Posted by Neil Brody Miller on August 26, 2010
Signs of revitalization in Syracuse seem to be everywhere these days, whether it is news reports about the low cost of home ownership or continued redevelopment of the downtown area, as evidenced by the opening of a new Urban Outfitters and the beginning of construction this week on the Hurbson Building in Armory Square. Even the New York Times is taking notice.
Given the scale of this revitalization, the opening of another new restaurant in Syracuse might seem like an insignificant detail or at best a footnote to larger, ongoing projects. The willingness of any entrepreneur to risk his or her capital in starting up a new business, however, is a sign of confidence in the city and its future. So I was pleasantly surprised to see a sign at the intersection of E. Erie Blvd. and E. Genesee St. in Dewitt earlier this week announcing the opening of a new Indian restaurant, Dosa Grill, located at 4467 E. Genesee Street, in the space previously occupied by Pickles Deli.
There are already several good Indian restaurants in the Syracuse area: India House and Sahota Place in Liverpool; Samrat on University Hill; and Taj Majal on E. Erie Blvd, which opened back in February. While most of these restaurants specialize in Northern Indian cuisine, Dosa Grill, as the name implies, features Southern as well as Northern Indian dishes.
Dosa, a thin gluten-free crepe made from fried rice and lentil flour that typically is stuffed with curried potato or other fillings, is Southern Indian street food, inexpensive, filling, and quick and easy to eat. In addition to their standard menu, the Dosa Grill features a separate Dosa menu which lists a variety of different fillings and options. I sampled the Masala Dosa, the most common version of Dosa, which is stuffed with a vegetarian mixture of lightly curried potato and onion. My Dosa, which came with a small cup of Sambal, a simple vegetable stew, was light, crisp and delicious, and was a nice alternative to the richer Indian dishes with which Americans are more familiar.
I take lousy photos with my iPhone (or maybe my iPhone simply takes lousy pictures), especially indoors, so the photo of my Dosa didn’t come out. But I also sampled a dish from the restaurant’s main menu, Malai Kofta, a Northern Indian vegetarian dish consisting of fried dumplings served in a rich, savory cream sauce, which is a personal favorite. It, too, was very good and quite spicy, which bodes well for the various Vindaloo dishes on the menu. Make sure you order your dishes mild or medium spicy unless you are sure you like your food really hot, as “hot” in Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine is often quite a bit hotter than Americans are used to.
In addition to the Dosa menu, I look forward on return visits to trying the restaurant’s goat meat dishes (if you like lamb but haven’t tried goat, you should give it a try, as it is similar to but not as gamey as lamb), and the Southern Indian seafood dishes, such as the Goan Fish Curry and the Fish Vindaloo.
For diners living and working on the east side of town, the Dosa Grill is a welcome addition to the culinary neighborhood. The Dosa Grill is also noteworthy for its owners, Babita Rani and Raj Kumar, who own the highly regarded Indian restaurants Minar in New Hartford and the Indian Cafe in Clinton, NY. Although I met Raj briefly during my meal, I didn’t think to ask what led him and his wife to open a new restaurant in Syracuse. Clearly, however, they believe Syracuse is a city worth investing in and a place where they expect to succeed.
Dosa Grill is located at 4467 E. Genesee Street in Dewitt in the small strip mall shopping center at the intersection of E. Genesse St. and E. Erie Blvd. Business hours are 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM for lunch, and 4:30 to 9:00 PM for dinner Monday through Thursday, and 10:00 PM Friday & Saturday. The restaurant serves a lunch buffet Monday through Saturday, from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, and a “Special Brunch Buffet” on Sundays from 12:00 to 3:00 PM.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on August 5, 2010
It seems quintessentially American to believe that too much of a good thing is never enough. As a result, our cars, houses, debts, meals and waistlines have gotten ever larger, though the Great Recession has momentarily curbed our excesses. The obscene genius of KFC’s Double Down, however, and the popularity of television programs like Man v. Food, which glorifies gluttony as conspicuous consumption, suggest that many Americans still see More is Better as a constitutional right.
