One of the most revelatory parts of Padma Lakshmi’s new memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate doesn’t involve famous novelists or glamorous modeling gigs, but her precise definition of what she calls chaatpati, the umami-like twang of Indian-style deliciousness that helped shape Lakshmi’s tastes as a child. “When a snack combined saltiness, tartness, sweetness, and spiciness in that magical, mouth-smacking proportion,” she writes, “then that snack had chaatpati.” Much like charisma, you either have chaatpati, or you don’t. And some of the best dishes at Indian Accent, a new restaurant expanding on Indian fine dining in New York, have it. Indian Accent, the Delhi-based fine dining...
↧