South Asian, American, and Italian cuisine all under one roof on the former site of Spicy Mina’s.
“Let’s meet at Woodside Cafe,” I said to a friend a few weeks ago. “You mean the Irish place?” he asked. “Uh, no the Nepali and Italian place where Spicy Mina used to be,” I replied. “Oh, that place,” he said, “with the pizza and the Nepalese stuff.” That place brings to mind Babu Bhatt’s Dream Cafe from Seinfeld. It's run by a charming Nepalese family and is one of the odder restaurants I’ve eaten at in some time. The schizophrenic menu is the result of the father having worked at Sotto Cinque, an Upper East Side Italian spot for years.
Samay baji: a well-balanced plate of beaten rice, chicken, soy beans, spicy pickle, and black-eyed peas topped with a lentil patty.
“This is Newari cuisine,” the waiter said of samay baji ($5.95). Spicy and gingery chicken choila; bodi, blackeyed peas); achar, spicy vegetable pickle; potatoes; and batmas, crunchy fried soybeans ring a pile of nutty chiura, or beaten rice. The whole thing is topped off with a woo, or lentil patty. The nutty-tasting lentil cake along with crunchy beaten rice and fried soybeans play off the pungency of the other components.
Chatamari is a cross between uttapam and toad-in-the-hole.
Chatamari ($5.95), a rice flour pancake studded with black-eyed peas and chicken and topped with a fried egg calls to mind the South Indian rice and dal pancake uttapam.
Woodside Cafe’s spaghetti puttanesca has a kick.
“There are 32 languages spoken in Nepal, Italian is not one of them,” I said to my buddy with a sly grin as he ordered the spaghetti puttanesca ($7.95). It was quite good, like a spicier version of this classic Southern Italian dish. As I tucked into a goat thali ($8.95)—a mound of rice surrounded by red kidney beans, spicy pickle, and mustard greens with a mellow bowl of stewed goat—I marveled at the fact that such a place exists.
Cassie M. Jones was kind enough to provide World’s Fare with the above excerpt from her short film "Portrait of Food and Life in Queens!" The Ganesh Temple Canteen located in the basement of a Flushing house of worship is one of my favorite places to enjoy South Indian vegetarian cuisine. A statue of the elephant-headed remover of obstacles keeps watch over diners as they tuck into iddly, pillowy lentil and rice cakes; vadai; crunchy lentil doughnuts; and dosai, gigantic lentil and rice crepes.
Jones’ interview with the enthusiastic Chef Mahalingam Chandrasekar is priceless as is the one with a customer who says that back in 1975 he used to “take two subways and a bus just for a bite of Indian food.” I’ve been known to do the same, but only to get to Mumbai Xpress in Floral Park. After watching this clip I paid a visit to the canteen, which is really more of a full-blown restaurant, to try a triangular Pondicherry dosa. It was spicier than most and instead of potatoes was filled with yellow dal and various crunchy chili-dusted tidbits, including peanuts and an Indian snack that’s a dead ringer for corn flakes.
The film also includes segments shot at Little Guyana Bake Shop in Richmond Hill and Lali Guras, a Nepalese restaurant in Jackson Heights. It will be shown in its entirety at the Flushing Library next Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. followed by a panel discussion on immigrants, food and life in Queens featuring Jones, Professor Madhulika Khandelwal from the Urban Studies Department of Queens College, and yours truly.
Himalayan Yak's namesake momo are packed with juicy morsels of meat.
In the run-up to the Asian Feastival,World’s Fare will be profiling the participants. The Feastival’s mission is to showcase the diversity of delicious Asian cuisines in New York City’s most delicious and diverse borough. Korean, Thai, Malaysian, Filipino, Nepalese, Indonesian, and regional Chinese are just some of the cuisines that will be represented under one roof. Today we take a look at Himalayan Yak, which brings a cuisine from the rooftop of the world to Jackson Heights.
Can a dumpling be considered a country’s national dish? It can if that country is Tibet. The crescent-shaped dumplings known as momo are wildy popular with Tibetans and Nepalese who flock to Jackson Heights for a taste of home. At least a dozen restaurants in the area serve momo, but Himalayan Yak, tops the list for me because it serves momo made from the restaurant’s namesake meat. It’s also the area’s first Nepalese restaurant and can be said to have started the enclave of Himalayan restaurants and businesses I like to call Little Tibet. (Interestingly enough the restaurant sources alls the meat for its yak dishes from Vermont Yak, which has the distinction of having that state’s first yak herd.)
Turmeric, coriander, and ginger give Himalayan’s Yak’s momo a savory kick.
Yak meat is higher in protein than beef, yet it also contains far less fat. This fact never ceases to amaze me since the yak momo here are always incredibly juicy. They’re also incredibly flavorful having been seasoned with ginger, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cilantro, and green onions. On a good day I can easily polish off an entire steamer’s worth.
Bhaktcha markhu: pasta as dessert.
Himalayan Yak has a lengthy menu filled with many Indian and Nepali dishes, including one of my favorite tripe preparations, the fiery dhoepa kkhatsa, and some wonderful vegetarian thalis. One of the most intriguing dishes is neither filled with gnarly offal nor humming with spice. It happens to be a dessert called bhaktcha markhu, which somehow manages to channel my mother’s home cooking. The menu lists it as “Hand made pasta lightly rolled in roasted barley, sugar, butter and grated sauce.” The chewy pasta is sweet and nutty, reminded me of Mom's pasta with ricotta and sugar. It's just the thing after what’s often a meal filled with the fire of chili, ginger, and garlic. It also tastes a helluva a lot like store bought cavatelli, mainly because as I found out the other day, it is. The Yak can be forgiven for taking such a short cut, if only because they’ve managed to serve a dish from a half a world away that brings me back to my childhood on Long Island.
Himalayan Yak will be making its signature momo ar the Asian Feastival on September 6 from 12-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here. Be sure to check back for more posts about participating restaurants and shops.
In the leadup to the Village Voice’s Choice Eats tasting next Monday, World’s Fare has been profiling each of the six Queens participants. Last week we took a look at Mumbai Xpress, today it’s Mustang Thakali, a Nepalese and Tibetan eatery.
This $5.99 assortment of momo contains beef, pork, and chicken varieties.
When I asked the manager what Mustang Thakali planned to serve at Choice Eats he wasn’t sure, but seemed pretty certain momo would make the cut. This comes as no surprise. The steamed dumplings are as popular in the Himalayas as hamburgers are in the States. Momo are traditionally made with beef, but Mustang Thakali’s $5.99 lunch special also includes chicken and vegetable varieties.
Cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, and onions make this momo a great way to eat your veggies.
Back when I wrote about Shangri-La Express, a commenter asked about my favorite vegetarian momo. At the time I didn’t have an answer. Now I do—Mustang Thakali. A curry-scented blend of cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, and onions lies within each crescent-shaped dumpling. I was saddened that there were only three in the steamer, I could have easily polished off a dozen.
Top off a beef momo with Mustang Thakali’s tahini-like sesame-chili sauce.
The beef and chicken momo are pretty tasty too. The filling is flavored with garlic and ginger. Try them with one of a trio of sauces: tomato chutney, sesame-chili, or a fiery chili sauce spiked with garlic and ginger. The latter is my favorite, though I wouldn’t dare put it on the veggie momo. They’re perfect on their own.
Mustang Thakali Kitchen, 74-14 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-898-5088