From this perspective, the banh mi sandwich at Syracuse’s Ky Duyen Cafe seems downright un-American. I don’t say this because it is a culinary import of Syracuse’s Vietnamese immigrant community, although I suspect that members of this nation’s resurgent nativist movement would see it as such (their ideological great-grandaddies weren’t called the Know Nothings for nothing). What I mean is that something so small and deceptively simple, so meticulously crafted from fresh, flavorful ingredients into a complex, subtle, and stunningly delicious meal, cuts deeply against the grain of American eating habits.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I need to thank Don Cazentre, The Post-Standard’s food and wine columnist, for bringing the Ky Duyen Cafe to my attention. I thought I already knew all of Syracuse’s Vietnamese restaurants, but somehow I missed the Ky Duyen despite having driven past the cafe on numerous occasions. It won’t take me long to make up for my mistake, however, because hands down this is one of the tastiest sandwiches in Syracuse. It is a symphony of delicately layered, alternately harmonious and contrasting flavors.
I refer readers to Don Cazentre’s April 21, 2010 review for details about the Ky Duyen Cafe, its owner Dung Vu, and its remarkable banh mi sandwich. Very briefly, the sandwich consists of tiny portions of pork liver paté, barbequed pork, sliced roast pork, cucumber, cilantro, chilis and pickled daikon and carrots, layered into a crusty Italian hard roll baked for the cafe by Nino’s Italian Bakery on Lodi Street.
I love this last fact, this meeting of disparate immigrant cultures, not only because it testifies to the humanitarianism of Syracuse’s Catholic Charities and North Side community, which has welcomed large numbers of Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian immigrants into their midst, but also because it bears witness to the cultural possibilities of a pluralistic, open society (yeah, I’m thinking of SB 1070, and the reactionary zealots who support it and so much else that is small-minded, ill-informed, ungenerous, and bigoted in our society).
All this, from a small, deceptively simple sandwich served in an unassuming neighborhood cafe. Unexpectedly deep thoughts, and a heightened awareness of how our most mundane decisions – what do I want for lunch? – connect to the biggest issues of the day.
The Ky Duyen Cafe is located at 488 N. Salina Street, at the intersection of N. Salina Street and Butternut Street. The banh mi sandwich and a can of tamarind soda came to $6.00, roughly the same as a McDonald’s combo meal. If you need any more incentive to check out the cafe, consider that banh mi is the only food they serve. I asked for a menu after I ordered my meal and was greeted with bemused stares, because there is no menu. And I’m not even sure of the cafe’s hours, when asked I was told simply that they closed when they ran out of food. How cool is that?
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on January 27, 2010
For sheer audacity, one can’t help but admire Applebee’s slogan that its customers are “eatin’ good in the neighborhood.” With 1600 restaurants in 49 states (one wonders who’s the lucky exception), Applebee’s not only has trademarked the phrase “There’s nothing like the neighborhood,” they also proudly proclaim “we’re everywhere you are,” apparently not noting the irony that neighborhood and being everywhere are near-perfect opposites, or that being “everywhere you are” makes them the Big Brother of casual dining.
In truth, I don’t harbor an animus against Applebee’s. What they do, they seem to do well enough, and I have plenty of friends, especially friends with small children, who look upon their restaurants as a godsend. But like so much of the marketing churned out by America’s industrial food producers, the idea that neighborhood and being everywhere are synonymous turns common sense on its head, and undermines the meaning of words and values that I hold dear. So while I will on occasion eat at Applebee’s if invited by friends, I draw the line at accepting their corporate redefinition of neighborhood.
Which brings me to my neighborhood, and to my two favorite local restaurants: Circa, located in Cazenovia, and the Red & White Cafe in DeRuyter. To better defend the notion that neighborhood is rooted in a sense of locality, I was joined by Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, author of the Cookin’ in the ‘Cuse blog and a writer for Edible Finger Lakes magazine, who has done as much as anyone to raise awareness of the many good local eateries, coffee bars, and food producers in and around Syracuse. We met last week for lunch at Circa, and then drove down to the Red & White Cafe for coffee and dessert. Together, the good food and company reinforced my belief that the community of local food producers, restaurants, vendors and consumers, like the idea of neighborhood itself, is inherently precious and worth defending.
If Circa didn’t already exist, it would still be for me the normative ideal of what a neighborhood bistro should be: funky, friendly, and unassuming, with an oft-changing menu that reflects the singular vision of a talented chef and the seasonal availability of fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Such is Circa.
