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[title]Perhaps it’s easier to describe what Indian-ish isn't. The new book by Priya Krishna, a prolific and needed voice in food, isn't a comprehensive look at “authentic” Indian cuisine or "traditional" Indian restaurants. Rather, the joyful cookbook out last month, is a love letter to Krishna’s parents, immigrants to Dallas, who valued (mostly) vegetarian sit-down family dinners, infusing creative spins on comfort foods. Recipes such as one pizza roti has Krishna's audience captivated, sharing their versions on Instagram.
Now the Texas-transplant lives in Brooklyn, writing for Bon Appetit, The New York Times and the now-defunct Lucky Peach. While Time Out doesn't cover cooking (make her saag feta though!), we wanted to pick her brain about some of her favorite places to dine. Here she shares some of her favorite restaurants.
Krishna has been popping up all over New York with curated dinners and talks to celebrate her book’s launch at Books are Magic, Baar Baar, 92nd Street Y, Narcissa and Bombay Bread Bar. You can catch her at The Museum of Food and Drink on May 23rd.
How long have you been in New York, and what neighborhood do you live in? I've lived in New York for six years. I'm currently in Park Slope.
Are there any spots in your neighborhood you’re particularly excited about?
Al di la Trattoria in my neighborhood. I also love Haenyeo, which I wrote about recently. I love their rice cake fundido. It’s this cheese-y rice cake, a play on the traditional Korean dish, tteok-bokki [using rice cakes and gochujang].
While your cookbook is about Indian-American food and the way your mother cooked, it’s also distinctly about you and the kind of food you actually like to eat, like the roti pizza recipe. Are there any spots with a similar focus in the city that you love?
I love Bombay Bread Bar. Chef Floyd Cardoz does such a beautiful job blending the food he grew up eating with this contemporary style he developed working in fine dining. I’m such a fan. They have such a strong cocktail selection and its this bright space, that does it all so well. [Priya recently held a dinner there for her tour!]
I also really like Adda for doing these unapologetically Indian dishes like chili paneer and goat biryani. Also, home-style spots like Amma. I’m friends with the owner. It’s literally run by an Indian auntie!
What are some spots in New York, restaurants or markets, that you looked to for inspiration when putting together Indian-ish?
Well, I don’t know if this exactly answers it, but Superiority Burger is one of my most frequented restaurants. Even if I've already eaten dinner, I’ll stop by for a snack. They have the best ice cream and the best focaccia in town. I wish I could live in Brooks Headley’s mind for a moment—I’m sure it’s a weird and exciting place.
But as for markets, with my cookbook I really tried to make it all really easy to make. You can pretty much find all the ingredients in corner stores, now that things like turmeric have been commodified by wellness instructors, you can find many of those ingredients pretty easily.
So I didn’t really go to many specialty markets, except Patel Brothers and Kalustyan’s. But now with Amazon Prime, you can still get chaat masala and curry leaves delivered to you in mere hours. The convenience part of my brain really appreciates that, but I also really want to support local businesses where I can.
Are there any smaller NYC markets or restaurants that you wish had more of a platform? I really love Japan Village in Sunset Park. I have had such exceptional meals there from udon to okonomiyaki. The grocery store is great, too. I haven’t seen that covered much.
To go back to your earlier comment about turmeric being commodified, I really appreciated and felt I learned a lot from Khushbu Shah’s article about how wellness influencers made Indian food this problematic “trend,” when these are dishes that have been eaten by Southeast Asian families for centuries. There are just new eyes on it.
Yeah. Writers like myself, Khushbu Shah, Tejal Rao, and Sonia Chopra all write about topics other than Indian food. We don’t only want to talk about that, but at the same time, we feel protective about our culture and a responsibility to shed light on a lot of the misinformation.
It’s a lot of things: the way that people act like they just discovered a dish without acknowledging the history or context. Or even the way that for some reason people pronounce turmeric without the “r” or mispell khichdi as kitchari. I was actually thinking of putting in my Twitter bio: It’s not ghee butter. It’s not chai tea. It’s not naan bread.
The concept of wellness makes me uncomfortable because it often just ends up creating confusion and telling people they need to spend a certain amount to feel good. Do you have any restaurant recommendations that you’re really excited about?
I get asked this a lot, so it was actually my resolution this year to make a map of every single restaurant I go to. Let me pull it up. Hmmm…I'm loving the cocktails at The Rockwell Place, all the desserts at MeMe's Diner. I love that at Frenchette you can still get a seat the bar on a weeknight. Via Carota is one of my forever favorite restaurants for their cacio e pepe. Very Fresh Noodles in Chelsea Market, the food in Chelsea Market has gotten so good! Also, Kish-Kash. I recently learned that Einat Admony has been taking up improv, which I also love.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.