Aachi’s, Moksha and Malgudi Revisited

 

UPDATE August, 2008 : Malgudi , surprisingly, closed down a month or so ago. It seemed to be doing very well , (the dining room was always packed)and then suddenly it was gone, I’m not sure exactly when. Bawarchi is supposed to open in the same location but hadn’t opened it’s doors the last time we checked. Please confirm that it is open for business before you decide to check it out.

A few months ago I had written about the lunch buffets at three Edison restaurants. Aachi’s was lauded for it’s ” Great food, Great Prices”, Moksha was described as ” Good Food,Good Ambience but pricey” and Malgudi I described as one of my favorites. I have since been to all three of these restaurants, more than once, and I have to update my assessments because they have changed in the interim.

Moksha : After my initial visit, I had said that  Moksha was a bit pricey ( $13 weekdays, $15 weekends )  but that the ambience was  superior and  that the food was  authentic if limited .  We went again on a Saturday and liked the food even more than we had earlier. The great thing about Moksha is that it seems to have a wide repertoire of dishes so that each time it’s like a new experience. Unlike our previous visit, there were appetizers, two of them, including some excellent vegetable cutlets. The vegetarian dishes were scrumptious particularly the beans , the curried potatoes and the parpu. No complaints about the non-veg dishes either.  I liked Moksha’s practice of serving hot freshly prepared parathas and dosas to diners; ready made parathas just aren’t the same. For dessert there were watermelon chunks, melon and canteloupe balls and a delectable payasam.  The buffet is attractively laid out and is a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds. Service is efficient and attentive; empty plates are whisked away promptly and water glasses filled regularly. A good experience and worth the extra money.

Malgudi: is a place I’ve been to more often than any other  and the food has been consistently good. It has a large array of dishes, mostly south Indian but with some North Indian staples such as tandoori chicken. The weekend  buffet has several appetizers usually including pani puri, bhajias, potato tikkis and chicken kebabs. The veg and non-veg dishes are all well prepared and there is a fair amount of variety though not as much as at Moksha.There are two desserts , one hot , one cold as well as  a fruit bowl. Service is brisk and friendly.  I don’t remember the price but think it is around $9.95 during the week and $ 11.95 on weekends.If you haven’t been to Malgudi before you might have a little difficulty finding it since it is not visible from OakTree Road being located behind Shezan restaurant.

Aachi’s which we liked so much on our first two visits has been a sore disappointment recently. We have since been there three times , once on a weekend, twice during the week. While individual dishes are still very good, there is little variety, the number of dishes has been drastically cut down and the buffet is hardly inviting the way it is laid out. We were there this afternoon and it was a very forgettable experience. There were only two vegetarian curries ( a very plain dry mung bean preparation and a tasty eggplant gravy) , the same two chicken dishes that we’ve seen on every visit ( Chettinad Chicken and Chicken Karaikudi ; both good  but by now boring), a  tasty sambar , rasam , pickle, pappadams, three kinds of rice , a stack of ready made parathas. Diners are also served a freshly prepared dosa each.The appetizer was oily onion bhajias which had fallen apart. Dessert was an excellent moong dal payasam. At  $ 7.95 weekdays, Aachi’s buffet is bargain priced but I would rather spend a little more and treat myself to the buffet at Moksha or Malgudi. The people at Aachi’s are very nice and I would love to see them succeed; I do hope they are able to right things and bring Aachi’s back to it’s previous standards.

 Moksha. 1655 OakTree Road , Edison NJ 08820 . (732) 947-3010. Closed Mondays.

 Malgudi. 1671 OakTree Road, Edison, N.J 08820. (732) 635-2020. Closed Mondays

Aachi’s Authentic Chettinad/ South Indian Restaurant 128 Talmadge Road, Edison Commerce Center, Edison, NJ 08817. (732) 287-0570/ (7320 287-0597. Closed Mondays. BYOB.

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Eating is a Sport ?

