Kitchen Dish

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The New York Sun

INDIAN DEVELOPMENT Food-trend watchers have been saying that Indian cuisine will be the next big thing ever since Thai food was the next big thing. Indian restaurants still haven’t taken New York by storm, but the fact that Devi (8 E. 18th St., between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, 212-691-1300) is still open after a year shows that New Yorkers are willing to show up for good Indian food. Further evidence: Rajesh Bhardwaj, corporate chef of Cafe Spice,(72 University Place, between 10th and 11th streets, 212-253-6999, and 54 W 55th St. between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-489-7444) says his customers have become savvy enough that he’s rolling out a new menu this month – without sag paneer and the usual stand-bys.


A new entry, Copper Chimney (126 E. 28th St., between Lexington and Park avenues 212-213-5742), is showing the hip side of Indian food. Located on the border between “Curry Hill” and Park Avenue South, Copper Chimney tries to straddle those neighborhoods. It has elegantly presented food, subdued lighting, a decor of muted Indian and tropical themes, and music from a CD released by the trendy Buddha Bar in Paris.


WILLIAMSBURG MEX Taco Chulo (318 Grand St., between Havemeyer Street and Marcy Avenue, 718-302-2485), which opened in Williamsburg recently, now is serving brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Brunch menu selections, all $8.50, include huevos rancheros and chilaquiles, a baked casserole with tortilla strips, green chiles, cheese beans, and onions.


The restaurant is owned by Dija Amer and Greta Dana, who make their own tortillas as well as regional items from their home states. Ms. Amer hails from California, and Ms. Dana is a Texan, so Mission-style burritos and Texas breakfast tacos also are on the menu. They accept requests for adaptations of their dishes for vegetarians and vegans, but they don’t accept credit cards.


All meat items are made from Niman Ranch products. Salsas are made from chiles grown on Mexican farming co-ops. In a similar spirit, Ms. Amer and Ms. Dana plan to hold tortilla-making classes sponsored by Slow Food, an organization that works to preserve culinary traditions, on November 7.


The restaurant delivers in the area bounded by 10th Street on the west, Union Avenue on the east, South 8th Street on the south and North 12th Street on the north.


EUROPEAN EATS Pastis veteran Sascha Lyon is opening a meatpacking district restaurant of his own next month. Sascha (54 Gansevoort St.) – located in a 10,000-square-foot place that includes the location where Hell used to be – will be a three-in-one concept. On the ground floor will be a bakery – not a boulangerie, Mr. Lyon, insists – and a lounge serving casual food. Upstairs, accessible by private elevator, will be a white tablecloth restaurant. There, Mr. Lyon’s food will feature elements of Central and Eastern European cuisines that used to have strong influences in New York restaurants until – in the words of Mr. Lyon – they “succumbed to French-Italian-Japanese.”


Mr. Lyon, a Los Angeles native and disciple of chef Michel Richard, was the chef at Pastis for seven-and-a-half years. At Sascha, his food will reflect the influences of his father’s Brooklyn-based Russian Jewish family and his mother’s roots in Louisiana.


His business partner, Robert Romanof, owns the building where Sascha is under construction. He also owns Nebraskaland, a meat distributor, which bodes well for the quality of the steaks at the new restaurant. The meat will be butchered in-house, with prime cuts being served upstairs and the less expensive cuts used for preparations in the lounge. Mr. Romanof also will be contributing his private cellar of bordeaux and burgundy wines.


SETTING UP Joseph Catalano, who was executive chef of Pazzo Pazzo in Morristown, N.J., is working in New York now as chef of Ristorante Cinque Terre at the Jolly Hotel (22 E. 38th St., 212-867-2260). Three-course lunches, served Monday-Friday from noon to 2:30 p.m., are $26. Four-course dinners, served daily 5:30-10:30 p.m., are $45.


The New York Sun

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