Tamarind Tribeca

Like Mexican food, Indian is rarely thought of as an elevated cuisine in the United States. Few national culinary traditions, however, can match the complexity and diversity of India's, and Tamarind Tribeca aims to give the flavors of the subcontinent the high treatment they deserve. Chicken tikka masala can be found on the menu, but it's obviously an afterthought.

The real pleasures, for both the kitchen and the diners, lie in the dishes like bataki kosha (shredded duck with garam masala and mustard rolled into a rice crepe), the delicate kachori (where the lentils and peas meet dried mango and smooth asafoetida), and the robust chemmen kalwan (prawns with red chilis and cumin). But the dinner's greatest pleasure came in the form of achari hiran ki chhampen: tender venison chops in a complexly flavored pickle marinade with hung yogurt and roasted chickpea flour. Now that's a dish worth building a monument to.