Opened in February 2006 by chef Alicyn Hart and her husband Eric Woodworth, Circa bills itself as a “new American bistro,” that works “with local farmers and regional artisans to create daily specials and a seasonal menu that changes weekly.” An increasing number of establishments these days make similar claims, but Circa walks the walk as well as talks the talk. I regularly pester Alicyn about the source of various ingredients, and to the best of my knowledge, every ingredient I have inquired about came from a local or regional farmer, cheesemaker, or producer: lamb from Meadowood Farm in Cazenovia, fresh herbs from Fresh Herbs of Fabius, terrifically flavorful, free-range chickens from Ingallside Meadow Farm of Canastota, etc. Working with these fabulous ingredients, Alicyn combines a minimalist touch that allows the quality of the ingredients to speak for themselves, with a culinary artist’s sensibility, so that every dish, whether a bowl of soup or a dinner entrée, is simply prepared and yet more than the sum of its parts.
For lunch, Jennifer and I began with the cheese plate appetizer ($10.00), which featured very generous portions of Old Chatham’s Hudson Valley Camembert and Ewe’s Blue, a decadently rich, sheep’s milk blue cheese, two “Dutch-style” semi-soft cheeses from Dutch Girl, an artisanal cheesemaker out of Leonardsville, including an aged 100% goat’s milk cheese, and my personal favorite, a crumbly, full-flavored Tilsit from the Brovetto Dairy Farm of Harpersfield, NY, which was washed in Ommegang Ale.
For our lunch entrées, Jennifer ordered the daily special, a grilled panini sandwich of sliced chicken breast, avocado, and field greens served on home-baked bread ($7.00), while I ordered the cup of soup and 1/2 sandwich combo ($7.00) The soup, a parsnip and root vegetable purée, was thick and delicious, with a silky smooth texture. The chicken (I also ordered the daily special), was tender and flavorful, with a slight gaminess that immediately reminds you that free-range, farm-raised chicken tastes nothing like the flavorless, chicken-like product found in most supermarkets.
After lunch, we drove down to the Red & White Cafe in DeRuyter, a small town 15 miles south of Cazenovia on Route 13, about halfway between Cazenovia and Cortland. The drive, I promised Jennifer, was well worth the trip, as the cafe itself was not only physically beautiful, but featured some of best coffee and homemade baked goods to be had anywhere in Central New York.
The Red & White Cafe, opened in September, 2008 by Christine & Jeffrey Glave after a year-long remodeling, was once, as the name suggests, a Red & White Market. Christine, whose family were dairy farmers in Lincklaen, has deep culinary roots in the Syracuse area, having earned a degree in restaurant and hospitality management at Morrisville State College, and worked at the Hotel Syracuse, Pastabilities, and Syracuse University.
Jeffrey, a scenic artist working in television and movie production, did a remarkable job designing the cafe’s interior, which combines a small-town, rustic esthetic, including a wealth of vintage advertising tins, with modern lighting. The result is a large, homey space that invites one to settle in for an extended visit with a cup of the cafe’s stunningly good coffee (from Coffee Mania of Cortland), and a book or laptop (both Circa and the Red & White Cafe offer free Wi-Fi).
I’ve enjoyed a number of good meals here, especially the breakfasts, which include generous slices of Chris’s delicious home-baked breads. The soups are also particularly good. But what really makes this cafe unique, and what keeps me coming back again and again, is the coffee, which gives Sugar Pearl Cafe a run for the area’s best brew, and the baked goods. In addition to the breads – wheat, Italian, pumpernickel, white, rye, and cinnamon raisin – which are also available by the loaf, Chris turns out an impressive assortment of muffins, scones, pies, cookies, meringues, and marshmallows, all of which are homemade and freshly baked on the premises. Her brownies, which are made with Ghirardelli chocolate, are alone worth the drive.
Circa, which celebrates its four year anniversary this February, is open for lunch and dinner, Tuesday through Saturday, from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and is located at 76 Albany Street in Cazenovia. In addition to selling locally produced eggs, cheeses, dairy products, meats, and vegetables as they are available, Circa also hosts a local farmer’s market, which will meet next on Saturday, February 27th, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. For reservations or further information call 315-655-8768 or visit Circa’s website.
The Red & White Cafe, which is located at 1692 Albany Street in DeRuyter, is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week, Sunday through Thursday from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. At present, the breakfast and lunch menu, as well as the daily specials, are served all day, although Chris says she is planning to add a dinner menu in the near future. The Red & White Cafe also features live music from some of the region’s best local artists twice monthly on Friday evenings. This Friday, January 29, the Serious Dudes, a local acoustic roots band will perform. For more information, call 315-852-2016, or visit the cafe’s website.