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224 East 10th Street
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Me and You   LOST GEM 1 Indian East Village

After my marvelous evening at Graffiti next door, I was eager to learn more about Me and You, Chef Jehangir Mehta’s latest venture which opened in December 2013. One of the only stand-alone private chef’s tables in the city, the minuscule private dining room – which seats between two to fourteen people – is an exciting innovation in customizable dining. There is no preset menu – instead, guests are invited to send an email informing Jehangir what they would like their experience to be built around. Be it a memory, an aroma, a single word, a favorite food...whatever it is, Jehangir will design a five to twelve course meal based on the concept. “It’s like Match.com for your palette,” he told me, excitedly.

The personable and immensely talented chef clearly pays close attention to detail, something reflected in the thoughtfully crafted dining space. Dim lights hang over a communal table set with artfully mismatched English china from his childhood in India, beautiful flower arrangements and wooden chairs, while paintings adorn the walls. The eclectic crockery, I learned, has been in Jehangir’s family for generations and “belonged to aunts, uncles, and grandparents.” Me and You is infused with Jehangir’s personal history and, past the tiny open kitchen, is the bathroom, where a chest hangs from the ceiling in broken pieces. Intrigued, I asked whether there was a story behind it and, not surprisingly, there was. “It’s the first chest I purchased when I opened Graffiti,” he tells me, “It’s a way to preserve history, to remind me how I started.”

Jehangir’s penchant for the unique means that an evening at Me and You is bound to be memorable. Therefore, my husband and I decided to invite our children and dearest friends to pull aside the thick curtain that hangs from the doorway, step into this magical space, and have each of us go wherever Jehangir took us – and, trust me, the journey was one to be remembered.

Chef Mehta, a wonderful, intelligent, and warm presence, compiled a delicate and elegant symphony of dishes that blew us away. With just a bit of guidance from me, he was able to bring out dish after dish that surprised us and left each guest speechless, groaning with pleasure, and smiling from ear to ear. We started with a stevia leaf salad that has a slightly sweet, mild flavor. He topped it with the simplest of dressings - just olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of acidity. He explained that the natural sweetness of the greens brought out that element - no need for added sugars. It was mixed with daikon pickled with chilies and garnished with puffed lentils. This simple dish along with the fresh, warm bread - slightly spicy strips that were somewhere between pita and focaccia - made for an excellent start to the evening - not to mention the endless filling of wine glasses.

Next, Chef Mehta presented a lightly smoked eggplant dish with green papaya. The course that followed was comprised of sauteed fingerling potatoes that were buttery and perfectly cooked topped with light-as-air dumplings and homemade cornflakes. A perfect combination of flavors and textures. The meat course was a rich, creamy chicken dish. Everyone simply gasped at their first bite - it was that unbelievable. And, Jehangir, ever the thoughtful gentleman, made a vegetarian version of the same dish for me. Dessert was a poached pear with a grapefruit ice cream topped with granola. Needless to say, we were in absolute heaven.

From the impeccable service, to the intimate atmosphere, to Chef Mehta's boundless hospitality, and, of course, the outstanding food, everyone stood up to leave, in a bit of a haze, not really believing what they had just experienced.

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Me and You   LOST GEM 1 Indian East Village
Me and You   LOST GEM 2 Indian East Village
Me and You   LOST GEM 3 Indian East Village
Me and You   LOST GEM 4 Indian East Village
Me and You   LOST GEM 5 Indian East Village