Eating contests are not new. Nathan’s Hot Dog eating competition goes all the way back to 1916. Pie eating contests at carnivals and eating competitions involving green stuff ( green donuts, jalapenos etc. ) on St. Patrick’s Day go back a long, long time. Participants at such contests competed for the fun of it and winners didn’t gain much more than honor. And a bellyfull , of course.

This has all changed; eating contests are a serious business now. Sports Illustrated carries articles about them and they are even televised by ESPN. Prize money runs into the thousands of dollars , big eaters compete on a regular circuit of events and there is  a governing body for the ‘sport’ – the International Federation of Competitive Eating ( IFOCE).

I think the change began with the arrival on the scene of  Japanese eaters , particularly with the stunning debut of Takeru Kobayashi at the 2001 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest.This contest is the grandaddy of all eating contests having been held for the first time in 1916 when James Mullen downed 13 hotdogs and buns ( HDB’s) in the regulation 12 minutes. The record was upped very gradually and was still around 20 well into the 1990′s. The Japanese started entering the competition in the mid- 1990′s with Hirofumi Nakajima winning in 1997 ( 24 1/2 HDB’s) and Kazutoyo ‘ the Rabbit’ Arai in 2000       ( 25 1/2 HDB’s). Kobayashi , a 22 year old who weighed only 135 lbs., won the 2001 contest scoffing up 50 1/2  HDB’s in 12 minutes. He almost doubled the previous ‘world record’. Think of it. It would be comparable to someone running the mile in 2 minutes the year after Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute barrier. ‘ Tsunami’ Kobayashi ( love those nicknames) won the Nathan’s contest every year until this year, 2007, when he was finally dethroned by Joey ‘ Jaws’ Chestnut, a 23 year old civil engineering student from San Diego, who won by eating 66 hotdogs to Kobayashi’s 63.

Eating contests were for fun; they used to be for fun. Not any more. The winner of the Nathan’s competition used to have the honor of keeping the ‘mustard yellow’ championship belt for a year. This year, however, Joey Chestnut pocketed $10,000 for winning, Koabayashi got $5,000 for placing second. The total prize money doled out by Nathan’s was $ 20,000. Fifty thousand people watched the event live and 1.5 million saw  it on ESPN.

Overall, the IFOCE distributed over $ 350,000 in prize money at various eating competitions last year. There were contests for eating conch fritters, hanburgers, butter, mayonnaise, cow brains ( ugh! ), cabbage, pulled pork, chicken wings, cheesecake, oysters, pizza,fruitcake, bratwurst, crabcakes … and the list goes on and on. Kobayashi is the unquestioned star of the circuit but Sonya (The Black Widow)Thomas is coming on strong.  A petite Korean- American who weighs only 105 lbs , Ms. Thomas ( 39) is single and works in the fast food business. Some of her feats are eating 11 lbs. of cheesecake in 9 minutes, downing 80 chicken McNuggets in 5 minutes and polishing off 65 hardboiled eggs in 6 minutes and 40 seconds.Last year she earned over $ 50,000 on the eating circuit. Joey Chestnut has some impressive credentials too. He’s devoured 7 1/2 lbs of Buffalo chicken wings in 12 minutes, 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes and 9.6 lbs of pulled pork in 12 minutes.

These are mindboggling numbers. I ‘ll concede that eating contests are competitions and that these records are all feats of a sort. I do however draw the line at calling them ‘athletic feats’ and at designating competitive eating as a sport.

To my way of thinking , sport is played by trained athletes, is beautiful to watch and those who watch are in some way ennobled by what they have seen. None of these things apply to competitive eating.Pushing oneself to gobble up 20 hamburgers isn’t ‘training’ and watching these athletes compete is nauseating. The Nathan’s Competition rules flatly state that ” Table manners are not part of the game.” and ” Both hands may be used”. During the contest, accidents do happen as competitors (or ‘ gurgitators’ as they are known ) sometimes regurgitate as they try to force food down their gullets. The competitors are more like carnival freaks than ‘ athletes’.

