M for Mediterranean and Moroccan.

The Alphabet for Cusine Club in the series was 'M'. Satyajeet was supposed to host this times Cusine Club, but he had some last minute work that came up and so Shweyta and Preetam called me to check if I was interested in doing it this time, I readily agreed on Wednesday afternoon and started looking out for places. I had to select out of Malaysian, Mexican, Mediterranean and Moroccan. I had initially chosen Penang - Malaysian Restaurant, which is at the upper West side. Thanks to Preetam who reminded me that most of us take the Path train back home and so had to look for something which was closer to the Stations and had to keep other logistics in mind. With the help of Shweyta and Preetam and after exchanging chain mails, I finally chose, Zerza Mediterrano, a Mediterranean & Moroccan Restaurant at 308E, 6th Street, New York, NY-10003. Its a small restaurant, but serves good food. We had 8 people this time who joined for the dinner.

http://www.zerza.com/

Food that was ordered - Appetizers :Spicy Prawns, Bakoula
Main course: Chicken Bastilla, Moroccan Fish Tagine, Chicken Kebabs

The website says : Bellydance performances every Friday & Saturday night at 10:15 PM but that day there was no performance and so the 'Men' were really dissapointed. Well, its too small a place for Belly dance I guess.

Thanks to Shweyta for giving me the chance to host the Cusine club this time and for all the help in selecting the Restaurant to sending the invites etc. Thanks to Preetam for helping me out as well and everybody who attended it on 10th April.

So the next Alphabet is 'N'. Who is hosting this times Cusine Club?

L for Latin

This was my first attempt at hosting a Cuisine Club dinner and thanks to Shweyta, it turned out to be easier than I had originally thought.

A tip of my hat goes to the Internet, for its large number of suggestions and reviews. Specifically, Yelp and CitySearch

A wag of my finder goes to Abhishek for his mis direction. Dearest Abhu had incorrectly informed me that I can pick anything with 'L'. It can be the name of the restaurant, or the street its on and does not have to be limited to the name of the cuisine. Thankfully, his attempts were futile.

After dabbling in Lebanese for 3 hours, I directed my internet search towards 'Latin'. Yelp was very helpful in limiting the search by 'BYOB'. Zafra kitchen in Hoboken appeared to be a wise choice.

http://www.zafrakitchens.com/zafra/index.html

My first blunder was ignoring the review "Not good for large groups". As luck would have it, the turnout was one of the biggest with 16 of us. Zafra's Kitchen was a small, hole in the wall, cozy little place and it became a lot cozier when all of us had to adjust within the confined space. I was amazed at the wait line that formed while we were dining.

My second mistake was underestimating the travel time. Closely followed by my third mistake of not having anyone's cellphone number on me. I am embarrassed to admit that I made it just in the nick of time and we came close to loosing out dinner reservations. But all's well that end's well. Or so I hope coz some of us had to leave a little earlier for various non-essential reasons.

The find of the month was the delicious sangria's that the place treated us to. This was a BYOB place and we were encouraged to bring our own wines. Per the online reviews, Zafra's kitchen made killer sangrias and they weren't lying. Both red and white, the sangria was probably the best I have ever tasted.

The food was excellent. I was impressed with the appetizers. Special mentions go to Patatas Bravas, Chorizo Encebollado, Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos de Frijol Refrito y Tres Quesos. The rellenos was my personal favorite.

Everyone appreciated the food. I had Camarones Coloraditos (a Shrimp in Red Mole Sauce over Fresh Corn Cuban-Style Polenta, Sautéed KaleUntil). which was good. I heard good reviews for Pollo con Mole Oaxaqueño (a Chicken with Authentic Oaxacan Mole, Rice, and Tortillas). Until we had to leave, some of us were still ordering tapas and the festivities were in full swing. Maybe some one from the remaining party can fill in the details of what transpired after our retreat.

All in all, our first adventure out of Manhattan was quite rewarding and all of us had a good time.

A special thanks goes out to our patient waitress. She was excellent, helpful (and strangely like all the dishes I ordered). It was not easy to accommodate all of us given the confined quarters. Seeing the wait staff wade through the sea of humanity as they served our food, was a spectacle. The three row seating was definitely a first!

