Devi is Divine!

Incredible Indian Food in Flatiron

After our disappointing Indian meal at Dhaba, I wanted to look for a new go-to place. I spoke to my friend Aditya and he recommended Devi (http://www.devinyc.com/home.html). He is a fellow foodie and Sternie, so I trusted his judgment. I noticed on their site that they have an awesome lunch special: $20 for any appetizer and any entrée!

Delicious Lunch Special

The interior is beautiful and spacious! Unlike some other Indian restaurants I've gone to, you're not sitting on top of your neighbors and you can hear what is going on!

Multiple Levels with Beautiful Lanterns

It was a hot day when I went to Devi, so I ordered a Kingfisher. Because they don't have it on draft, I requested a frosted glass. Gotta love the service!

Kingfisher

When you check-in on Yelp! or FourSquare, you get a code for a complimentary appetizer (value $12)! This is in addition to the appetizer that comes with the entrée. Scott and I split the Manchurian Cauliflower - delicious! The four pieces of cauliflower were huge and well coated in the tomato-based sauce.

Manchurian Cauliflower

For our included appetizers, I ordered the Lamb Seekh Kebab (served with mint sauce and apricot chutney) and Scott got the Bharwan Aloo (homemade Indian cheese stuffed in roasted potatoes). I LOVED mine - great flavor in the lamb and the sauces were a great compliment. Scott's was good, I just preferred mine much more (which is probably why I ordered it!)

Lamb Seekh Kebab

Bharwan Aloo

The vibe on the inside is refined. The Interior lanterns are so beautiful!

Light up the sky...or the ceiling rather

With the entrees, we were served a bowl of rice for the table. This was a decent portion size - sometimes you don't get enough to sop up all the sauce!

For our entrees, we ordered the Nizami Chicken Korma (mildly spicy royal curry with almond paste) and Kadai Lamb (sautéed with onions and peppers in a brown sauce). The chicken is great - white meat that was fork tender. The lamb was also lovely but a bit tough.

Let there be Rice

Nizami Chicken Korma

Kadai Lamb

We also ordered garlic naan - it was perfectly puffy and just the right amount of crispy. It could have used more garlic though - never enough!

Garlic Naan

I wanted to order another Kingfisher but THEY WERE OUT! Is that even allowed at an Indian restaurant? I ordered a 1947 instead - it was good, but not as good as Kingfisher.

A back up beer

I took a shot of the interior layout - I love the leather booth seating. I also love the voluptuous bottoms of the statues - HEYYY!!!

Seating

If you're sticking to a budget, come here for lunch as dinner is much pricier.

Cheers,

Liz

 

Dhaba is really...Wait, what did you say?

Good Thing You Don't Need to Hear Food to Taste it!

With my parents in town, there are countless meals that need to be accounted for as well as many different preferences to please. My family enjoys Indian food and we've gone to Dhaba (http://dhabanyc.com/) many times and we've been happy with it in the past.

The reason this is in the past tense is because the restaurant was UNBEARABLY LOUD. My parents were seated right across from me and my brother was right next to me - I could not hear anything without YELLING. I also noticed that there were not many Indian people eating at the restaurant - mostly tourists. In the past, this was not the case. It makes me wonder if this restaurant has fallen from grace a bit. The quality was good but no longer great.

Anyway, let me explain what we did order. Since I couldn't talk with my mom or dad without yelling, I felt like I needed a drink. I got a Kingfisher.

Kingfisher Beer

We ordered several dishes to share. My mom loves Shrimp Curry, so we obviously had to get that. We also got Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Korma - both with white meat chicken only. I love the mix of the more savory Tikka with the sweeter Korma. There isn't a significant amount of chicken in either, the sauce to chicken ratio is all off, but I feel that is pretty typical in Indian cuisine I've had in NYC.

Shrimp Curry

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Korma

We also ordered Basmati Rice and two orders of Garlic Naan. The naan was delicious but a bit greasy.

Basmati Rice

Garlic Naan

For NYU graduation, the Empire State building was lit up Violet. How awesome! I took several snaps to share below.

Lit up Violet Baby!

The Empire State Building has never looked better!

I'm disappointed but my family will need to find a better go-to Indian spot where we can actually enjoy our food AND conversation!

