Taking advantage of the first Restaurant Week of 2006, we checked out Rasika (which has a very cool Web site designed by From Scratch). It's nicely appointed, not too flashy and not staid, located in the 7th Street/Chinatown area. Side note: that area has become pretty lively in the past few years!
The menu was decent, and I chose the palak chaat, the black cod, and the walnut kulfi with figs. Yum. Make that double yum. The palak chaat (crispy spinach) salad amazed me. The spinach was quicky fried and topped with a date chutney. So delicious. However, that was nothing compared to the black cod. From the description, it sounded a bit standard but it was anything but standard. At once sweet and tangy and cooked perfectly and the caraway seeds went so well. I'd never considered using caraway like they did but now I will. Sweetie had a the tawa fish appetizer, the chicken makhani (I thought it had a nice raisin-like flavor) and the bread and butter pudding, which obviously used fresh cream and sultanas. The flavor was so delicate, I couldn't quite figure it out until he discovered a sultana in the pudding. S also had the same appetizer that I did and the same dessert, but her entree was lamb dahiwala - quite spicy lamb with a little ginger. We shared a bottle of viognier (I'm pretty sure that's what it was?). It was fantastic, all around. We're definitely going back.
Before dinner, I stopped by to see St at work., since I was going to be in his neck of the woods. We then hit Urban Outfitters, where I made the discovery of The Rise and Fall t-shirts. They are very nice line-drawing collages, not unlike those in Max Ernst's Hundred Headless Woman, although a little simpler and with more mirror images.
( 01:47 EH | jet set style. mmm food. )