorite restaurant, or just from eating some comfort food at home. It seems like so many things worth remembering happen around a good meal. And so I propose a blog to help us celebrate, commemorate, and remember these culinary experiences and the people that make our lives so rich. Bindu has promised to blog along with me, although I doubt her two little monkeys will let her do much posting.