More Indian nearby

Lost Gem
Malai Marke 1 Indian undefined

Malai Marke

I had been nibbling my way across Curry Row on East 6th Street, trying out each of the restaurants with my husband - a huge fan of Indian food, when we learned that a new place would be coming shortly. Having dined in Shiva Natarajan's other restaurants further uptown, we looked forward to trying Malai Marke. Because we eat Indian food quite often, we are always looking for a restaurant that offers a few out of the ordinary Indian choices. We certainly found several new palate pleasers here: Kurkuri Bindi (okra tossed with onions, lime, and chaat), Imli Baigan (eggplant layered with tamarind chutney), and Madurai Melagu Curry (available with vegetable, chicken, lamb, or shrimp). This last one raised the bar on spicy for my husband who, until this point, had thought the Phall at Brick Lane Curry House represented the ultimate challenge. This curry, however, proved to be an equally worthy and tasty adversary. When chatting with the manager we learned that this is their own creation - "we experimented and wanted to come up with something that went beyond Phall. " Not only was the food outstanding at Malai Marke, but so was the entire experience. From the moment we arrived, we knew that we were in a special place. The contemporary decor is a welcome change from other Indian restaurants, the people who served us were helpful in explaining the menu and cheered my husband on as he finished off his intensely hot meal. As we were leaving, we stopped to gaze through the glass at the open kitchen and were invited to meet the chef who had been given a Michelin star at another favorite restaurant of ours, Junoon.

More places on 10th Street

Lost Gem
Housing Works 1 Thrift Shops Vintage undefined

Housing Works

This bright and colorful West Village thrift shop is just one of the many businesses run by Housing Works, one of New York's highly regarded non-profits. Housing Works was founded in 1990 by members of ACT UP, an AIDS activist group that is dedicated to fighting the joint issues of homelessness and the AIDS epidemic. Their first thrift shop opened in Chelsea in 1992 and thirteen more have opened throughout the city since then, as well as a bookstore café in SoHo. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, the social stigma associated with those living with the virus or simply being LGBTQ+ resulted in thousands of individuals being denied the foundation of a stable living: housing. Whether it was from familial rejection or housing discrimination, more and more HIV positive people found themselves on the streets, and poverty, queerness, and AIDS soon became intrinsically linked. Recognizing this often neglected connection, the founders of Housing Works sought to create an organization that addressed this crisis. The non-profit is committed to ending the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain their efforts. Luke, a member of the Manhattan Sideways team, sat down with the 10th Street store manager, Lauren Guttenplan, to discuss the community atmosphere forged in their shop. She mentioned, “Community feels very central to the mission. We’re not too far from Christopher Street and Stonewall, so many of our customers and volunteers have lost someone or have a personal connection to the cause. They like to know that the money they’re spending is going to help towards something good. ” Guttenplan also noted that many of their regular customers come in as frequently as once or twice a day, and that the staff, the majority of whom are volunteers, often know customers’ names. Some patrons will even make a point to shop on a day where they know when a particular volunteer is working. Guttenplan credits much of the success of the operation to the devotion of the volunteers, whom she describes as “the face of the store. ” The shopping experience is truly unlike many other in that there are opportunities for customers to become volunteers or get involved in local activism and protests. With a retail background and a degree in social work, Lauren finds Housing Works to be a perfect blend of her passions. The organization provides the unique opportunity to run a business and actually make a difference. She appreciates that with programs like job training, it is particularly satisfying to witness the impact of her work first hand. Because all of the merchandise sold in the stores is donated, each of the Housing Works shops also serves as a reflection of the surrounding neighborhood. The West Village shop, with plenty of natural lighting and exposed brick, features not only fun and unique clothing selections, but also many household items, including kitchen items, home décor, and even furniture. The store hosts a number of events, the biggest of which are the Best of Fall and Best of Spring sales.

