Devi Reincarnated

[ulterior epicure]

Has Devi re-opened? raji seems to suggest so on another thread of ancillary interest to this one.

[raji]

Ja, I read this from 10/18, meaning it would have reopened 2 days ago. Didn't verify personally...

http://eater.com/archives/2007/10/the_dish_back_f.php

2) Devi: Suvir Saran and Hemant Mathur's much loved Flatiron Indian will be born anew this Monday, as was mentioned a few weeks back. You may recall that the talented duo had purchased the restaurant from owner Rakesh Aggarwal after he closed it in August. They're taking rezzies now. 8 E 18th St between Fifth Ave and Broadway; (212) 691-1300

PS They published my tip!

"CLINTON—From the inbox: "I just saw Dave “I’m not your bitch, bitch” Martin his cellphone outside of the ground floor restaurant of my building at 42nd between 11th and 12th before going inside. It’s opened and closed a few times most recently as Terra Vento. It’s a tough location but maybe he’s going to try to make it happen?" [EaterWire Inbox]"

[Bueno]

It has, indeed.

[weinoo]

It has, indeed. We ate here last weekend during friends and family, and the food is as good as, if not better, than it always had been. From the limited f & f menu, I started with the scallops and Manchurian cauliflower, while my wife had the lamb stuffed chicken. I love the cauliflower prep, and it didn't disappoint - my scallops were big and juicy as well.

The giant (those things are huge) prawns came out of the Tandoor oven juicy and coated in spices - what a mess - to eat, that is...absolutely wonderful, and don't forget to suck all that juice out of the shells. My buttermilk marinated fried chicken ( a new dish) was crunchy as could be - the white meat chicken (I prefer leg/thighs, and wings) not as moist as I like, but you won't be able to leave that skin alone. Bring wet naps.

There will be a $45 tasting menu of three courses - good value I think, for food of this caliber. And ala carte will be offered as well. As always, the service is nice and professional - they try hard to please, and usually do. This is such a nice, mellow place to have a meal, with distinctive food to match, and when you need a place where you want to be able to hear your dining companions, put Devi high on your list.

[raji]

That prawn tandoor is one of my favorite dishes there, and with the level of execution and consistency they maintain, Devi is still my top Indian for NYC! I bet the food will be even better now that the 2 master chefs officially own the place

[docsconz]

Ever since I had a few wonderful meals at Amma when Hemant Mathur and Suvir Saran were there, I had been wanting to dine at Devi once they opened that restaurant, but for various reasons I could never quite work it out. I planned to come into NYC for a quick visit yesterday to get a travel visa for an upcoming trip to India, so I figured, when would be a better or more appropriate time to go to Devi? I rounded up my good friend, JosephB, who also wanted to go to Devi and made a reservation. In the meantime, I found out that a wonderful chef I know from Alicante, Spain, Maria Jose San Roman, would be in town with her husband, so I asked them to join us.

In a nutshell, I encountered food very much like the great food I had at Amma, but in a nicer environment, although i liked the ambiance at Amma as well. My only complaint was that the lighting was not conducive to non-flash photography.

We tried a variety of dishes. Everything was delicious. The hallmark spices were well-balanced and not over-powering, providing fragrant, complex flavors that meshed beautifully with the underlying ingredients. Even the heat, while present, was enough to enhance the dishes while maintaining the underlying flavor integrity. A particular highlight iwas perhaps the most succulent halibut - the Bombay-Style Tandoori Halibut with bottle masala, cconut rice and spicy slaw - I have ever eaten. The fish, cooked through, remained perfectly moist. The spice was enough to add distinct flavor without surrendering the subtle flavor of the fish. Another highlight was the Tandoor-Grilled Lamb Chops with sweet & sour pear chutney and spiced potatoes. The lamb from Washington, County NY, was cooked to a perfect medium rare. The yogurt marinade produced a wonderful silken texture that married well with the spices used to produce marvelously flavored and textured morsels of meat. Of course, the crispy okra, the manchurian cauliflower, Spinach and goat cheese parathas, lotus seeds and lentils were all superb as well. The desserts excelled too, especially the kulfi and mango cheesecake. The only element that was relatively disappointing was the Jumbo Prawn balchao. The treatment was perfectly fine. The prawn itself, however, held little inherent shrimp flavor. The size of the prawn was impressive, but my guests are used to perhaps the finest shrimp in the world, those of Denía and Palamós from Spain's Mediterranean coast. In light of that comparison, I would agree that the underlying product was inferior. I would love to see and taste what Chef Mathur could do with fresh Denía prawns! Of course, sourcing good quality Denía prawns in NYC is next to impossible or at least would be at an affordable price. What might be a good compromise, though, would be to use smaller, but tastier wild Gulf shrimp. The downside would be that the shrimp would not be as visually impressive as the colossal ones used.

