chai on lex – follow the yellow taxi cabs
Surviving last week, freezing cold on a stroll up Lexington, I stopped in ‘Little India’ for a cup of hot chai and samosas.
The neighborhood of “Little India” runs up Lexington Avenue between 26th and 30th Streets (Subway 6 to 28th Street.) The neighborhood where restaurants are named for gods and spices, yellow taxi’s double-parked and steamy windows line the blocks from all-day buffets. It’s the first “Little India” before cheaper rents drew Indian communities to Jackson Heights and the Lower East Side. Chai is offered nearly everywhere, to either stay in or take out.
The word Chai translates to “tea,” and refers to boiling black tea, spices and milk together. It’s labor intensive for restaurants – they make it in large vats, strain and keep it hot all day. Samosas, savory pastries stuffed with potatoes, vegetables, chickpeas and sometimes meat are the perfect match to sweet, spicy chai.
Pulling open the door of Curry In A Hurry, I breathe in a cloud of cumin, cardamom and clove. It is a casual restaurant with a deli style counter with take-out or cafeteria style dining upstairs. Employees greet with “what would you like?” within seconds of arriving. Aging photos of dishes light up the menu board; platters come with a complementary salad bar.
In India, families have their own chai recipe – usually connected to the type of tea and spices growing locally. Asking friends from Indian, Pakistan and Bangledesh about recipes, they all agree it must have cardamom. Some warn me, as a woman, not to have it too spicy – as it leads to ‘wildness.’ Never has anyone elaborated on this.
I order the usual. The waiter pulls out a paper cup, turns to a dingy metal dispenser and bends the spigot. He asks if I’d like sugar ‘it’s very strong.’ Another waiter hands me a plate of samosas on a plastic tray. I walk upstairs, following the sounds of strumming sitars and Hindi love songs, and find a table in the kaleidoscope of TV’s playing Bollywood films.
I sip, spices weight my tongue, steam gushes out flaky samosas as I pull them open. Spices, to many to count, engage my senses – and I secretly wish for the forewarned ‘wildness’ that the meeting of cardamom and cumin brings.
Curry In A Hurry, 28th and Lexington. Chai and Samosa: $4.00
