Boutique Indian in Jersey City

When American Masala opened in April 09 we weren't sure if it was a club, a bar or a restaurant. But the host assured us the spanking new Indian eatery was open for lunch. The sleek lines of this new venue make it easy to confuse it with a club as does the groovy Rave music piped into the sound system. Spartan looking but comfy cafeteria style lime and tangerine chairs, tiny individual flower decanters and nifty lighting, Oh-so-city. Especially engaging is the wall art, blowup pix from the owner's upstate farm: pile of cardamoms, gangly goats, a dazzling array of chickens and emerald pastures.

Then there's the cafeteria ordering system where a diner queues to the counter, orders from the menu and seats him or herself. The food is brought to you minutes later, presumably already prepared from the kitchen. It's a rapid, if odd system. Given the attractiveness of the restaurant it might be more pleasant to be served while seated.

The menu is ideally short for the lunch crowd. Standouts include the Ribbon Fries - slivers of potatoes fried and spiced with condiments and herbs. The burgers are reliable however I find the curries oddly sweet and overly aggressive with aromatics such as cardamom. The Pistachio pound cake hits the right note and the Coconut Chocolate bars are delish. Takeout orders come in cute brown picnic boxes. American Masala does happy hour every evening as well, serving light Indian snacks with full bar cocktails.

American Masala
95 Greene Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302

Sushi for the Summer

Yes it's torridly hot out but one must eat. Sushi is the perfect solution - chilled but well flavored salads, rolls, fish dishes. Even the hot pots don't overwhelm in size or scope. Blue Chili (Siam Inn) offers the best of cool Japanese eats with surprise hot (read fire and spice) Thai dishes.

We sit at the Sushi bar. The music is Buddha Bar groovy. The decorations Blade Runner futuristic blue & whites, (without the spattered blood). The menu might be construed as a cheesy melange of Japanese/Thai, attempting to cater to the spectrum of Asian cuisine. But it works. Mostly because of the fresh ingredients, exceptional yellowfin, mango, lime juice, papaya, salmon skin.

I start off with a superbly tempura-ed softshell crab atop a green papaya salad tossed with peanuts, garlic, chili and lime. The dressing is so refreshing I drizzle more and more over slivers of chilled papaya. Apps continue with petite slabs of Yellowfin topped with freshly shaved jalapeno rounds dressed in a sweet soy-based sauce. So good - we order a second round. Mains are a combination of rolls served with a mayo chili condiment we manage to guzzle and slurp with chopsticks.

Dinner's over but eyeing a fellow diner's meal I order the Salmon Crunch - really an appetizer but hearty enough to qualify as a main. Tempura battered salmon & crab roll is deep fried and with a spicy chili sauce. Unfortunately the drink we select to accompany dinner doesn't prove such a winner. Green apple Sake that tastes like apple juice and looks like an Apple Martini a 17 year-old might order. It's sickly sweet, barely chilled and despite the 750 ml size, doesn't induce one iota of a buzz.

Dessert brings redemption. Green tea ice cream is my friend's safe best. Whereas I'm dazzled by the thought of a trio of creme brulees: vanilla, green tea & coffee. They come out in tiny ramekins. The sugar crust is not so overzealously hardened that I need a jackhammer to penetrate to reach the custard. Rather it's nicely browned - barely concealing the trio of custards. Green tea first, it's cool with hints of chocolate. The coffee proves irresistible and I wallow in with my tiny spoon so capture all the contents of the demi pot. Vanilla is so whitebread I skip it entirely. To top it off, the bill proves quite affordable for two. 1 bottle of sake, 3 appetizers, 2 entrees and 2 desserts for just over $100.

Blue Chili (Siam Inn)
251 W. 51st Street
NY, NY 10019
212-246-3330

In a town formerly known as East Patterson

Elmwood Park, formerly East Patterson is trying to distance itself from it's not so illustrious past. Case in point the updated strip of shops on Market Street beckon to a commuter crowd accustomed to city eating. Mulberry's Bar and Grill offers a welcome layer of sophistication to diners jonesing for more than suburban pasta.

The small menu consists of a dozen appetizers, a few salads and a healthy selection of sandwiches. The daily specials could consist of osso buco one day, chicken simmered in wine or a pasta dish.

Standouts starters include quarterd figs atop wisps of proscuitto drizzled with honey. The thinly shaved proscuitto melts in your mouth while the fig adds smokey depth and the honey floral sweetness. Another winner is the goat cheese fritters. Airy goat cheese is lightly breaded and flash fried so the exterior is crunchy but not greasy. They sit atop roughly sliced onions caramelized in oil and vinegar. and a mound of greens dressed in tangy vinaigrette. Not so great are the chicken wings but then this isn't a greasy sports bar and their attention focuses on the more esoteric dishes.

While the specials are always worth a nod, the sandwiches deserve attention as they are composed of pristine ingredients; tuna, rare sliced steak, sweet turkey breast.

The wine and beer lists are limited. Bottles of most domestic beer sare available with a few varieties of wines by the glass and bottle. However the bartenders are innovative with their cocktails and any incarnation of a citified drink is replicable.

Worthy of special note is the chef who takes pride in his creations and pleasure discussing the menu, accepting suggestions with grace.

A welcome attractive venue in Elmwood Park, even though it really is East Patterson.

