Quick Bites: Devi's Restructured Menu

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  January 5, 2009]

British ex-patriates suffer periodic cravings for a good Indian meal.  In Manhattan, that usually means Devi, and there I repaired with some fellow exiles between Christmas and New Year.

Unless, of course, by "good Indian meal" you mean a big curry - you know, chicken vindaloo, pilau rice, onion bhaji and a pint of lager.  In which case, there are some serviceable East Village options.

Devi's menu, a mélange of kicked-up street snacks - mainly vegetable based - tandoori and grill dishes, and interesting hints of Indo-American fusion, is ambitious and reliably executed by chef Hemant Mathur.  I reviewed it in full just over a year ago.

It suffices, then, to remind everyone that the joint is still there and still good; and to note a few changes.  The fried chicken with spicy slaw and potato salad is now fried quail (when did that become a trend? Fried quail is all over town these days).   I asked co-owner Suvir Saran about this dish last time I ran into him.  Would he call it fusion?  Not really, he said, it was just the kind of food he grew up eating.

The breaded short ribs have departed from the menu, and I also miss the chili-spiked brain bruschetta which was on the menu when the restaurant opened - although I suppose it wasn't everyone's idea of a snack.  Delicious it was, though.

The main change, though, is to the structure of the menu.  Devi had always offered a carte, and two set tastings - one vegetarian, one not.  The approach now is to list every dish individually (about twenty of them, plus sides and extras), and then offer a series of flexible formules - as the French say.  You can select an appetizer and entrée, any three dishes, any four dishes, (plus dessert) or put yourself in Hemant's hands for an $85 chef's tasting.  This is a shrewd, user-friendly approach.

I tried a dish I hadn't noticed on the menu before, a chicken and egg roast attributed to the region of Kerala.  Our charming server noted that this was a dry curry; in fact, the chicken itself was exceptionally moist, cooked just to the point of being done and not a moment more.  One of my companions observed that the two egg garnish was perhaps a case of over-egging the chicken.  Certainly I got my protein for the day.

I had started with the crisp salmon-crab cakes and also tasted the shrimp-calamari frito misto - another new dish as far as I was concerned.  With breads, crunchy okra, aloo sag and desserts this would have been ample meal, but our party was "spotted" and the kitchen, with characteristuic generosity, sent out some extra dishes - the signature Manchurian cauliflower, a tandoori halibut, and so on.  

A short list of artisanal beers, mainly European, has been added to the wines, but we resolutely and ungratefully stuck with Kingfisher.  A pleasing meal.