K is for Kabuli

K was going to be Korean, but we ended up being Kabuli :) Korean would have been fun, but was more tried and tested and had lesser vegetarian options, than Kabuli; hence the choice.
Teenie, the Hostess for 'K', picked Bamiyan, also known as one of the best Afghani/ Kabuli restaurants in the city for dinner and we were once again, a big group of 13 people who attended. The restaurant decor, among its other traditional Afghani artefacts, had a picture of the Afghan girl on one of its walls; a fact I found amusing personally. A global symbol of the country, framed in a photograph.
The food, although similar sounding, was different from Indian food in its use of spices and herbs. We started off with hot fresh Afghani bread and multiple orders of the Kachaloo: turnovers filled with potatoes, herbs and spices; with yogurt dip on the side, which were really delicious. An after-thought led a few of us to order the Soltani Morgh Kabobs: one skewer of chicken breast and one skewer of Koobideh; with white basmati rice, since we concurred leaving the Afghan place without trying out Kabobs, might be a shame. An after-thought, well-thought of.
For the main course, people across the table ordered various dishes ranging from the popular vegetarian Dal Chalow: gently cooked pureé of split peas and pomegranate juice; white basmati rice on the side to the distinctly unique Lowand Chalow: tender boneless chicken breast sauteéd in savory yogurt sauce, seasoned with fresh dill and tarragon; served with white basmati rice. Other entrees ordered across the table, included the Kabuli Palow with Chicken: browned baked basmati rice with tender pieces of chicken breast; topped with shredded carrots and raisins, the Quorma Chalow with Chicken: tender chicken breast cooked with fresh tomatoes, vegetables and lentils; with white basmati rice, the Chicken Curry: chicken breast sauteéd with fresh vegetables, curry and yogurt; with white basmati rice and the Fish Curry: fresh salmon sauteéd with fresh vegetables, curry and yogurt; with white basmati rice.
Basmati saffron flavoured rice accompanied each dish and was cooked very tastefully, enough to be savored all by itself, as an entree too. The unanimous approval of the food was obvious across the table, with the Lowand Chalow being my personal favourite, because of its rich yogurt gravy, filled with herbs.
As does usually happen at Cuisine Club dinners, we were too full by dessert time. Yet, to be fair to our sweet-teeth, we decided to order a round of the Malai-e Afghan; home made vanilla ice cream with rose water and honey and the Phirnee: creamy rice-flour pudding with pistachios and rose water, for the table. The phirnee was brilliant while the ice cream failed to arouse any compliments, due to its 'regular' taste. Maybe vanilla tastes the same all over the world, we concurred.
All in all, this was, a fun evening with delicious food, that seemed to satiate everyone, to almost the same degree. Almost half the group was vegetarian and all of them left happy with their meal and their choices.
Conversations ranged from geography to music as we discussed the common threads between Indian and Afghani culture to the origin/ sound of music from the 'santoor', the 'sitar' etc.
Our waitress was extremely helpful and accommodating and the service was good. Being a large group we were seated in the back area of the restaurant, which is not as traditionally done up as the front, so a few of us felt like we missed out on the authentic Afghani spatial experience. But the food made up for this lack of experience and this place is a definite recommendation if you want to try out some good Afghani food.

Thanks Teenie, for picking this experience for us :)

'J' for Jamaican- Negril Village

I thought that having Jamaican food would be a good option instead of Japanese. That’s why I initially picked Negril Chelsea which specializes in authentic Jamaican food. However, the place had to be changed as it was a bit small for 11 people! The Negril chain has another Jamaican place called Negril Village which can accommodate large parties.

Negril Village located on 3rd street specializes in new style Jamaican food. The atmosphere is great with good music and a contemporized décor. The place was crowded when we reached there, but we didn’t have to wait for a long time as all of us were at the restaurant on time for our reservation!

We ordered carafes of Negril’s Mojito and regular mojito for drinks. Both were pretty good. I personally liked regular mojito more.
For the appetizers we ordered jerk shrimp, salmon crab cakes and a Negril sampler which consisted of a platter of codfish fritters, jerk shrimp, jerk ribettes, collard green wontons with Island chips and homemade dips. All the appetizers were very tasty. Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which the meats are rubbed with a very hot spice mixture called the Jamaican jerk spice. The jerk shrimps were charcoal grilled and served with a jerk sauce. The salmon- crab cakes were garnished with corn chutney which added a different flavor to it.