We had a bottle of 2005 La Crema Pinot Noir that worked well with the food. The service was attentive, efficient and professional.

As I get ready to travel to India, Devi will be my benchmark for comparison. I am quite happy that this restaurant did not stay permanently closed after last fall's closure scare.

[anusha1]

I have been back a couple of times since the re-opening, and I have to say that the food is just as wonderful as it was before. The Bhel Puri was refreshing, and had just the right combination of salty, sweet, and tangy. And the short ribs, new on this menu, I believe, were a revelation. The only thing I missed was the tandoori steak with the potato and curry leaf chips. That was my favorite item on the menu before, and I'm sorry to see it hasn't made it onto the new menu. Perhaps, one day.

[ulterior epicure]

I like *very* good Indian food. But, I have to admit, I don’t know that much about Indian food. It’s one of those world cuisines that I’m constantly striving to learn more about.

What I do know, from reading quite a bit about Suvir Saran and Hemant Mathur, the co-executive chefs at dévi are extremely talented and offer one of the best modern Indian dining experiences in New York, if not the United States. I was excited to finally check out the hype.

My friends and I agreed to have the five-course “Chef’s Tasting Menu.” Although each course offers choices, we were informed that the chef would like to cook the last two courses for us and send out desserts. We would only need to decide on which of the first two courses we wanted.

There were only two choices for each of the first two courses. So, our party of four divided the plates so that we’d get to try both.

Here is what our party had:

First Course

Dahi Batata Puri

Wheat hollows, potato-chickpea salad, tamarind and mint chutneys, yogurt, chickpea noodles

Shakarkandi Ki Chaat

Crispy sweet potatoes, toasted cumin, lemon juice, chaat masala

Second Course

Grilled Scallops

Roasted red pepper chutney, Manchurian cauliflower, spicy bitter-orange marmalade

Manchurian Cauliflower

Spicy garlic-infused tomato sauce, scallions

Third Course

Veal Brain and Liver Toasts

Veal brain with quail eggs and cilantro, liver with onion-tomato sauce and cinnamon

Fourth Course

Tandoori Prawns

Pomegranate marinade, crispy okra salad

Spinach Goat Cheese Paratha

Fifth Course

Tandoor-Grilled Lamb Chops

Sweet & sour pear chutney, spiced potatoes

Intermezzo

Yogurt-Peppermint Sorbet

Sixth Course

Emperor’s Morsel (Shahi Tukra)

crispy saffron bread pudding, cardamom cream, candied almonds

Mango Kulfi

Indian ice cream, mango passion fruit sauce, fleur de sel, black peppercorn

Lemon Trio

Lemon cake, lemon-lemongrass sorbet, lemon curd

Mango Cheesecake

Rosewater-almond cookie crust, mango paté de fruit, mango crisp

We let the wine director choose two bottles for us. He started us off with Marcel Deiss Riesling and switched over to La Crema Pinot Noir (2006, Anderson Valley) somewhere between the third and fourth courses. I thought both paired quite well with our food. Surprisingly, I favored the pinot noir, a varietal whose domestic growth I tend not to like.

While the Shakarkandi Ki Chaat is not the most attractive creation, it probably the most unforgettable eating experience of the evening. The cake of diced sweet potatoes were at once soft and crispy. It’s as if they were first deep-fried and then lightly tossed with sauce and plated - the texture of tempura the nano-second after the dashi dunk. The flavor was no less dynamic than the Dahi Batata Puri. This was redolent with smoky cumin and laced with bracing, bright lemon tartness. Although milder than the other first course, this one was not shy on heat, either.