Mulberrys Bar & Grill
158 Market St.
Elmwood Park, NJ 07407
(201) 475-5700

Still digging the lower east side food scene

Used to be I'd hit the lower east side for a fix. No, not meth or heroin or skunky weed. Nah, for cheap Tequila at the original Coyote Ugly, still on 9th and 1st. Still has a great jukebox, dartboards and gorgeously snarly waitresses who've been wronged by life. And no, it's not like the movie (which was shot at Red Rocks in the meatpacking west side). Matter of fact before the movie was even a glimmer in Piper Perabo's eye Coyote was where my cousin Yve and I would down unGodly amounts of Tequila and dis men.

Of course the east village is also where I go for a great, cheap meal in a usually small and requisitely funky venue. Things haven't changed that much. Second Ave still swarms with crowds - many of whom are excitingly tatooed and pierced - dining al fresco in front of English phone booths or in tiny shops no wider than a subway car.

Bar Carrera 2 is one such joint (2 because of it's sister location in the West Village). Suffering from a single Espresso Martini induced hangover (damn that sugar!) my stomach felt inclined to fill itself with salty, fatty treats - damn the damage to my thighs or sweet red arteries. My dining partner is my femme buddy Karen - a seasoned New Yorker. The fact that both of us worked at Sherry-Lehmann as wine consultants, followed by her stint at Merrills means we're a bit finicky when it comes to the grape. Luckily Carrera provides a handsome wine list comprised of mainly Spanish wines that pairs admirably with the Tapas style menu.

We shared Jamon wrapped dates stuffed with almonds. The chewy date added the perfect counterpoint to the salty, jerky-like ham and the almond was a nice textural surprise. Sauteed tiger shrimp and chorizo was a very small plate (2 orders) on a toothpick with a briney banana pepper. Torilla del dia was the standard potato and egg at room temperature. The vine-ripened tomato salad with a sherry vinaigrette fed our need for shrubbery while the Plato Combinado (assorted cheeses & meats) eased my hunger for spicy, fatty meat. The surprise favorite of the evening turned out to be a Russian sounding combo of smoked salmon over a slather of mascapone on a toasted brioche drizzled with honey and a sprinkle of black caviar.

As a drinking accompaniment I stuck with a dry Cava - Casteller Brut. Karen tried out a couple wines - Bacasis Blanco from Pla de Bages, the Aforado Albarino from Rias Baixas and Can Blau from Montsant - all 2007.

Overall rating Pros & Cons: lovely food, a bit heavy on the bread in the sandwich type tapas. The smoked salmon a surprise winner. Attentive, helpful bartender. Attractive indoor space however, the music was much too loud. Great wine list however would have preferred stemmed glasses as my sparkling wine got warm with handling.

Bar Carerra
175 Second Avenue
New York, New York 10003
212-375-1555
info@barcarrera.com

A good weekend

My parents are visiting, which means chaos in the kitchen. Mini coolers jam-packed with curries. Whole honeydews, cantelopes, watermelons rolling across the kitchen floor and threatening to knock down the dog like a bowling pin. Quart-sized containers full of Sambaar, Idli batter, homemade yogurt made with Half and Half.

Breakfast Saturday was palm-sized idlis with Sambaar and Mom's famous chutney. South Indian chutney is addictive. My friend Damarys spreads it on toast. I prefer to dip samosas in it. Mom mixes plain white rice and chutney and drizzles a bit of ghee over everything. Peeled and diced mangoes, melons and cherries finished off breakfast.

Had dinner with my GF Julie Lindh. As she's located on 9th Ave in the West 50s, a plethora of terrific ethnic restaurants abound. Dined at Agua Dulce, recently opened as of last week. Featured as a "Pan Asian" restaurant, it's a kitschy throwback to 1950s Miami where you'd expect cigar chugging men wearing cool guayaberas and playing dominoes. Whie the decor might be amusing the food is nothing to laugh at, matter of fact it's fantastic. We started with Citrus Salmon Ceviche - huge chunks of raw salmon bathing in a grapefruit citrus vinaigrette. Shaved slices of habeneros, red onions and segments of citrus give tang and zest to the unctuous salmon. Utterly the best ceviche I've had years. Second only to the cevice at Azucar in Silver Spring, Maryland. Other appetizers were Guacamole with tough and a wee bit stale chips, obviously homemade. The Gauc was fine but could have used more bite and lime. Shrimp empanadas in an orange, sweet yuca dough were tasty but overpowered the seafood inside. The Brazilian seafood stew reminded me of a toned down Tom Yum soup. Mussels, teeny clams, chunks of salmon poached in coconut milk and cashew puree. Although I really couldn't place the cashew - by texture or flavor. Dessert was killer - chocolate ganache cake over which was poured, not drizzled mind you, an entire gravy boat of chocolate habenaro sauce. Crazy good.

Highly recommend Agua Dulce - translation: fresh water. The restaurant houses it's own filtration system and apparently some of the profits go towards funding water systems in Latin America. The filtration system is also evident in the refreshing cocktails. Frozen mojitos, watermelon margaritas - all made with fresh juices and water filtered on the premises. Better yet, at my request for a vodka based mojito our server was glad to comply. Go for the simple but well executed menu by chef Ulrich Sterling. (Who by the way is Irish!) Also noteworthy are the attentive wait staff and busboys who seem to all foster an attitude of: your wish is my command. But especially go for the sinfully delicious dessert - chocolate and habenaro - two aphrodisiacs in one.

Agua Dulce
802 Ninth Avenue & (53rd Street)
New York, NY
Phone (212) 262-1299