At one time, it is true I used to think these contests were fun. That was when the contestants didn’t take themselves seriously and were out merely to have a good time. I remember a tongue -in – cheek article in which some American contenders allegedly complained that Kobayashi had an unfair advantage because he was using ” secret Oriental mind control techniques” to relax his stomach muscles and increase his stomach capacity. Another article spoke about their determination to bring the mustard yellow championship belt back home to where it belonged , the United States. With the advent of prize money, the fun has gone out of competitive eating .. atleast as far as I am concerned.

A greter concern is the effect these contests have on  health, that of the competitors and more importantly, the general public. Eating contests used to be popular on Japanese TV in the early nineties but went of the air after a couple of deaths from overeating. It is no coincidence that the the Japanese presence at U,S eating contests occured shortly thereafter. Kobayashi started out at 135 lbs but is now listed at 165 ; some sources even have him as high as 185 lbs. To be sure, some of this is muscle as he has consciously bulked up in order to increase his metabolism but I’m sure all of this has to affect his health. One can’t routinely eat 6000 calories a day , as Sonya Thomas does, and not have any ill effects from it.

What is really of concern is the effect that all this has on American attitudes towards food and eating. Big eaters are looked up to and big portions are in. One restaurant in the Midwest features a 72 oz. steak. Eat it in a set amount of time ( 6 hours , I think ) and it’s on the house. Fast food chains offer bigger and bigger packages. We’re used , by now, to McDonald’s and BugerK ing and their super-sized meals. However , SubWay which used to pride itself as a healthy alternative , now offers an extra large sandwich and has a commercial showing the different ways of tackling it.

This week , a news article stated that the average American life span fell slightly to just over  77 years , 40th or so among all nations. One of the two major reasons for it’s decline is obesity which brings with it a host of ills including diabetes and heart disease.

I was not surprised. 

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Thank you, Roger Federer

I have always been an admirer of modesty in athletes. I root for  players whose artistry is marked by quiet efficiency rather than braggadacio, those who  wear their celebrity lightly. As a fan, I preferred Arthur Ashe to Ilie Nastase, Bjorn Borg to Jimmy Connors, Tim Duncan to Shaquille O’Neal, Derek Jeter to A-Rod, Hank Aaron to Barry Bonds. I appreciated Dennis Rodman’s rebounding ability even as I deplored his  antics on and off the court. 

 Though I never got to see him play, Joe DiMaggio was a hero to me as much for his quiet dignity as for the effortless grace he displayed in patrolling centerfield for the Yankees. I did see him once, long after his playing days were over.  Back in the early eighties,I was walking in mid-town Manhattan when  a man rushed across the street brandishing an autograph book. He  approached a tall white-haired figure , immaculately dressed in a blue pin striped suit, emerging from a limo. It was Joe DiMaggio! Smilingly, he obliged the autograph seeker, no doubt making the man’s day.

Twentyfive years later, I still remember the force of Joe’s personality, his class.

There weren’t too many like him, which is perhaps just as well because the American public seems to prefer it’s sporting icons to be loud and flamboyant and ‘colorful’. To some extent, I can understand the fascination with flash and razzle-dazzle ; it is certainly exciting to watch . But why dismiss a player like Pete Sampras as ‘ dull’  or ‘boring’ instead of admiring his strokes,his court coverage and the fighting spirit  that propelled him to 14 Grand Slam titles. 

But perhaps I am being unfair in expecting athletes to be modest. After all, when they go up against others in a game situation, they have to tell themselves that they are better than the opposition, that they are the best. Without a huge ego , they would not be able to dominate opponents. Much of the trash talking and posturing is to pump themselves up for the upcoming confrontation or to intimidate their rivals. Sometimes, it’s also to get themselves in the news and build up their persona, all the better to attract lucrative endorsements.It’s unfortunate that youngsters see their heroes behave thusly and then use them as role models.