The one dish that everyone raves about is the Manchurian Cauliflower. I had no idea what to expect, given that this was a Chinese-named dish being served at an Indian restaurant. I’ll sum it up in four words: sweet and sour cauliflower. These large florets appeared to be lightly battered, fried and then coated in a sticky sauce reminiscent to that which is used with chicken or pork at Chinese restaurants.

Chef Hemant sent out an extra Tandoori Prawn for each of us. Beautifully-cooked, each prawn was the size of a small house pet, and brimming with bounce. Marinated in pomegranate juice and rubbed with spices, it offered a world of flavors: sweet, sour, savory, smoky and spicy. The crispy okra salad, an item on the a la carte menu that I had wanted to try, came with the prawn. It was a pile of shaved and desiccated (fried) okra with fresh onions, tomatoes and spices.

With the prawns, the chef sent out an order of the Spinach Goat Cheese Paratha, which was something like a paratha and palak paneer quesadilla. The warm, fluffy wedges came with a loose yogurt sauce on the side. If I were to loose all sense of decency and restraint, I'm sure I could handily down a couple basketfuls of these parathas without blinking.

Less impressive was the Grilled Scallop, which, though perfectly-cooked, was rather forgettable. Sauced with a red pepper chutney, the scallop was accompanied by single Manchurian cauliflower floret.

The two offal-topped toasts were good, but not the exciting find that I was anticipating. The brains were exceedingly creamy and perhaps purposely served slightly cold. I've never had slightly cold brains. I'm not sure I like them slightly cold. But, I did like the flavor of the brains, especially with cilantro, which helped freshen them up a bit.

If for nothing else, I appreciated the liver toast for the interesting combination of tomato and cinnamon, which helped temper the otherwise strong liver flavor.

Sadly, service handicapped what was an otherwise rather successful dinner. First, they repeatedly served me things I was allergic to. I admit that I failed to notify them of my allergies (mango, eggplant and kiwi) at first. I was reminded that I needed to do so when the amuse bouche arrived. It was a folded phyllo cup filled with a mango salad of some sort.

They graciously (and quickly) exchanged it for a Seafood and Crab Croquette with pickled green chile mayonnaise (it's on their regular menu). The molten-hot ball of minced seafood had a thick, crunchy, dark-golden crust. It was the first hit of appreciable heat of the evening for me; it made me glad I was allergic to mango.

Later, our tandoori prawns showed up on a bed of eggplant stew. I looked at it for a second. My friends were just about to say something when another server whisked the plate away, apologizing for the mistake. My prawn returned with a slightly sweet tomato chutney.

The kitchen sent out four different desserts. Given that they knew I was allergic to mango, I'm boggled as to why they would choose three mango desserts when there were more than three non-mango desserts on their regular menu. (I have no reason to doubt our server, but, I'm doubtful that there was actually a mango tuile on the "Lemon Trio.")

The only dessert (out of the four) that I could eat - the restaurant's signature "Emperor's Morsel" - wasn't even given to me. Of course we traded plates. Of course, I didn't need to try four desserts (although my friends were able to sample every one). (I really shouldn't be complaining since there are only two choices on the Chef's Tasting Menu.) But, it would have been nice to see some level of forethought and care, if not coordination among the staff.

The Emperor's Morsel is described as a saffron "bread pudding." I'd liken the texture to spongey fried dough. There was a faint hint of saffron, but cardamon took a more aggressive roll. Although it sent the dessert sailing into the "too-sweet" territory, I loved the pistachio brittle bits scattered on the plate for crunchy texture.

There were a few other rocky moments in service, like when our lamb showed up immediately after our shrimp. The captain shooed the servers away, cleared our plates, and served us a refreshing intermezzo of (half-melted) yogurt and mint sorbet before recalling the chops to our table.

I must admit that my expections of dévi were coloured by its Michelin one star rating. I know that many (especially local New York fine diners) put little, if any stock in the Michelin Guide Rouge New York. And, for the same reason, it may be unbelievable (or beside the point) to some that I found dévi a couple of shades more casual than I had been expecting.

Yes, I was anticipated (although not necessarily hoping for) something a little more refined. (This observation sparked a rather lively discussion, subsequently, on this forum and elsewhere.)

However, even though service at our table verged on amateurish at times, I can't say that dévi was too casual to bear. It was refreshing to enjoy wonderfully-executed food in a relaxed setting. I suppose there's something special and wholly unique about eating shakarkandi ki chaat and sipping German Riesling with the sultry, smoky stylings of Nora Jones playing in the background.

