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“Devi”
Occasion: | Cuisine: | Area: | Cost: | Rating: |
Night Out | Indian | Flatiron | Moderate | Great |
The hook at Devi is Indian home cooking, dressed up for a New York audience, and the formula works quite well. The food is presented on stunning jewel-toned ceramic platters and bowls and so it feels contemporary, but it tastes like it came from somebody’s Indian grandmother’s kitchen. (That is meant as a strong compliment.) But the menu is quite large, and it is hard to choose what to eat because it all sounds (and smells) really good. If possible, I recommend bringing a group of friends with you to dinner. It can be daunting to be just two, because you wont be able to try everything you want to, and you will inevitably get food envy from the wonders served to tables next to you.
We started our feast with the mung bean chaat on roasted papadam ($9). This dish from Northern Indian was presented like little Napoleons constructed from mini papadams (lentil crackers) layered with a chaat masala made from sprouted mung beans tossed with mint, tamarind, cilantro, tomatoes, and red onions. Its vibrant and puckery flavors were exotic and smashing. Suvir’s Manchurian Cauliflower ($9)—an Indo-Chinese dish—was a guilty pleasure on the level of buffalo wings drenched in Frank’s Hot sauce. A mound of crisp, fried florets of cauliflower arrived drenched in a zippy, sticky, red chile and garlic glaze made with—gasp—ketchup! (YUMMY!) We also ordered the Saag Paneer ($9)—a divine puddle of spinach cooked down to rich condiment kicked up with onions and tomatoes, steeped with Fenugreek leaves, and studded with little thimbles of Paneer (a tangy Indian cheese). While the Saag Paneer was terrific, the Idly Upma ($8), pyramid shaped rice and bean cakes with chutney—were not. They were dry, tough and unpleasant to eat.
But the Idly were soon forgotten when the lamb chops arrived. These juicy gams have changed my opinion of lambs’ little chops forever. Suvir marinates free-range, grass-fed Jamison Farm’s chops in a garlic-ginger yogurt sauce that breaks down all of the tough muscle fibers, making the meat startlingly tender. It is almost as if all the sinuous lines have been erased from the meat—like wrinkles magically rubbed out with Botox—making the chops amazingly smooth ... [more, click below]
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