And then, just when I had told myself that it was unreasonable to expect modesty in an athlete, I read this piece in Bob Larson’s Tennis News …

“Last week, Roger Federer was in Horgen, Switzerland and dropped in at exclusive restaurant, L’O, located at the shore of Lake Zurich. He came with 5 people, and they had no reservation. As the tables were either full or empty but reserved, restaurant management sent him away. They didn’t try to fit his party in, and Federer made no scene such as, “Don’t you know who I am?”

A couple of  people asked for autographs, and Federer complied with a smile and left. “

Can you imagine another superstar, any other superstar doing something like that ?

Thank you, Mr. Federer, for showing that it is possible to be a superstar and a gentleman.

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Rituals of Death in Thailand & ‘Funeral Casinos’

The Thais have a unique take on what happens to the soul after death and hence their funeral customs are quite different from most everybody else.My nephew works for a multinational  and is currently posted in Bangkok. On a recent visit , he told me about the time he had to represent the company at the ‘funeral’ of a colleague who had passed away. He expected it to be a solemn occasion  but when he arrived at the deceased’s apartment  the atmosphere was anything but grim. The deceased was lying in a coffin and guests would go over and pay their respects but the atmosphere was almost partylike. He was also told that the actual disposal of the body was several days away, quite unlike most other cultures where the cremation or burial takes place  within 24 hours of death.

By coincidence, I happened to be reading a novel set in Thailand and it casts some light on Thai rituals and beliefs about death. Like many other Eastern cultures, the Thais believe in the transmigration of souls. They believe that , when a person dies the soul ,suddenly deprived of it’s body, feels a certain ‘separation anxiety’ and  is understandably disoriented. It still feels a connection with it’s living relatives  and doesn’t want to be alone. It is the duty of the family to surround the deceased with as many people as possible until the soul has found a new home and is reborn.Hence the long duration of the wake which can last several weeks. All very logical and understandable.

( According to the novel), this has resulted in the phenomenon of ‘ funeral casinos’.  In order to keep friends coming to the house day after day for several weeks some bereaved families buy a few roulette wheels and offer a private gambling service. The profits are used by the bereaved spouse to pay for the funeral expenses, the monks, the food and other costs and to help tide the family through this difficult period. As I said I read about this in a book of fiction so I’ve no idea if this practice is widespread. The book makes it appear that it is not uncommon and that the police regularly raid such ‘funeral casinos’.

To our Western sensibilities this may sound a little ghoulish but is it really ? I’ve read of several recent funerals, where the deceased had dictated that the funeral was to be one last grand party and that it was to be a fun occasion. In one instance the funeral party was held on a large party boat and at it’s conclusion, the cremains were scattered into the sea.

A final thought: If indeed the deceased’s ghost is wandering about in it’s familiar surroundings what do you think it would prefer —- A solemn occasion with people crying OR a fun happening at which one’s closest friends were having a good time eating and drinking and gambling even as they remembered the dear departed ?

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Death by Pad Thai (and other Unforgettable Meals)

I love books. I love food. I LOVE reading about food.If you are like me ( or even if you aren’t) you’ll love reading this book. You don’t have to be a foodie to enjoy it.

“ Death by Pad Thai“ consists of twenty different takes on ‘unforgettable’ meals – meals made memorable not just because of the food but by the occasion. Except for  Jane and Michael Stern, who contribute separate pieces, none of the others are food writers per se. They are short story writers, novelists, poets and college professors. As a result, their efforts are more nuanced and do not concentrate solely on  food. Some of the writers are well known ( Peter Mayle, Richard Russo); others ( Henri Cole, Michelle Huneven) not as well known , at least to me. All of them , however, write delightfully.

 The meals they describe are as different as they can  possibly be.Richard Russo tells us how he and his wife, Barbara, celebrated the acceptance for publication of his first book by taking the train to New York City for ‘Surf and Turf’ — they had pan seared scallops at the Top of the Sixes and then repaired to a legendary steakhouse for steak. Jane Stern writes about the first Thanksgiving meal when she prepared  a thirty-five pound turkey for four people. (Thirty five pounds !) In ‘My life in food’ Ann Packer describes the role of food and cooking in the different phases of her life, youth, college , boyfriends, marriage and now, divorced.