The restaurant's colourful schema is quite lovely. Next time, I'm going to request one of the gauze-lined banquette tables in the back of the ground level room. The bar is more pathetic and useless than the bar at Adour at the St. Regis. It's as if a Tiki hut from Waikiki Beach landed at some random Indian restaurant near Union Square.

Overall, dévi's food was very good, some of it was great. Given time, I'm sure I'll return with adjusted expectations and will eagerly try many of the other items on the menu.

You can read the entire review at the ulterior epicure.

[BryanZ]

Devi usually has some kind of prix fixe dinner deal throughout the year, so when I read on the restaurant's website that it would be offering its Restaurant Week menu through the month of August I thought it a good time to finally visit. The RW menu is the exact same as the "normal" three-course prix fixe that usually costs $45. A savings of $10 sounded good to me.

Unfortunately, they were out of the scallop appetizer I wanted to try, so instead we defaulted to the signature Manchurian cauliflower. UE's description is apt, though I picked up more spicy notes, and we dubbed it General Tso's cauliflower, minus the peanuts, of course. Our other starter was the lamb-filled chicken. This was quite tasty, and I enjoyed the new, to me, pairing of chicken and lamb in freeform sausage-like form.

Mains were the tandoor prawns and the grilled lamb chops. Both were very good, bordering on excellent. I wouldn't call this technically perfect cooking, but the flavors were spot on and vibrant. The proteins were also of very high quality. The chutneys, often times a distraction, actually added to the dishes, contributing sweetness to help offset the spices.

The desserts were fine, but a bit of a step down from the previous two courses. I preferred the Emperor's Morsel to the too-hard kulfi--I find Tabla's version more interesting.

Courses came very quickly and we were done eating in just over an hour. They could've spaced things out a bit more, but I like to eat quickly so it wasn't so much as issue as a peculiarity. We were the last seating of the night, so it's not as if they were trying to turn the table.

For a $35 meal this place was really solid. I'd like to go back and order more extensively.

[weinoo]

Mains were the tandoor prawns and the grilled lamb chops.  Both were very good, bordering on excellent.  I wouldn't call this technically perfect cooking, but the flavors were spot on and vibrant.

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Other than spot on and vibrant flavors, what exactly is technically perfect cooking, when it's done in a tandoor?

[ulterior epicure]

Other than spot on and vibrant flavors, what exactly is technically perfect cooking, when it's done in a tandoor?

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To me, it connotes impossibly tender, succulent meat or puffy, fluffy doughstuff.

[BryanZ]

Mains were the tandoor prawns and the grilled lamb chops.  Both were very good, bordering on excellent.  I wouldn't call this technically perfect cooking, but the flavors were spot on and vibrant.

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Other than spot on and vibrant flavors, what exactly is technically perfect cooking, when it's done in a tandoor?

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Yeah, that wasn't very clear. "Technically perfect cooking" is an idea to me that descends directly from European, and more specifically French, cuisines. A piece of meat perfectly caramelized, with even doneness, rested, and cooked to an exact temperature. A vegetable selected at the height of its season, expertly prepped, and cooked to an exact doneness This emphasis is, in my mind, is much more important in western European cooking than say Indian cooking.

In this particular case, the lamb was absolutely delicious, the fat was meltingly tender. But the cooking was uneven, the butchery a bit sloppy. The vegetables that accompanied the shrimp were haphazardly chopped, the tomatoes still too firm--coincidentally this worked well in this texturally crisp accompanying salad. Therefore, delicious in this context but not technically perfect. The two are certainly not dependent on each other, especially in "ethnic" cuisines.

[DutchMuse]

As someone who has great respect and utility for the Michelin Guide in Europe (especially France), it has fallen on its face in the USA. The ratings are just short of laughable and I don't feel I'm exaggerating.

[ulterior epicure]

As someone who has great respect and utility for the Michelin Guide in Europe (especially France), it has fallen on its face in the USA.  The ratings are just short of laughable and I don't feel I'm exaggerating.

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You might find this discussion interesting.

[Sneakeater]

I'm cross-posting a link to eatmywords's recent review of Devi (posted in the "Best Indian" thread) for ease of reference.