We have yet to read Jennifer 8. Lee’s new book The Fortune Cookie Chroniclers: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food but we plan to pick it up soon.

Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt from today’s New York Times review of The Fortune Cookie Chroniclers:

Lee presents an intriguing idea in a chapter called “Open-Source Chinese Restaurants,” contending that “if McDonald’s is the Windows of the dining world (where one company controls the standards), then Chinese restaurants are akin to the Linux operating system, where a decentralized network of programmers contributes to the underlying source code.” She contrasts the decade of “failed experimentation” before the success of Chicken McNuggets to the breathtaking speed with which chop suey, fortune cookies and General Tso’s chicken took hold in Chinese restaurants everywhere thanks to a “self-organizing” system in which good ideas spread like urban legends.

Lee writes in the opening chapter that Continue Reading…

Anjappar Chettinad New Jersey gives a bad name not just to the famed Chettinad cuisine but to all Indian restaurants in the U.S.

Disgusting service and a distasteful kitchen come together to deliver a dreadful experience to diners at Anjappar’s new outpost in North Brunswick, New Jersey.

A far better - and definitely more apt - name for this impostor of a restaurant would be Ambattar Chettinad because the only thing these imbeciles seem to be good at is shaving you off your precious time and hard-earned money (For those not familiar with the Tamil language, Ambattar means barber).

Anjappar Chettinad or Ambattar Chettinad?

Our agony at the Anjappar restaurant in New Jersey began at the very

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Indian food owes its attraction to the rich amalgam of spices and, of course, the hot chilies that go into its famed curries.

Today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required) brings us news of an Indian chili called Bhut Jolokia that is supposedly 200 times hotter than jalapeño pepper.

Apparently, Bhut Jolokia is the world’s hottest chili pepper. Period. 

In fact, one local farmer Digonta Saikia cautioned an outsider about Bhut Jolokia:

It is so hot you can’t even imagine. When you eat it, it’s like dying. 

Here is what the WSJ had to say about Bhut Jolokia:

The bhut jolokia pepper, which is farmed in the northeast part of the country, was plucked from obscurity last year when the Guinness Book of World Records declared it the world’s hottest. The standard measure for such things is the Scoville Heat Unit, or SHU, named after Wilbur Lincoln Scoville, a chemist who in 1912 developed a method of assessing the heat given off by capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers. Jalapeño peppers measure about 5,000 SHUs. The bhut jolokia tops a million.

Bhut Jolokia is not for effete palates.

Even most Indian palates used to hot curries would find it hard to stand the heat from the Bhut Jolokias though locals in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland eat them raw or add them to curries.

According to a WSJ slide show, Bhut Jolokias are more profitable for farmers than ordinary chili peppers, going for three cents each.

Are we going to try Bhut Jolokia? No way. Oh boy, we can’t even handle the Guntur chilies.

Thiru Kumar of NY Dosas popularly known as the Dosa Man of New York City has won this year’s prestigious Vendy Award edging out his competition in the form of Tacos, Falafel, Jerk Chicken etc on Saturday.

Vendy Awards are given out annually for the best food from a street cart vendor in New York.

When you consider that there are several thousand food cart vendors in New York City selling all kinds of food, you’ll realize that the Vendy Award is really a big deal. 

Thiru Kumar, Dosa Man of New York

From his humble Dosa cart at Washington Square Park South in downtown Manhattan, Thiru offers a variety of Dosas - Sadha Dosa, Rava Dosa, Masala Dosa, Uthappam and the hot favorite, Pondicherry Dosa.

For the Vendy Award competition this year, Thiru submitted his signature dish - Pondicherry Dosa.

Made of lentils and rice and filled with potatoes and fresh vegetables, Thiru’s Pondicherry Dosa is worthy of your attention and highest respect. We can say that with authority because we’ve eaten the stuff. Believe us, it’s just simply superb.

Not too greasy and not starved of oil/ghee, Thiru’s Pondicherry Dosa is just right. Prepared fresh before your eyes, Thiru’s delicious Dosas are offered in disposable containers with chutney and delicious sambar.

Thiru is a friendly soul with a ready smile unlike the waiters at most Indian restaurants in New York who habitually wear a mourning look.

We found Thiru’s Dosas better than the Dosas we’ve had at Indian restaurants in Manhattan like Madras Mahal, Saravanaas, Chennai and Pongal.

The other finalists for the Vendy’s Award this year were Veronica Julien from Veronica’s Kitchen, Muhammed Rahman from Kwik Meal, Super Taco, aka “Sobre Ruedas” and Farez (Freddy) Zeideia, the King of Falafel and Shawarma.

But in the end, it was the Dosa Man who impressed the judges enough to win the Big prize.

Thiru hails from Sri Lanka and came to the U.S. a few years back after winning the Green Card lottery.

Last year, the Vendy Award was won by Samiul Haque Noor from “Sammy’s Halal” whose cart can be found at 73rd Street and Broadway in Jackson Heights (Queens).

Domino’s Pizza is expanding in India big time.

The pizza chain, which opened its first Indian store in 1996 and has 156 outlets now, wants to have 500 outlets by 2010-11.

The U.S. Pizza company plans to invest Rs 350 crore to support its expansion, reports ET.

Domino’s India is looking at an additional 60 outlets by March 2008, 70 more by 2009 and the rest by 2010-11.

Domino’s has its Pizza outlets across the country from Simla in the north to Chennai in the south.

Like other international fast food players operating in India, Domino’s has also Indianized its menu. For instance, it offers Paneer toppings as well as Chicken Seekh Kebab and Keema Do Pyaaza Pizzas.

Given the obesity issues that have arisen here in the U.S. in the wake of eating high fat food such as Pizza, you have to ask yourself whether the expansion of Pizza chains in India is good over the long term?

Indian restaurants are choc-a-block in New York (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island).

Mysore Masala Dosa, Chicken Manchurian, Lamb Roganjosh, Punjabi Chole, Dhokla, American Chop Suey, Chicken Chettinad, Bisibele Bath, Pongal…whatever be your fancy you can get ‘em all here.

Folks, there must be at least 225 Indian restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

 
Flushing Ganesh Temple has a popular canteen

Sporting names such as Bombay Palace, Madras Cafe, Punjabi Tandoor, Calcutta, Curry Leaf, Gandhi, Lassi, Dosa Diner, Utsav, Indo Munch, Jewel of India, Simla and Taj Mahal, Indian restaurants have become a fixture of the Big Apple.

Although the Murray Hill/Lexington Avenue area in Manhattan accounts for the largest concentration of Indian restaurants, desi eating joints are spread across the greater New York region.

Queens has plenty of Indian restaurants as does Long Island, particularly in Hicksville around Rt 107.

Our passion for Indian food has led us to dozens of desi restaurants in Queens, Manhattan and Long Island over the last 10 years.

But for the most part, the restaurants we’ve been to in New York are horrid outposts of Indian cuisine that offer lousy food with a big helping of bad service.

Manhattan is the worst offender. Be it Downtown, Murray Hill (a.k.a Curry Hill), Midtown or Upper East Side, most Indian restaurants in Manhattan are impostors serving disgustingly bland food.

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