WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

To be fair, Chote Nawab was not our initial destination, but it turned out to be an incredibly afternoon of deliciousness.  The restaurant we intended to eat at (whose name I will with-hold since we didn’t actually eat a bite there) did not have even one thing on the menu that was gluten and/or dairy free, meaning I would not be able to eat.  So on we went, and a few moments later walked into Chote Nawab.  This was the best accident we could have had happen.  Upon walking in, we were very warmly welcomed and seated right away.  The restaurant is very new and has a chic modern decor, that was comfortable and warm.  We were brought menus and water right away.  We also were offered drink menus, which due to the fact that it was still mid-afternoon and we all had classes were politely declined.
We quickly decided on what we would order, myself going for the chicken saag – a delicious mix of cubed chicken and heavily spiced spinach, very similar to creamed spinach (minus the cream).  Along with that I had some rice, and dal, made of lentils.  They also brought naan bread to the table, but sadly I was not able to eat any of that due to it being gluten laden.  It looked just as delightful as everything else that was on the table.
I have eaten at my fair share of Indian restaurants in the city and have to say, Chote Nawab is high on the list of them.  The quality was very high, the flavors awesome, and the atmosphere and service equally great.  I will definitely be going back, and I will be bringing friends!

I was luckier then a lot of other people when Hurricane Sandy finally hit. My neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn was a respectable distance inland and rested on top of a hill, giving it the elevated ground needed to avoid any real danger of flooding. By and large all the storm really did to me was ensure I was locked up at home for two days, with all the amenities like water, heat, electricity, and internet (though very spotty at times) still readily available. But as unaffected as I was by Sandy itself, the scars it left behind are all too real for me. 

Despite the wind strength, my neighborhood was fortunate in avoiding the hazards of fallen trees. But even then it’s hard not to notice the contrast in the landscape Sandy created whenever I walk down the block and see branches stripped clean of their bark or a sign turned on completely on its head.

Walking down a bit further and past the local supermarket and you can see an even more telling example as work crews work daily to repair a missing banister that was torn right off.

Still, all these things are minor inconveniences at worse, it’s only walking down even further that you can see where the real impact is being felt.

Unlike the image above my local BP gas station was still completely empty of patrons because it’s still completely empty of actual gas, even several weeks after Sandy’s passing. I can only be thankful that, despite the long delays and only partial restoration at the time, this city has an extensive subway system that I can get by on, otherwise I’d have be like some of the poor suckers I’ve seen who have to carry their own fuel canisters like the ones above to fill up their cars and hope its barely enough to get them wherever they need to go.

Having several internships with government offices keep me in tune of just how much bigger these problems are in other parts of the city though, especially in the areas of lower Manhattan and Staten Island. I don’t even want to get into the stories I still hear outside of the city, where my aunt’s family on Long Island are still without power and heat in the middle of winter!

And so I’ve been doing what I can to help victims that have had it much harder then myself, which I am extremely thankful for. Just this week after Thanksgiving, I was inviting community board leaders to attend and contribute to a food drive, coordinating and setting up the venue in the American Museum of Natural History, and moving an entire truckload of cartons of dehydrated milk and water to be shipped off to the NYC Food Bank. Even now though, while it helps to know I’ve done something to help alleviate the difficulties of others in this trying time, its still disheartening to know it probably isn’t enough, and likely won’t be for some time yet. Life may go on, but the scars still linger.

Bright, stylish, comforting, contentment… but also disconnect. These are the words that come to mind as I reflect back on my visit to one Chote Nawab, an Indian Restaurant nestled on the corner of 28th and Lexington.

*Image by roshan b. at yelp.com

As soon as I walk through the doors I was struck by the layout of the place. Bold colors line the outer walls, while rustic murals painted the rest. Ornate modern hangers line them and the industrial piped ceiling up top. Its such a festive and exciting combination and contrast, tied together by the wood trimmed furniture which adds a homey feeling to the space.

Needless to say I got swept up in the atmosphere almost immediately, and my enthusiasm did not diminish thanks to the impeccable service and attention I received. My waters were refilled at a constantly, never reaching the bottom of the glass. Orders and dishes were taken and delivered swiftly, all with a cordial smile and polite questions asking me if I needed anything else. So to all my readers make sure your tip is astounding, because with service like that your waiter deserves nothing less.