Our server helped us well to order the main course. He recommended the sea food as their specialty - salmon and red snapper in particular. We ordered a variety of dishes such as HOUSE RED SNAPPER-Pan-fried whole fish simmered in fresh herbs and spices topped with stewed okra, RUM PAINTED JERK SALMON -Pan-seared filet, glazed with aged Mount Gay Rum and jerk marinade, CURRY GOAT STEW -Tender organic goat meat stewed in our house blend curries, with white rice or boiled green bananas, CURRY BONELESS CHICKEN- Trinidad style flat bread filled with chicken.
The Red Snapper was a whole fried fish garnished with a very tasty sauce. This was served with any one side like boiled vegetables in garlic sauce, fried plantains, potato fries, and rice with peas, etc. The Jerk Salmon entrée was served with fried plantains and boiled vegetables. The Jerk sauce put over the salmon made it very spicy and different than most grilled fish filets I have had. The Curry Goat Stew looked flavorful as well; and I heard from the friend who had this, that it tasted so much like our Mumbai goat curry!!! Although I didn’t taste the goat curry, I’m sure it must have been very delicious.
The Curry Boneless Chicken was rolled in flat bread. It looked like a burrito. All the entrees had big portions. All of us were so full after this meal, that we didn’t order any desserts.

The meals were also well spaced. There was enough time between the starters and entrees so that we could properly enjoy all the food and the drinks.
Overall, the restaurant was very good. All of us loved the place and had a great time there!

Ambience- 8/10
Food- 9/10
Service- 8/10
Price- 7/10
Worth a visit definitely…

I is for Indonesian – Kuta Stay House.

I chose I for Indonesian! This to me seemed the best option, as I thought it would be close to Thai food which most of us love! Kuta Satay was the best option for true Indonesian food from the 5 options I got from menu Pages & city search. Kuta- named after a famous area in Bali. Kuta- was a very small place. It features dark wood tables and chairs and combines old-world ambiance with a modern and relaxed elegance.

We were a big group of 11 people, which I would think was the first CC with such a huge turnout (I would give that to my popularity ;-)). We had made reservation, so they made sure they had a big communal table set up for us.
As we waited for everyone to arrive, we started to order our drinks. Thanks, to people who had already tried some cocktails like the Pomegranate Kutahito & the Picotini . I knew to stay away from those. I stuck to Sangria which was good. They also have a huge selection of Wines and Asian beers. Not to forget we all Toasted to the Last CC for 2008!!

For the food, we all went with the Pre-fix, which just seemed like a great deal. They gave a choice of Satay, Appetizer, Entree and Dessert for $25 ( Which I would say has a big catch, as for every other dish we ordered had some charge over & above the Pre-fix price). With such a huge group, we almost tried every Satay and Appetizer on the Menu. My personal Favorite was the Jimbaran Spicy Tiger shrimp and the Balinese Tiger Shrimp. I loved all there Satay’s, they were really good!! For the main course, I had the kalasan Chicken, which was good too. I did also get to try the Drunken Noodle and the Balinese Cashew Chicken which I thought were better.

After, a few drinks Alok, was throwing out random or rather I would call them weird questions to every one! I would say, he managed to ask those questions, only because his wife wasn’t around!!! Must say, made the evening very interesting as we got to know what different people would do when their spouse cheated on them.

Kuta Satay overall was a good place and we had a great time that evening.

Ambiance: 7/10
Food: 9/10
Service: 7/10
Price: 8/10

Worth a visit definitely.

H is for Haitian...

