NYT: The 100 Best Restaurants in NYC 2023 - Aquavit, Adda, Dhamaka, and Semma join the prestigious list
Aquavit
The New Nordic spirit flickers occasionally in Emma Bengtsson’s kitchen, but the center of gravity is in classic Scandinavian ingredients like cucumber, dill, rye and of course delicately sweet seafood. Ms. Bengtsson started as a pastry chef, and her desserts are very gratifying, but even the savory dishes have a gentle spirit that can soothe frayed nerves.
Adda
Much of the restaurant business is governed by fear, and when a chef leaves that fear behind, amazing things can happen. Adda is where Chintan Pandya started cooking like a man with nothing to lose; the slashing, trumpets-blaring flavors he whips up there set the standard for all the restaurants his Unapologetic Foods group opened later. Fresh green chiles and ginger in the bheja fry make it a goat-brain curry to remember; whole roast fish has a crust of crushed mustard seeds that almost stings. But the most ferocious dish of all may be the goat biryani cooked, Lucknow style, under a pastry crust; it’s so spicy that servers don’t just bring you a dish of yogurt but advise you to keep it in arm’s reach.
Dhamaka
Following an old Rajasthani recipe, Dhamaka cooks one rabbit a day in a sealed clay pot for six hours and serves it alongside its skull and kidneys. Demand has been so high that you have better odds of buying a winning scratch-off lottery ticket, but it’s nice to know the possibility exists. In the meantime, there are Gujarati-style sweet peppers filled with peanuts and chickpea flour masala; dogfish stew with turmeric broth from Kolkata; and gooey pigs’ head salad spritzed with lime, cilantro and fresh chiles, the way they do it in Meghalaya.
Semma
Vijay Kumar takes us back to South India and the state where he was raised, Tamil Nadu. Snails are quickly fried with tamarind; venison shank is braised with star anise and black stone flower, a lichen that tastes the way the forest floor smells; semisoft goat intestines are enriched by a thick curry sweetened with coconut milk and caramelized onions. His dosa dusted with fiery gunpowder spice and his flaky, pull-apart parotta are, in different ways, master classes in the uses of crunchiness. Mr. Kumar’s cooking is clearly grounded in experience, but also has the sense of wonder we can feel about home after we’ve left.
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