Chau is the original New York City stoop kid who cut her teeth hanging out in Union Square, ate soup dumplings in Chinatown and explored this great city by train, foot and everything in between.
Chelaka Gunamuni, aka Chaz, is the 33 year old chef/owner of Kottu House, a Sri Lankan micro – bites restaurant that has been top-ranked by the NY Times and Zagat. For the past four years, the tiny, 10 seat restaurant has made a name for itself on the Lower East Side, whose reputation as a flourishing spot for hip, tatted restaurateurs has revolutionized the culinary world. But this October, the beloved restaurant will be shutting its doors for good.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We regretfully announce that Kottu House decided to close its doors.
There’s this one dish called the Kottu.
It’s like a Sri Lankan pad thai with shredded Indian flatbread, or “Roti”, in place of noodles and vegetables, eggs, and spices stir- fried into crispy, brown perfection. The dish is equal parts hangover cure and flavor explosion on your tongue. If one were adventurous, one could even ask for it to be extra spicy, with the chef dousing it in a fiery sauce that rivals the hottest pepper you can think of.
I can confirm, the tier 4 tongue burn is well worth the flavor.
Born in Sri Lanka, raised in Milan and Staten Island, 33-year-old chef/owner and self-proclaimed “mad scientist” Chelaka “Chaz” Gunamuni wanted to create a space that meshed the eclectic foods of his home country with the dynamic upbringing that made up his identity. This dichotomy is reflected in his shop where a wall of black and white family portraits from Sri Lanka and Milan (featuring his cousin, co-investor, and co-founder of Venmo Iqram Magdon-Ismael) is accompanied by a pulsating neon Kottu House logo projected on top of the menu.
But in October of this year, Chaz will shut down Kottu House in the US and attempt to move his concept abroad to London where he will reunite with his wife and two daughters for the first time in 10 months. Despite having lived in NYC since he was 12 years old, Chaz is a DREAMer.
When his family first settled down in the US in 2001, the processing of his paperwork to become a citizen was put on hiatus after the attacks of September 11th. He overstayed his visa as a teenager and, for 12 years, he has been treading water in political limbo as an illegal alien in the United States.
Working in the food industry is one of the few options for work for many DREAMers. Eventually, Chaz’s work at other restaurants allowed him to save up enough money to start his own restaurant, and, thus, Kottu House was born.
Coming from a family of restauranteurs (his aunt owns a Sri Lankan restaurant, Sigiri, in the East Village), that specialize in traditional, family style Sri Lankan food, his family balked at the concept of opening a restaurant that sold only street food like Lamprais, Kottu, and beef rolls (almost like a deep fried egg roll).
God’s gift to earth – The Beef Roll
Despite their biggest fears, the place that has become a Lower East Side institution. The blend of affordable, addictive bites and beer has garnered Chaz recognition on sites from GrubStreet to the NY Times. Kottu House has become so beloved that his parents even joined in.
Sri Lankan food is not new to New York City by any means. In the 1960s, after the Sri Lankan Civil War, over 800 Sri Lankans immigrated to the US and landed in one of America’s greatest boroughs, Staten Island. Today, New York City has the largest population of Sri Lankans outside of the country with a whopping 5,000 in the US.
While the future of DREAMers, like Chaz, is uncertain for thousands of New Yorkers, Chaz has his sights set on creating an alternate version of Kottu House in London.
In the meantime, head over to Kottu House to support Chaz and try some of New York’s best Sri Lankan bites before it’s gone.
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New York is infamous for its pizza. Ask any local and an argument will erupt over the best slice from Joe’s to DiFara’s, but what of the quintessential dollar slice pizza? Prime for late-night drunk munchies or a quick lunch on the go, dollar slice pizza plays an integral role, whether you realize it or not.
When I was a kid, for $1 I could get a quadruple concoction of the best snacks from the deli around the corner from my school.
On a good day, it was a pack of Winterfresh gum, two bags of potato chips, and a barrel-shaped drink of neon-colored high fructose corn syrup. The dollar was RICH.
Nowadays, $1 can’t buy you much. That is, except for the quintessential dollar pizza.
With over 70 locations hawking the dollar fuel, New Yorkers rich and poor wait side by side for the pinnacle cheesy slice. Quality is equally diverse, with some places bordering on cardboard Elio’s and others nearing the “Hey, that actually wasn’t that bad and I’m sober” realization. Dollar pizza is more than cheap nourishment, it’s survival. Whether it’s New York City tears of terror from a bad breakup or drunken happiness after a late night, the comfort of dollar slice pizza is worth more than its weight of cheesy goodness.
My love letter to dollar pizza goes specifically to the Two Bros Pizzeria on 25th and 6th avenue during a particularly nefarious point in my life.
In 2017, I tried to pursue a full-time career as the founder of a published travel magazine (the first of many, many iterations of the site that you are reading now). I worked out of a coworking space for months on end trying to mash together the quotes of a Swedish illustrator living in Hong Kong into a Squarespace page that I had designed, (and redesigned meticulously to no end) until it seemed, no felt, PERFECT.
There were days that I would tell people about my idea (which changed twenty times over, I might add) and feel the ebbs and flows of my emotions based on their reactions. Other days I would be switching up the colors of my logo while the person at the desk next to me was in the midst of a heated phone call raising $80,000 for their startup.
