New Malai Marke Hits the Mark

A Malai Marke Indian feast

East Village newcomer Malai Marke is northern Indian slang for "a dash of cream." But there's nothing slight about its impact on the E. 6th Street block known as Curry Row. In fact, its celebration of authentic regional specialties has given waning Curry Row a much needed facelift. Co-owner Roshan Balan calls it a ‘flavor explosion,’ and he’s right.

A tour around the menu introduces diners to hard to find coastal delicacies from Goa, Kerala and Mangalore, all richly influenced by Portuguese settlers. Try the coconutty chicken xacuti and fish ambotik. Murgh makhani and Malai Marke paneer, two signature dishes by chef/co-owner Shiva Natarajan, are robust twists on classics butter chicken and butter paneer. Lamb madras, a staple dry curry on Indian menus, benefits from quality meat and fresh curry leaves. Fresh chili and red onions add another layer of flavor to classic naan. It's the ideal place to venture off the beaten curry path and try something new. You really can't go wrong.

Malai Marke on E. 6th St.

Interiors by Thida Thong Thai are stylishly casual with copper pots from the company warehouse lining the exposed brick walls. And the open kitchen maintains the connection with diners.

Malai Marke is bound to be a stalwart in the team's fleet of restaurants includes Chola, Dhaba, and Thele Wala.

The $9 a la carte lunch special, which comes with two sides and naan, is one of the best steals in the East Village, too. Now you know.

318 E. 6th Street
Between 1st + 2nd Aves
212 777 7729

Fans Fired Up for NYC Hot Sauce Expo

Hot sauce lovers united at Williamsburg's waterfront

My taste buds are still tingling from this weekend's fiery debut of the NYC Hot Sauce Expo. Dozens of incendiary blends with wickedly enticing names like Evil Seed, Dragon's Blood Elixer, and PuckerButt competed for the local Oscars of hot sauces - the Screaming Mi Mi Awards. 

 

And to sop up the heat, there was no shortage of tasty vittles from, among others, two East Village newcomers. Empire Biscuit, a 24-hr Southern biscuit shop opening soon in Alphabet City, was doling out fried green tomatoes topped with gooey smoked mozzarella. The upcoming 14th Street addition, The Nugget Spot, wowed with their gourmet Southern fried chicken nuggets and special sauces.

For booze options, KikaEats got to help crown the winning Negra Modelo michelada competition to Crown Heights' Franklin Park.Other local thirst quenchers included The Murph's Famous Blood Mary Mix from Connecticut and whiskey passion fruit cocktails from Tirado, the Bronx's first distillery.

Set along the Williamsburg waterfront, and right next to a bustling Smorgasburg, the setting couldn't have been more perfect. No doubt this expo will be hotter than ever next year.

An afternoon in pictures:



Bhut means ghost

Deliciously evil

Alphabet City's Southern newcomer


Bloody Mary, anyone?

Three Screaming Mi Mis for Oregon's NW Elixers

The Charm of Zoe



Zoe's enticing take on Middle Eastern shakshuka

Zoe is a ray of sunshine on a tiny, quiet block of Eldridge St. I stumbled upon it a few weekends ago while taking a midday shortcut through the Lower East Side.

I heard it first. Windows open, the place was bustling with chatter, people spilling onto the street. Then I noticed the chalkboard sidewalk sign: fried chicken and blueberry pancakes. Ultimate sweet-salty. My kinda brunch.

Homemade creamy labne with granola and apricots

Readers know I am not a fan of the average boozy, prix fixe brunch - cheap drinks, forgettable eggs. Nothing tastes duller.

Chef-owner Zoe Feigenbaum must agree. Everything on her globally inspired a la carte brunch menu competes for attention. Over a fresh ginger lemonade, I agonized between the Mexican shrimp and eggs ($15), the full Irish breakfast ($16), and aforementioned pancakes and fried chicken (which is not actually listed on the brunch menu but always available). On a whim, I settled for the hearty Moroccan poached eggs ($15), a surprisingly mild shakshuka livened with grilled haloumi, eggplant and merguez.

My friend Barbara gushed over her homemade labne (strained yogurt) with granola and cooked apricots. From the flowers down to the cocktail garnishes lining the bar, everything looks fresh and sunny. Service can be scattered, but on a lazy Sunday, nothing should feel rushed anyway.

Zoe

345 Eldridge Street
Between E. Houston + Stanton Sts.
646 559 5962



 

Manhattan on Dwellable

Dumpling Odyssey in Flushing

White Bear's award-winning wontons

Love Chinese dumplings? Have 2-3 friends who share this passion? Get yourself to downtown Flushing this spring for a walking tour of some of the finest cheap eats around.

A few months ago, Serious Eats published an essential Flushing dumpling guide. Use it as a starting point, but get inspired to digress as we did on a recent afternoon in this vibrant eating Mecca, where 80% of businesses are either Chinese or Korean owned. For ease of splitting, keep your group to 3 or 4 people as most dumpling servings are by the dozen. And everything is within a few block radius of the Main St.-Roosevelt Ave. intersection.

White Bear is the perfect starting point and has quite a following. Just two blocks from the Flushing 7 train station. Unassuming is an understatement. There's practically no seating in this mom + pop shop. It doesn't matter because it takes seconds to polish off the exceptional pork + cabbage wontons in hot oil ($4.50/dozen). The bits of pickled veggies and chili add just the right depth of flavor. It's very tempting to order a second dozen, but refrain, because there is so much more ahead.

Next stop is the food court wonderland on the ground floor of New World Mall. I recently visited Bangkok where the mall food courts tempted me at every turn. That same rush came right back here. Pork dumplings at Sliced Noodle are first steamed then fried in a thin pancake batter base for added texture.

