Devi

Went to the new hot Indian food spot named Devi in midtown this past Friday with the following host of characters: John "The General" Lee, Dr. Feel Good and a new person who I had never met, Jasmine.

Before I get to the great experience that I had at Devi, I think I should tell you about the pre-feast. When eating with The General you get use to eating way too much. It can be anywhere...Chinatown at 4:00 am or Koreatown at 4:30 am either way he orders too much food. In comes Dr. Feel Good...my God this guy loves his food and has a palate range a huge as me and The General...not too many people have that range (o.k. so I punked out of the cauliflowers dish later on in the night...but I do eat tripe and fish eyes).

In any case, when at The General's apartment I figured I would have a glass of wine before Dr. Feel Good showed...why does The General always offer me a fresh bottle of wine when I get up to grab a drink? I'm like, the stuff that is open is perfectly fine...who cares if it's been there for two days? I guess this isn't proper edict with people who are in the know with wine...I'm like, give me anything as long as it goes down and tastes like wine I'm fine.

In any case, low and beyond Dr. Feel Good shows up with a six pack...no, not of beer but of cream-puffs....oh my god! This was just a warm-up!!! Why did he show with a sixer of cream-puffs? That's what foodies do, man. He picked them up because he was wondering if The General had ever had them before? He had...I hadn't...guess who ate two...which sat like a rock at the bottom of my stomach the rest of the night. I just wanted to tell you that they came in three flavors...pumpkin, green tea and regular. I'm not sure of the name of the place but it's right around the corner from Astor Wines and across the street from Gap (I don't get any royalties or advertisement fees from either Astor wines or Gap). Needless to say, this place was the bomb and I would visit everyday if I didn't live uptown...just to die for. Note to readers, bring me three when on my death bed...PLEASE!!!

O.K. so you are saying, wine and cream-puffs??? I say yes...without getting into too many details - I had some hunger. Not to mention, I had to do something while the boys made me watch this awful story on Ana Nicole's family back in Texas...no comment...it was worse than watching the OC.

So we walk into Devi and I felt like I was in prison. Serious!! All the busboys wear this orange jumpsuit that looks like those that the people picking up trash on the side of the freeway wear. It wasn't a scary thing or anything, it just threw me off a bit. I wonder who picked the gear and if was a part of the whole motif. The place was nice, clean lines, but they could have worked on the Indian motif a bit more...good but not great. In any case, we sat at the bar because like all Manhattan hot spots it was going to take 30 to 45 minutes to be seated...no problem we were still waiting for Jasmine to show.

We moved to the bar where Dr. Feel Good took over the duties of ordering drinks. One thing when you are with foodies that you have to remember, let them do the ordering. Can I put it down with the best of them...of course. Do I have a complex palate...of course I do...but I also know when to step aside and from early on I knew this was going to be a Dr. Feel Good night. So he took it upon himself to order us an Amleika. This is a drink that has blood orange and mango with Vodka. The drink was great and it reminded me of a mango lasi in terms of it's thickness. It's about here I start to count my drinks because I figure it's going to be a long night...two point five of wine and one Amleika...I'm good. Note: Joaquin sucks at drinking red wine...puts me over the top and quick. Dr. Feel Good felt a beer was a good following so in the honor and respect of the Indian culture we go with King Fisher. I can't remember what beer we agreed that it tasted like...but thinking back I think Sierra Nevada. It was a nice smooth beer and was served very cold...cool points in my book when a beer is served very cold.

Then a bottle of wine...great bottle and pick it up if you have the chance...2001 Provenance. I did mention early on that as long as it goes down I'm fine. But even in my buzz state of mind I knew we had a winner on the wine...great tasting and almost velvet smooth...no lie.

We were escorted to our table by the awesome manager named, Sunny. This guy had someone at our table the whole night. And when Dr. Feel Good told him, you pick the menu for our table and just keep bringing it out...he fielded a few questions as to our likes and dislikes and told us exactly what he was going to bring us and it was on.

1st. plate a spinach patty...small circle that was nice to get the tastebuds warmed up and ready to go. The brown sauce with this was silky smooth and lands a heavy counter to the light fluffy spinach patty.

2nd plate a stuffed chicken. Without a doubt my favorite dish of the night. Not sure how this chicken was made, but it was seasoned well with herbs and pepper and rolled and sliced. The chicken just fell apart in your mouth...you didn't even have to chew. Splendid. This was nothing like Tandori Chicken...totally diff.

3rd plate was Prong. Not sure what this was but it has some spice to it. Can't really recall this dish now...looking at my notes and they started to get a bit shaky here. I think the wine started to kick in.

4th plate was the cauliflowers...nuff said...didn't eat it due to a bad childhood experience.

5th plate was bread with ryta...it was really good...can't recall much of it.

6th plate was garlic nan. It was the first time I ever had garlic nan...tasted good but it had a bit too much butter or oil on it. I still thought the dish was great and not too thick like sometimes nan tends to be.

7th porkchops with Serrano Peppers...this had to be one of the best dishes. Nice and spicy like I love my food. The only problem I had with this plate is that they gave you all the peppers they used on the side. Not bad I guess, I just didn't want to eat cooked burned serrano peppers. I tried one but they just didn't have the taste for me. Wasn't sure why Doctor Feel Good said they tasted good? But the meat itself was nice and soft for a chop.

In closing, this place was one of the best places I have been to in the city in a while. Not only was the food great, the company was nice and the service was great. I really never put much thought into service to be honest. It's either good or bad for me...I don't really distinguish. But I have noticed when the manager/or chef comes over to make sure things are going well it makes the experience that much more better. I want to send a shout to Devi and of course my fellow eating crew for the night.