 The only essay that left me with mixed feeling was the title piece ” Death by Lobster Pad Thai” by Steve Almond. Not because of the quality of the writing, ( Almond writes very well ) but because of the wretched excess that it condones. Almond’s pals, Tom and Scott use four four lb. lobsters ( almost six pounds of lobster meat) in making their pad thai. That they would use so much lobster ( or even any lobster) to make a simple noodle dish smacks, to me , of decadence.

But perhaps I am being too nit-picky.The stories are all well-written and enjoyable, served up with lashings of humor and you’ll enjoy each and every one of them.

Death by Pad Thai. edited by Douglas Baer.Paperback. Three Rivers Press. (2006) $13.95.

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Richistan : A highly interesting read

The subtitle of this book by Robert Frank  is ” A Journey through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich ” and it is certainly a fascinating journey. Most articles or TV shows about the rich tend to concentrate on their possessions , their houses , their cars  and their lifestyle. This book goes beyond that. While it does devote some chapters to yachts and balls and ‘household managers’, it also introduces us to some of the megarich, how they got that way and their fears ( which are very much like yours and mine).

The premise of the book is that the very rich have created their own society within a society, a parallel country ( Richistan ) of their very own . Richistan is divided into three levels : Lower Richistan ( Household Net Worth $ 1 million to $10 million ; population 7.5 million households), Middle Richistan ( $ 10 million to $ 100 million ; 2 million households ) and Upper Richistan ( $ 100+ million ; thousands of households ). Lower Richistanis are looked down upon  by the other two groups as ” not rich, merely affluent” and as representing ” not wealth, merely competence”.They are really not that different from the rest of us  except that they live in bigger homes , drive fancy cars and have better furniture; their mindset is similar to ours.  The book devotes more space to the Upper and Middle Richistanis who are quite different and therefore more interesting to us.

The toys and lifestyles of these mega-rich are described in some detail but, to me, the most interesting thing is how these ‘ fortunate’ few view themselves and their motivations for the choices they make.These people are quite different from the frugal millionaires described by Thomas Stanley and William Danko in ” The Millionaire Next Door“; those probably would be classified as Lower Richistanis by author Robert Frank. Unlike Old Money millionaires, most  Richistanis are self -made multimillionaires; workaholic, younger and more actively involved. The Upper & Middle Richistanis live large, splashing their money around on large yachts, fleets of cars, huge houses,  glittering charity balls and so on. But these pursuits are often  attempts at ‘ keeping up with the Joneses’ and sometimes backfire spectacularly. When Microsoft millionaire Paul Allen commissioned his $ 250 million, 400+ foot long yacht ‘ Octopus’, he didn’t forsee that it would be too large for conventional marinas and that he would have to dock in commercial ports next to rusty freighters and oily sky cranes ! After all , the whole purpose of having a mega yacht is to be able to park next to other lesser yachts and lord it over their owners. All in all , these possessions seem to give Richistanis  very little lasting pleasure. It is amusing to find that even some of these megarich are afraid that their money is not enough and that they are sliding down the financial ladder !

To me, the two most interesting chapters are the ones on charitable pursuits( Performance Philanthrophy)  and political involvement ( Move over, Christian Coalition). Particularly fascinating is the story of Philip Berber, a 45 year old Jewish Irishman from Austin, Texas who is using half his fortune to provide wells, schools and health clinics to the impoverished villages of Ethiopia. In doing so, he shows established charities and NGO’s how to distribute aid efficiently and effectively. Politically, Richistanis are surprisingly liberal and provide an effective counterweight to the Conservatives of the Christian Right. There are many more surprises in ” Richistan” but you can find them out for yourselves.

 Richistan by Robert Frank. Crown ( 2007) $ 24.95.

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