Cheers,

Liz

 

To the Junoon and Back!

Restaurant Week Round 2!

After my first Restaurant Week meal at The Marrow, I headed to Junoon (http://junoonnyc.com/) with Scott. I had heard rave reviews about this Michelin-rated Indian spot in Flatiron but couldn't convince myself to go due to the price of the entrees (most protein entrees are $25+) and the size (not very large!). I'm a hole-in-the-wall Indian cuisine gal, but for Restaurant Week I enjoy living on the wild side and indulging! This place opened in 2011 and received one star from Michelin JUST ten months after it opened! Very Impressive.

The restaurant was running behind so we each ordered a cocktail at The Patiala Lounge (the bar). I went with the Blood Orange Sour, made with Kentucky Bourbon, Homemade Blood Orange and Lemon Puree, Clove-Campari Reduction with Egg White for Texture.

Beautiful Color and Delicious Taste!

My cocktail was yummy - I love the taste of Blood Orange Juice, it is like the adult version of OJ! Scott went with the Tandoori Tequila, a spicy cocktail made with silver tequila, lime, muddled Tandoori pineapple, curry leaf and pippali pepper.  

Blurred Lines

I sipped his drink and it did have a certain KICK to it! Scott sometimes feels that I don't give him the star power he deserves on my blog, so I took a photo of him. Of course it came out terribly - it is the thought that counts, right?

The lounge area is pretty swanky. You feel like you're on the set of a high-budget Bollywood movie.

Patiala Lounge

Scott and I have similar taste preferences, so we ordered different appetizers, entrees and desserts and shared everything.

As we waited for our appetizers, we were each served an Amuse-Bouche, or complementary tasting from the chef. It was something or other with butternut squash and quite delicious! The sizing was a preview of what was to come...tiny dishes!

Amuse-Bouche of Butternut Squash from the Chef

To start, we got the Lahsooni Gobi (crispy cauliflower with chili flakes and garlic tomato chutney) and Chipotle Chicken Tikka (chipotle marinated chicken with crispy potatoes and lime aioli).

Lahsooni Gobi

Chipotle Chicken Tikka

Both were delicious but VERY SMALL! If I came here and paid the menu price I would be very disappointed. 3 pieces of cauliflower is a bit lame!

For the entrees, we ordered the Kerala Shrimp Curry (seared shrimp with coconut milk, curry leaves, mustard seeds, green chiles and smoked kodampuli) and the Lalmas (Rajasthani lamb curry with black cardamom, clove and chili)

Kerala Shrimp Curry

Lalmas

I absolutely loved the Shrimp Curry BUT THERE WERE ONLY 3 SHRIMP! WHAT GIVES!!! I felt super cheated. The lamb had more chunks in it but wasn't bountiful by any standards.

We also got one order of Pulao Rice and Naan to split.

NAAN NOM

Pulao Rice

I would have preferred Garlic Naan but we weren't able to upcharge to that which I thought was annoying - you may be sensing a trend!

For dessert, we ordered one Rice Pudding served with candied almonds, cinnamon and golden raisons and one Passion Fruit Mousse.

HEY PUDDIN

Get that PASSIONfruit!

I loved the rice pudding but hardly got to taste it - it was about 3 spoonfuls. This is the unfortunate downside of Restaurant Week - going to fancy places and leaving feeling like you want to eat an entire pizza! I'm glad we went because the food was phenomenal it just left me wanting more...FOOD!

Cheers,

Liz

 

Indian Lunch with Melissa!

Discounts Make Food Taste Better

Last week, I met Melissa for a break from her recruiting schedule. I have this entire month off from school, so naturally, this gave me a break from doing nothing. Near campus, there is a great Indian spot that offers a lunch special. Previously, it used to be 50% off entrees and now it is 30% off everything if you eat at the location. If you take lunch to go, it is still 50% off. I don't agree with this confusing pricing scheme, but whatever.

Melissa loves the same things that I do, so we split two different chicken dishes: Tikka Masala and Korma. We also got a side of Peas Pulao and Garlic Naan.

NOM

The chicken dishes were delicious, but somewhat stingy on the pieces of chicken. A bit disappointing. If you get a discount, it is only worth it if the portions are still the same size. Worth a try for the carry-out.

Cheers,

Liz