Niki Sarang was Hostess 'H' and she picked H for Haitian to be held on Nov 8th, 2008. The restaurant we went to is called Krik Krak (which as our waiter later explained to us was the Haitian equivalent of a Chicken's cry. My research though explains it differently. Apparently when Haitians tell a story, they ask "Krik?" to which eager listeners reply "Krak!". Definitely seems, like the more interesting explanation of the two, for sure.)
Krik Krak is a tiny 5-table restaurant, with huge paintings adorned on yellow walls ('cosy' is the word in Manhattan for this scale of space). It is located in the UWS neighborhood of Manhattan; between 101st and 102nd streets on Amsterdam Ave. The neighborhood is not the best in the city, which probably explains why this little place is a discovery of sorts.
Lets face it; few of us would have ever heard of this place, if not for Cuisine Club. What also made this place one-up for us was that it was BYOB, which is always a pleasure for wine-drinkers such as myself, as we get to bring our favorite wine to the table, for a very reasonable damage.
We were 5 of us in all; one vegetarian and the rest meat-eaters. I must admit, our vegetarian friend did have a few complaints and almost took off without eating, as he could sense a sharp 'fish' smell within the restaurant. After a lot of coaxing, he decided to stay and glance at the menu, to see if he had any options for the evening at all.
Although not many vegetarian options, Krik Krak did seem to have some vegetarian fare and we got a mix of it in our order for the night. The waiter was accommodating and incorporated all our special requests, as far as the vegetarian meal was concerned. Among the dishes brought to our table that night, were appetizers such as Akra De Malanga - Fried dumplings of malagna paste and original spices, which were a big hit at the table and we ordered another serving of the same. For the main course, I had Poultet Maison Chicken prepared in a homemade sizzling sauce, which was delicious and well-cooked; just the right amount. Some of us went the seafood way and had the Poission Creole -Whole red snapper, yellow tail or king fish prepared in herbal tomato sauce and the Filet De Poisson- Filet of sole or tilapia cooked with butter and garlic / shallot sauce with vegetable. Our vegetarian friend, as I mentioned before, hesitantly picked Legumes Maison Stew made with mixed vegetables and beef, in which he obviously asked for the beef and eggplant to be replaced with other vegetables. Surprisingly, his meal was quite tasty, or atleast thats what it seemed like when we saw his plate wiped clean at the end of the dinner. We had a big bottle of a Red Chilean Merlot to accompany our meal, which went well with most of the dishes. Some of us also had the Jus Lacaille - Juice (passion fruit, grape fruit, orange, lime) and enjoyed it. Of course, the staple plantains, rice and beans and salad (with a very interesting dressing) were served along with each meal as well. For dessert, we decided to give the Gateau Traditionel ( Le Bon Bonbon) - Haitian pound cake a try and did not regret our decision. It seemed like a desirably sweet end to an evening, filled with much laughter, jokes and silly talk.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this place to someone who is open to trying out a different cuisine in a different neighborhood of the city. I had never tried Haitian food before and while I did not leave thinking I would visit again, I certainly did have a good time. Being in the UWS, in the lower 100's it is kind of out of my way, which is the main reason I dont see myself heading back. But that does not mean the food or the service was sub standard. The waiter as I have mentioned was very accomodating, the ambience quaint and the food was good too. The prices are unbeatable and being a BYOB itself, makes it a winner in my books.
Thanks Niki for organising a fun Cuisine Club and taking us to a place and a cuisine neither of us had experienced before.
Looking forward to "I"....

G is for Greek

Not one for gastronomic adventures, I was a bit skeptical when the my daughter, Namrata, and son-in-law, Akshay asked us to join their Cuisine Club buddies for dinner at a Greek restaurant. I decided to go along, resigning myself to picking on bread and some dessert as is my fate at exotic dining places, having opted to be a vegetarian. As a long suffering only vegetarian in the family I had decided not to be a wet blanket (though I could not help at times murmuring my displeasure) and to allow the family to enjoy pampering their palates!  But hey was I in for a surprise!

 To begin with, Ithaka, situated in Manhattan, seemed an unpretentious taverna, in true Greek fashion. Not very big, the white washed interiors made my mind hark back to our holiday on the Greek isles where little white washed houses stood a startling contrast to the sparkling  blue Mediterranean waters. On the walls were framed paintings of Greek scenes--simple little prints which added to the decor. Soft Greek music played in the background, adding to the ambience. We were shown our place at a table set for fifteen with spotless white table cloth and starched napkins. 

As we waited for the rest to arrive, we started to order our drinks. While all the others had white wine, I was happy to sip plain, simple orange juice. Since we were three vegetarians in the group, it was decided that we order more vegetarian starters and only a couple of non-vegetarian starters. The vegetarian starters had some tongue twisting names like Tzatziki(yoghurt, cucumber and dill), Melizanosalata (smoked eggplant puree),Tirokafteri(feta cheese with olive oil and green peppers). The non-vegetarians ordered Shrimp Cocktail (jumbo shrimp served with tomato cocktail sauce) and sweet bread. Speaking only for the vegetarian starters I can say that they were good. I especially liked the Tzatziki and Tirokafteri. Eaten with soft pita bread, they tasted just right, not spicy or oily. The smoked eggplant was not anything to write home about--a little slimy and not so tasty as the others.

The only vegetarian option for the entree was a vegetarian platter. We asked the waiter if he could switch the eggplant on the platter to okra. He presented us with the platter which consisted of sauted okra with in a little tomato sauce (the best part being the okra was not submerged in the sauce), boiled potato, a spinach filled fillet, beans in a sauce and some crunchy carrots and asparagus on the side. All very tasty and not heavy on the stomach.

We opted for a few desserts to be shared by all of us--- semolina almond cake, milk pudding in a crisp filo and yoghurt with honey and walnuts. Yummmm--that explains it all! And to top it all, the waiter brought us some complimentary dessert--plates of crisp, round fried donuts with a coating of honey and walnuts. 

Too full to do justice to all the desserts, we carried some home and bid a fond goodbye to the waiter who had served us with good humour!

The price was a bit steep at $53 per person.

I must say that more than the food I enjoyed the company enormously. I always feel younger and more full of joie de vive when I am with youngsters!

Ambience: 6/10

Food: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Price: 7/10

Worth a visit definitely.