Lost Gem
Clash City Tattoo 1 Tattoos undefined

Clash City Tattoo

When I walked into Clash City Tattoos, Baz was hunched over his station, completing a tattoo sketch. The space popped with bold red walls, brightly colored ink bottles, and large tattoo designs. One could not miss the almost human-sized bass in the corner if they tried – “some friends just like to come in and play the bass, ” Baz told me as he shrugged his shoulders. Music influences much more of this tattoo shop’s ideology than I could have anticipated. Named after Baz’s favorite band, the space encapsulates the idea that just as The Clash could play such a range of genres, so too could Baz’s tattoos encompass all kinds of people. “Lawyers and rockstars alike listen to The Clash, ” he elaborated, “and I want my tattoos to unite my customers, just as a single beat can unite different listeners. ”Baz first visited the United States in 1991 while working on a cruise ship and was immediately drawn to everything American – particularly the music, cars, and TV shows. Working in a comic bookstore, he was captivated by posters for Iron Man, Planet of the Apes, and an assortment of cartoon superheroes. He claimed it was the “solid black lines, bold colors, and clear forms” of comic art that lent it a unique and sophisticated artistic quality. Moreover, his mother’s admiration for surrealist painter Salvador Dali offered him an early penchant for the freedom of abstract art anchored in bold lines – the ideal forms for tattoo art. Clients coming into Clash City Tattoos have usually heard about the store and like to visit with an idea of what they want inked. While Baz and his team are exceptionally friendly, asserting that their store “is a place that you won’t have to be afraid to walk into, ” they are also honest with clients about which designs work and which simply do not. Equipped with a creative bent, the team mostly designs custom tattoos using clients’ ideas. However, when someone comes in asking for a "full bible verse on their little finger" or an arrangement of “a heart with four names in it, two wings on either side, and a crown on top in the size of a fist, ” the team knows when to say “this isn’t working; let’s fine-tune. ” What is more, they pay exceptionally close attention to each client’s pain tolerance. While some can manage three hours of inking in a go, others (like Baz’s wife, he laughs) only last ten minutes. I asked Baz about the most challenging tattoo he was tasked with designing. When the bass player of globally-renowned British band Muse, Chris, asked for a tattoo of his son’s name, Buster, in Disney font, Baz started thinking of ways to make the design more complex and unique. A few days later, Chris and Baz were hanging out with a group of friends, when Chris recounted a story about Buster. The young boy was playing with his toys at home when he ran straight into the corner of an table and cut his forehead. But he continued with his play as usual until Chris’ wife noticed a large gash on his head and rushed him to the hospital. Buster was unfazed. The story inspired Baz to draw up the tattoo that now decorates Chris’ right forearm – a smirking cartoon kid with boxing gloves over the name “Buster” in striking black font. Chris loved it. Looking at Baz’s journey thus far, it is easy to see how he has settled into a characteristic set of themes and motifs. Through space backgrounds, gypsy girls, cartoon superheroes, and more, Baz eventually reached a signature design – “pin-up girls with stuff in their hair, ” as he amusedly called it. I was thrilled to see his gorgeous side profiles of girls with complex forms – ships, octopuses, and more – wrapped in the locks of their hair. Baz’s artistic genius spans a wide range of imagery, fixed into his defining black lines and bold forms.

Lost Gem
Three Lives and Co Bookstore 1 Bookstores undefined

Three Lives and Co Bookstore

With its sharp corner spine, perpendicular window displays, and eye-catching red accents, the façade of Three Lives and Co. resembles an enticing book cover. Inside, caramel-colored shelves, a cozy patterned carpet, and warm lamps surround an assortment of handpicked reads. As the current owner, Toby Cox, put it, “just open the door and it’s a jewel box. ”Three Lives, which takes its name from the Gertrude Stein novel, was opened in 1978 by Jill Dunbar, Jenny Feder, and Helene Webb. Originally located on Seventh Avenue, the shop moved to the corner of 10th Street and Waverly in 1983. It has since remained a “small neighborhood bookstore, ” while the neighborhood has grown “to sort of become the world. ”Toby first stumbled upon the store on a visit from his home state of Rhode Island, where he sold books for ten years after graduating from Brown University. He was so in awe of the little shop that he sung its praises in the local Providence newsletter. Nine months later, he moved to New York to work as a book publisher, and for the next three years, he frequented Three Lives to “revel in the store. ”Then, “it all came together in a magical way. ” Toby asked Jill if she was interested in having him as an additional partner; Jill countered by offering Toby the business. In early 2001, Toby took over the store. Toby sees Three Lives as much more than a store selling books. To him, it is a vibrant community center — a place to “step off what’s going on outside those red doors, relax, unwind, have an easy chat with a staff member, and let go of all the pressure. ”