Pete's Dish - June 24

What's going on in and about town!

Back in April, I wrote about the LUCKYRICE feasting fest on Evenings With Peter. Having made a splashy debut in New York, the event is soon to stick a fork in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami, with dozens of mixologists and chefs on hand to make guests experiencing all sorts of Asian cuisine (from Pacific-rim dining to street food grub) feel very lucky indeed. Go to luckyrice.com for more info.

I featured chef Tadashi Ono here on my blog from a post several years ago, featuring a wonderful recipe that he personally selected for me from his cookbook with Harris Salat--a Halibut Hot Pot! Chef Ono is now collaborating with Salat (founder/owner of Japanese Ganso in Brooklyn) to form Ganso Group and expand the Ganso brand. Ono will act as Partner and Culinary Director of Ganso Group, assuming executive chef duties for all projects, including Ganso (25 Bond Street, Brooklyn, 718-403-0900, gansonyc.com), soon to be re-launched with Salat as Ganso Ramen. Up the road a piece and a few months later, look for Ganso Yaki (515 Atlantic Avenue), also in Brooklyn.

The first authentic Sindhi restaurant in New York, Kailash Parbat, recently introduced their new chaat bar, presenting guests an opportunity to create snacks suited to their tastes, be the flavors mild or wild. On offer are dishes such as fried corn cups topped with a saucy corn chaat mixture and stuffed pastries mashed and topped with curried chickpeas, chaat chutneys and yogurt. All ingredients are made in house daily, and may be found in the restaurant at 99 Lexington Avenue, between 27^th and 28^th Streets, 212-679-4232, kailashparbatny.com.

There's still time to celebrate these festivities going on throughout the rest of June at the following places! 

National Seafood Month: Seafaring fare is reeled right out of the sea and to the table at Bay Kitchen Bar (39 Gann Road, East Hampton, 631-329-3663, baykitchenbar.com) in the Hamptons, overlooking Three Mile Harbor. As perhaps evidenced from the photo above, chef Eric Miller works with local clammers, baymen and fishermen to personally select the best catches of the day.

National Dairy Month: Brazilia Cafe (684 Broadway, 646-852-6348, braziliacafe-nyc.com) offers moo-velous homemade small batch gelato created by the “Ice Cream Professor” Malcolm Stogo. Look for Italian-style Açai Camu Camu Berry, Brazilia Coffee, Sea Salt Caramel, Dulce de Leche, and Ricotta with Fig.

National Steakhouse Month: NYY Steak Manhattan (7 West 51st Street, 646-307-7910, nyysteak.com) brings on the beef with USDA Prime steaks aged and butchered on the premises. The signature 27 oz. Long Bone Ribeye should satisfactorily take care of your curious carnivorous cravings. 

Pete's Dish - May 8

Mother's Day is coming up May 11th already! Savoury, a recently arrived Indian restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side offers an easy (and incredibly cheap) Mother's Day Three Course Brunch for $20. Chef/owner Lala Sharma's (formerly of the delicious Surya) menu influenced by Western and Southern Indian cooking. Try appetizers crispy cauliflower tossed about in tangy garlic tomato sauce, or chaat, crispy wafers served with onion, potatoes, yogurt, tamarind and mint sauce. Main courses (served with naan, basmati rice, and cucumber raita) include buttery chicken tikka cooked in the tandoor oven and enveloped in a tomato cream sauce; lamb or goat is cooked with crushed black pepper, curry leaves, tamarind, and coconut milk. Finish it all off with traditional Indian ice cream--and all mothers will also receive a complimentary mango lassi!

Savoury is located at 489 Columbus Ave, btwn 83rd/84th Sts, 212-875-1400, SavouryNYC.com. 

And while at it, in the mood for more Indian food? Here we present the opening of the first authentic Sindhi restaurant in New York City's Curry Hill, featuring vegetarian Indian cooking. The Mulchandani brothers opened Kailash Parbat in Bombay in 1952. Since then, 28 additional locations have opened in Chennai, Kochi, Surat, Bangalore, Hyderbabad, Singapore, and London before landing in Manhattan. Everything is made in house daily, down to the freshly ground  garam masala spice blend and when a recipe dictates, they import ingredients straight from India. Look for puffed rice mixed with chickpeas and tamarind and cilantro chutneys, saucy savory cakes and fried Indian breads with curried chickpeas to get started before trying gingery mint and spinach paneer, Indian cheese, and dishes of yellow lentils flavored with cumin and garlic as well as other Indo-Chinese, traditional Sindhi and tandoor dishes. Kailash Parbat is located at 99 Lexington Ave, between 27^th/28^th Sts, 212-679-4232, KailashParbatNY.com. 

Now for an entirely different taste, Michaels of Brooklyn is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year and to amp up the occasion, they are launching a cooking contest on Facebook. The winner will receive a free case (6-32oz jars) of their house-made authentic Italian tomato sauce. Here's what to do: “like” the Michaels of Brooklyn Sauce Facebook page, post your favorite recipe, using any flavor of Michaels of Brooklyn sauce such as marinara, puttanesca, arrabbiata, home style gravy along with a photo of the dish.  Entries will be judged on originality, the photo, and how many “likes” and "shares" it gets. Send as many recipes as you wish before Friday, May 23 at 5:00pm EST.  The contest is already live, and the Facebook page can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/mobsauces.  The winner will be notified via Facebook before or by May 30.