*Image from madrasrecipe.com

Yet for all the glowing praise I’m giving Chote Nawab right now, it pains me more then anything to say that it fell short of the most important aspect of any restaurant,  the food. Scanning the menu my enthusiasm was not diminished as I saw categories for all types of different entree, from seafood to vegetables, chicken, lamb, beef, the list went on. I chose the Lamb Madras lunch special, coming in at only $11 at a steal. A mix of Lamb curry, and coconut I was looking for a flavorful blend of sweet and spicy. Yet upon taking a bite out of my dish I soon realized I had only received twice the amount of the latter and none of the former, the coconut flavor having been almost completely killed off by the heat . Mixed with an unlimited refill of rice, a container bean dip, and Naan bread on the side the meal itself was quite filling, but it just lacked the same spark of sophisticated spark as the decor, relying on the staple of Indian spices like American dishes do with meat and potatoes, simple but uninspired.

While I believe anyone  who visits Chote Nawab can appreciate the simplistic novelty of its cuisine, it still feels as though the restaurant has a ways to go before they can reach that next new and invigorating modern mix of flavors that its physical design at least, aspires to.

Lives have altered in ways that is still hard for me to fathom and comprehend. While I can sympathize with victims of this travesty, I can’t empathize, not being even remotely affected. Well, that’s not entirely true but to mention my hitches annihilates the severity of those truly impacted. Sandy’s imprint is indelible.

Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Hurricane Sandy has come and passed but we are still trying to rebuild. Stories of Sandy aren’t as prominent as they were a few weeks ago and will soon take the back seat to the next big story. Stories, even those of devastation last but only so long in the media spotlight. It echoes much like Hurricane Katrina, the same tune anew. People are still suffering in New Orleans; much still needs to be done but the topic has faded into the background. It is hoary to blame journalists and news outlets; it is only doing a disservice to all parties. After all, these people are at the hand of us the general public, there to provide us with what we want. If we are not outraged with the lack of coverage on topics like Hurricane Sandy then nothing will be done, it is supply and demand.  It can be a psychological disposition of society to not want to “deal” with calamity for too long although it seems counterintuitive.

Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

New York will continue to rebuild as the weeks and months pass. Hopefully this is a storm that New Yorkers will not soon forget.

An Outdated Burger

Wise man once said: it’s easy to be snarky when you sit behind a computer. I’m not going to attempt to refute that morsel of new age wisdom.

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A buzzing sound right behind the wall, I wake up because it seems like someone is drilling my head. They start making noise at 9 am and keep working all day long. The first floor of our building got flooded and now the landlord is renovating it. The walls flake off like potato chips, my neighbor tells me he is afraid of all the mold to come up to our floor. Every day i see the growth of the heap of construction garbage near my door. Harrison NJ is recovering from Sandy. As i walk to the train station, I see people working on their basements, i see piles of trash, i even saw a chest with open drawers full of colorful panties; this whole thing was under the water and the owner just decided to throw away everything at once.
Path trains that connect NJ and NY are not running properly, they stop running at 10, so if you work at night, you should wait until 5 am when they start working again.
The stores’ shelves got full again, there is no shortage of bread, milk or eggs as it was right after the hurricane. The gas stations work as they used to work, everything comes back to normal.

Empty supermarket shelves before Hurricane Sandy, Montgomery

This was the scariest hurricane I faced (well, i remember Katrina hit when I was in Florida, but I was not affected as much as here) and I hope NYC will never be hit hard like this again.

The picture is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Empty_supermarket_shelves_before_Hurricane_Sandy,_Montgomery,_NY.jpg

MTA bus service was one of the major victims of the super storm Sandy. MTA had to stop bus services for three days in every borough in the New York City due to the storm. However, after Sandy’s terrible detriment, MTA began running buses on 31^st October, Wednesday with following Sunday’s bus schedule.

One of the MTA bus supervisors in Jackson Heights terminal, Queens gave the feedback on the post Sandy situation. He said that the biggest challenge they faced after the storm was cleaning up streets. There were so many trees came down and blocked streets in Queens that made delay to begin the bus services. Another challenge MTA faced was fixing schedules for employees. Some of their employees live inNew JerseyandPennsylvania, who could not come to work afterSandydue to the transportation problem. Therefore, MTA had to arrange other drivers in a short period of time to fill out slots.

MTA showed sympathy to the post-sandy situation without taking any bus fares from 31^st Oct. to 2^nd Nov. However, they did not offer any reimbursement or substitute plan for the unlimited monthly cards.

Moreover, while MTA subway tunnels were flooded and damaged because of the storm, buses brought life again to people lives. People felt relief from their three days stuck lives at home, and started to go out for works, groceries and meet others. The bus services helped New Yorkers to back into the rhythm of their norm lives.

Sandy is already a distant weather memory for my little corner of Bed Stuy, but the clean up has been a mammoth task for the thousands of people that were affected, and it has certainly changed the nature of my day-to-day routine.

