The chef and owner is Nardos Alemu, who used to run a restaurant living back in Ethiopia. The interior is warm and inviting, with tables along the wall and a small setup for coffee preparation. There's a bar toward the back with counter seating and TV viewing, where patrons can sip iced tea or Ethiopian beers like Meta and Habesha.
For starters, Germain's Good Feather sandwich comprises chicken thighs dredged in seasoned pizza dough flour and carbonated club soda. As chef Germain explains, "Instead of a buttermilk, you're gonna get that high-level crisp on it." From there, the cutlet gets double-fried for an extra crispy exterior and succulent insides. To finish, the whole thing gets slathered in a house-made garlic Parmesan sauce, plus another layer of secret sauce, topped with arugula, tomato, house pickles, and served with a side of fries.
Those cheese and topping-doused tortilla chips that we know as nachos are one of the greatest snacking foods ever invented. They originated in northern Mexico in a town called Piedras Negras, located right on the Mexico-United-States border, back in the 1940s. The original version was reportedly topped with cheese and jalapeños (an excellent combination, if you ask us), but these days, nachos at your favorite Mexican restaurant can come topped with a slew of ingredients ranging from ground beef, salsa, and scallions.
On the warm, rounded tables of thick slab oak, chef Anand Singh - who earned fine dining credentials at Rosewood Las Ventanas in Cabo San Lucas - serves folded raw hamachi slices topped with tiny dabs of curry and a maroon-colored pool of tamarind ponzu that wouldn't feel out of place at a Nobu. A proper spoon swipe indents a celeriac puree topped with edamame and microgreens next to a portion of banana leaf-roasted Chilean sea bass.
Mount Everest Deli and Grocery in Ridgewood serves food that borders on fusion: saucy, bright red tandoori chicken heroes; bacon, egg and cheese paratha wraps. But you have to get the Jhol momo. It's a tall tub of dumplings sloshing around in a spicy, tomato-based broth. Part of the fun of eating it is scooping up these massive chicken-filled dumplings with a little plastic deli spoon.
For me, the light bulb moment was the steak frites croissant. I was scrolling Instagram when the golden brown pastry popped onto my phone screen, a hunk of steak poking out from between its lifted layers and a few peppered fries sitting on a smear of sauce on top. I couldn't look away, transfixed by this creation from Houston croissanterie Shakkar. I realized that savory croissants across the country had escaped all limits of tradition.
You could make a strong case that lasagna is the most popular Italian dish ever, or at least in head-to-head competition with spaghetti. It's versatile, beloved, and easy to experiment with, so there's no reason not to play with the recipe. It's a great canvas for exploring new flavors. For that reason, if you're looking for an unexpected umami twist, try making your next lasagna with some miso.
Chang Pai Chinese is a Bangladeshi Chinese restaurant in Ozone Park that also makes a few Thai dishes. (Actually, their tom yum soup is pretty delicious.) The casual corner spot, which you'll spot right away because of the large bubble tea cut outs plastered to the windows out front, has all your standard Chinese takeout options like hot and sour soup and sesame chicken.
Looking at Lunchables today, with its somewhat slimy bologna and sad little pizza crusts, it is hard to picture the kind of "cool factor" that Lunchables had. But its cachet in the cafeteria in the '90s was almost like a fashion accessory. The yellow box, often adorned with characters from the latest popular TV show or movie, was seemingly everywhere. Though the food itself - sodium-packed lunch meat - was nothing to write home about, its packaging and marketing made it highly desirable for kids. Lunchables also came with a juice pouch and a piece of candy, which could feel like an absolute feast for elementary schoolers.
We both are fusion too. Being honest these days, most of the people are fusion. Today's generation we're a blend, we can eat anything, accept anything as long as we like it.
