The first time I hosted Thanksgiving, it was actually the day AFTER Thanksgiving. So, we decided to spice things up a bit by re-imagining the traditional holiday meal, southwestern style. Accordingly, we served up turkey fajitas, salsa and chips, cornbread stuffing and pumpkin flan. It was perfect and well received.
Now that my parents are retired and living in Florida, my husband’s and my new tradition is making reservations at a nice restaurant that offers up some version of the customary menu (it is the only time of the year that I eat turkey), but not too traditional or limited since hubby could care less about the traditional fare.
In a similar twist to that first Thanksgiving dinner, this year we were enticed by the prix fixe menu presented by Indian Accent, which offered up a multi-course meal featuring the usual suspects, but, (pardon the pun) with an Indian accent (see menu below). The restaurant has three locations: New York, New Delhi and London and prides itself on reinterpreting traditional Indian cuisine.
A friend had mentioned that the restaurant’s cocktails were outstanding (they were), but we were even more pleased with the jewel of a wine list curated by sommelier, Edwin J. Davila. Both wide ranging and eclectic, there were a significant number of delicious options under $100 and many under $75, which was wonderful. With Edwin’s guidance, we ordered the Sybille Kuntz Riesling Spatlese Trocken 2011 (Mosel, Germany), which was absolutely perfect with our dinner. Edwin noted that with the diversity of flavors and textures on the menu and no obvious geographic constraints (i.e. Italian fare with Italian wines), he was able to be very creative with his list. He also likes to make unusual marriages as evidenced by the vermouth he deliciously paired with the bacon kulcha.
INDIAN ACCENT THANKSGIVING MENU sesame chili sweet potato
sweet pickle ribs, sundried mango, onion seeds
mathri: duck khurchan or smoked eggplant bharta
***
roast turkey pinwheels, sage, paneer, chili tomato glaze
or
paneer and sage kofta, chili tomato glaze
served with
cumin maple Brussels sprout
tandoori cauliflower, spicy almond
kadhai potato, truffle cream
pumpkin and cranberry kulcha, sage butter
bacon kulcha, rosemary butter
christmas ham basmati pulao/ wild mushroom pulao
* * *
doda barfi treacle tart, vanilla bean ice cream
saffron pear petha, rice kheer, pecan candy