Sliced Noodle's pork dumplings

At the rear end of sunny Maxim Bakery sits a Taiwanese dumpling counter called My Sweet Home. Sweet it is. Dig in to an order of cigar shaped pork and leek fried dumplings with a side of cold eggplant in bean sauce. Dumplings are just excellent - meaty and greaseless.


Excellent eats from My Sweet Home

As a detour, it would be a shame if you left Flushing without trying the $1 Peking duck bun at the Peking Duck Sandwich stall. So make a pit stop for a two-bite pillow of meaty goodness.

The famous Flushing $1 Peking duck bun

Our final stop was Biang, the upscale sister restaurant to Jason Wang's Xi'an Famous Foods chain. Biang is casually hip. Chunky wooden tables, and exposed brick and lighting keep a trendy crowd streaming in all afternoon. Here the spicy cumin chicken skewers and spicy and sour lamb dumplings do not disappoint. Wash down the tingling heat with sweet + sour hawberry tea.


Stylish Biang has a terrific menu 

Before leaving Flushing, poke around the shops or hit the massive Asian supermarkets including Sky Foods and Jmart.

White Bear
135-02 Roosevelt Ave.

Sliced Noodle
136-20 Roosevelt Ave.
New World Mall food court #12

My Sweet Home
136-76 Roosevelt Ave.

Peking Duck Sandwich Stall
Main St. + 40th Rd.

Biang
41-10 Main St.

An Afternoon at Bab al Yemen

Slow roasted lamb haneeth over rice and veggies

When my group of 18 curious diners poured into tiny Bab al Yemen in Bay Ridge for Sunday lunch, we were eager novices to Yemeni food. It paid off.


Scoop up lamb segar with brick oven bread

Our server Viktoria didn't skip a beat in knowing what to suggest for the table. A selection of their most popular appetizers followed by a variety of classics. First came the luscious bread. Blistering loaves of fresh brick oven flat bread. We started ripping it apart even before the appetizers arrived. No matter. Baskets were constantly replenished. The bread is a staple to the cuisine, used as much as a utensil as a filling carb.

Soon after, platters of hummus, each crowned with a fragrant meaty mixture, arrived. One held a giant scoop of lamb segar, tender morsels of spiced meat sauteed with tomatoes and onions. The second, curry yamaani, was our chef's inventive take on a mellow coconut chicken. It all required scooping with chunks of bread. I could have dined on the appetizers alone.


Mild coconut chicken curry yamaani

But wait, there's more. Lots more. A Yemeni omelet of ground meat and diced veggies was served in a piping hot casserole, allowing the freshly cracked egg to cook before your eyes. The fattah b'lahm, a baked lamb which incorporated flat bread with the jus, was so much more than soggy bread. It was hearty and full of flavor. Only the fahsah, a traditional watery lamb soup, turned up bland in comparison to the other excellent dishes.

The bill finally arrived. Under $20 a head. An impossible price for an afternoon of jovial gluttony. At the end of our epic meal, I pulled aside our obliging server with the beautiful black locks and kohl rimmed eyes to sum up exactly what makes up typical Yemeni cuisine. She threw up her hands and said, "I don't know. I'm Polish!" Love it.

 

413 Bayridge Ave.

Brooklyn, NY

718 943 6961

Open daily 10 am - 11 pm

Friday 2pm - midnight

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year

Ringing in 2013 with a few of my favorite eats: sweet and sour tamarind snacks from Thailand, shrimp cocktail, roasted anchovies from Thailand  (high in calcium), and Trader Joe's "Good and Plenty."

My recent visit to Thailand and Cambodia reminded me how adventure travel ignites my appetite like nothing else. I can't wait to share my Southeast Asian food experiences and wish you all adventurous appetites this year.

Skipping Sandy while Skipping Time

Hong Kong International Airport by Shizhao

This is not how the journey to Thailand and Cambodia was meant to be. I was planning on using my last few days to plan, research, take care of the laundry list of final details (including a wax). Hurricane Sandy erased all of my best laid plans.

Instead, I spent my last sleepless night in the devastated East Village going to bed at 7:30 by candlelight, tossing and turning in the din of police headlights, hoping that I would actually get on a flight to Bangkok okay. I got a goodbye hug from my nephew and later from my friend Beth last night. They both stood outside my dark building yelling out my name until I came to the window. No phone, no text, no buzzer could announce a visiting guest in the aftermath of Sandy. They climbed the stairs in the darkness (no working elevator), armed with the requisite East Village accessory - the flashlight.

This morning, I waited til the sun came up, hastily packed and then headed to the fridge. I got a big garbage bag and threw out a wealth of half rotting goodies in the freezer - my recently made coconut pumpkin muffins, homemade chorizo mushroom pizza, my perfected recipe for turkey burgers, frozen meats of all kind, Thai chilis grown by my friend Laura's mother, and the coveted Trader Joes pumpkin ice cream. It's seasonal. So much for that.

I prayed that my ride to the airport would turn up as I had no way of contacting the shuttle van if it was running late (no phone service, no emails). Thankfully, at 10 am, with the aid of my neighbors who held a flashlight as I lugged my bag down the dark flights of stairs, I spotted the waiting van, and just like that, was whisked out of darkness and Sandy's wrath. Got to JFK in under an hour.

I am at the Hong Kong airport now, skipping time, waiting for my flight to Bangkok. It's just past 8 pm. Excited for the big lights of Bangkok to come into view. And for the meals to begin. But with a part of me so pained by the sorrow I just left behind.