I work for Cuny and our department is normally hard at work processing specific scholarships, and raising funds for the school. Since Sandy however, we have also been involved with helping students with their emergency post storm needs.

Have you ever noticed for example, that every metro card has a ten-digit code on it? Nor did I until I wrote up 200 of them so that we could log in and trace every free monthly card that we give out to the students who come daily through our doors, grateful for just a small bit of help amongst the chaos.
Its one of a number of straight forward but essential administrative tasks that I do which makes me feel like I am just tiny part of the Sandy recovery.

I feel privileged to play a role in the nations leading urban public university and the people I meet everyday are a constant source of inspiration for me. Despite everything, so many students are determined to get to their classes and finish up the semester the best they can.

Sometimes I am not sure we all realize just how incredibly important Cuny is an educational institution here in New York. It definitely makes me proud to know that ten campuses became emergency shelters in the aftermath of the hurricane.

A splendiferous meal with succulent meat, well-balanced flavors, and attentive staff, you can’t beat.

Upon arrival at Chote Nawab we were greeted with a pleasant and inviting modern décor. With red oak polished chairs, colorful lamps and pastel gray colored flooring. Not to mention a warm and welcoming ambience with a friendly staff. I am sometimes lily-livered when it comes to trying new foods but I instantly felt at ease and was ready to have my first Indian cuisine experience. The waiter immediately came to the table with menus for my three classmates and me. I was pleased. I scanned the menu not sure what to order. After some encouragement from my classmates I settled on Chicken Tikka Masala, cooked in a creamy tomato sauce ($9). After orders were placed, appetizers graced the table. The table quickly began to smell like a bakery and I learned of new bread, naan. Naan is an oven-baked flatbread; the breads soft texture almost melts in the mouth. It was delicious. It reminded me much of Trinidadian roti skin, which I loved.

I was enthused and couldn’t wait for my meal to arrive. My taste buds were teased. I thankfully didn’t have to wait too long. My dish was placed in front of me and was pleasantly slapped with the spicy aroma of curried chicken.  I sampled a piece of chicken and rice, delightfully surprised by the familiar flavors, “I’ve had this before” I announced to the table. I didn’t lie, exactly. I’ve eaten something similar before. The tender and savory chicken was dressed in mild curry with traces of tomato, pimento, ginger, and garlic lingering with a slightly course and chewy (not gummy) texture. Chicken Tikka Masala reminded me of Jamaican curry Chicken! I am of Jamaican decent and eat curry chicken often. Though the two dishes aren’t identical they evoke similar tastes.  To accompany my meal I had a beverage, Mango Lassi ($4). I thought Mango Lassi was going to be blended mango with water and sugar. It’s not; it actually contains milk and yogurt that gives it a creamy-like texture. The enriched flavor of the mango left my mouth tingling with joy. The jar-like glasses the juice and water came in was a nice whimsical touch. During the course of our meal the restaurants owner, Shiva Natarajan came to our table. We were informed that he had several other restaurants in the city that received admirable reviews. I made a mental note to visit his other restaurants like Bhojan and Chola.

All in all, I walked away from the table grateful and satisfied. I am still in awe at the attentiveness of the staff and happy that my first Indian cuisine experience was a lovely and inexpensive one. I promise a return to Chote Nawab.

New York has never been one to dwell on the past. We move forward.

Photo Credit: NY POST

Sandy brought many to low points that they weren’t even aware they could reach. Those people are clawing themselves from the pit, fighting for a better tomorrow.

I don’t know what it is to go without power for ten or more days, but my brother does. My brother and his family lived without power for close to two weeks and he told me that the worse part was the feeling of impotence Sandy brought with her. I just can’t fathom what it is to go from having everything one second to having no power, or no home.

Power is back to almost everyone in New York City. They now have some place warm to sleep. Things are looking up, for some.

Some had more problems than just losing lights, they lost homes. Those people are living out of shelters, relatives homes, or places the NYC government has fashioned for them. Their lives are going to take a while to go back to how they were. All of those that are still displaced are still asking for help and asking not to be forgotten because they need the help, they need us.

I was fortunate enough to not be harmed by Sandy’s wrath and that made me more eager to help. My neighborhood church hosted a donation table to send out necessities for those in parts of Staten Island and Coney Island that needed it the most.

I made sure to contribute with everything I possibly could.

Sandy brought with it a lot of destruction, but it also united communities in astounding ways. People in the city reached out to their neighbors in Staten Island. They organized caravans to take supplies to those who needed it the most.

The physical destruction Sandy caused might take weeks, months, or even years to fix. New Yorkers’ spirits though, that is being rebuilt by the second.