As a broke startup founder, I couldn’t do anything but treat myself to the quintessential dollar slice pizza.
Suffice to say, I ate quite a few of my feelings.
Here, in this ten gauges too bright, fluorescent pizzeria, I would douse my slice in Kirkland Signatures red pepper flakes, elbow to elbow with a portly businessman overdressed for the Flatiron district, and tucked in between a teenage German tourist who folded his pizza backwards with cheese on the outside, finding comfort in that little slice that at least, maybe life wasn’t so bad.
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America’s First Suburb
Prior to Brooklyn Heights becoming the meeting ground for young parents, Brooklyn was a very different place. There were no Uppababy stroller pushing yoga moms or cargo short wearing, backyard grilling, BBQ dads here. Until 1814, Brooklyn or “Breuckelen” as it was named by the Dutch was nothing but a piece of farmland (previously inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans).
It wasn’t until Robert Fulton (inventor of the Steamboat, also namesake behind both Fulton Streets), was able to offer up an easy commute for Manhattan’s elite wanting more space. Brooklyn Heights was built with a nearly identical grid system as the city and established as America’s very first suburb. Bridge and tunnel crowd? More like carriage and steam..boat crowd? Ok, we tried.
The Little Suburb That Fought Against Slavery
During the 1850s and 1860s, Brooklyn became a hub for some of the country’s most prominent abolitionists. Many churches also became part of the Underground Railroad and altogether helped as many as 100,000 slaves flee the South before the Civil War.
You can still visit some of the places that were a part of the Underground Railroad, like Plymouth Church which came to be known as “Grand Central Depot” for slaves en route to Canada. Other revolutionaries, who’ve graced these pews? Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Martin Luther King Jr. Just a reminder that the actions of a few can change the course of an entire nation. Don’t you forget it. #guncontrolnow
Downtown Brooklyn Today
Nowadays, Downtown Brooklyn has a somewhat sterile, zero nightlife, somewhat corporate, too rich for my blood, married with kids, a total nightmare for a single, young person type of reputation.
But there’s so much beauty and history on every street. Arthur Miller, Truman Capote and Thomas Wolfe lived here. Activism was bred here. In a neighborhood just far enough from the hustle and bustle, and just tight-knit enough to have a sense of community, you’ll see a place that’s still fiercely tied to its roots with a new discovery on every corner.
Photo by rduta on Flickr
Eat
Yemen Cafe
Being in this restaurant feels like you’ve been transported to Yemen, and the food is divine. The best part is the diverse groups of families, friends and solo diners who all come together to enjoy the food in this space. Try the Lamb Fahsah (pictured above) and come hungry cause the food will nourish the belly and soul.
One half neighborhood joint, one half perfect spot for a first date, Henry Public is that reliable, intimate, dimly lit bar with great cocktails and a bomb kitchen. Smooth jazz plays at night and the old school bar is bedazzled with 1970’s wood paneling. There’s even framed black and white photos to give this place a shipyard vibe. Go for the grilled cheese or turkey sandwich. You’ll definitely impress those bumble dates with this, honey.
This shop is based off the infamous Collyer Brothers, a pair of wealthy hoarders who stuffed their 12 bedroom mansion in Harlem with pianos, books and found furniture until one brother died of starvation and the other was accidentally crushed by the trash in a makeshift booby trap. The shop though is MUCH lighter and filled with tons of Wes Anderson-y “Fantastic Mr. Fox” like art and home goods. Adorable. Cute and definitely filled with plenty of kitschy things for your home.
There’s something incredibly romantic about seeing Manhattan from Brooklyn at night. The water, the glistening skies at night, but what’s the best sight? Probably staring into the windows of the incredible homes along the waterfront – people don’t like to leave their blinds down, and baby doll, these apartments are Niiiiiiice. PS – I am not advocating being a peeping tom, just looking at nice apartments. Don’t be a creep, yo.
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Type Park
Info Montague St &, Pierrepont Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Pierrick Bouquet and Derek van Bakergem are bringing the world’s largest Rosé, music, and food festival to Randall’s Island this July 19th & 20th. Get your tickets HERE.
Before we get into this article, let me just start off by wiping the slate clean on what your perception of what a “festival” is. If you’re imagining epileptic neon throngs of EDM ravers jackhammer dancing to some psychedelic screen or some Dystopian music ground on a “private” island peppered with FEMA tents this is not that. Not even close.
Instead, I want you to imagine the world’s most elaborate Instagram worthy picnic. Feasts of epic proportions (Yes, even by New Yorkers high standards)! Music that you can actually dance to! (Ummm..hello Mark Ronson and Chromeo) And of course! Rosé all day! (plus wines and spirits of the highest, Summer-iest caliber)
This epitome of the perfect day this summer, my dear friends, is PINKNIC.
Photo by Pinknic
PINKNICis the world’s largest Rosé, music, and food festival. It’s also a homegrown New York festival taking place this July 19 & 20 at Randall’s Island. Within the span of three short years, the trifecta has nearly tripled in size from 8,000 to 20,000 people and grown a veritable lineup of NY’s finest food heavyweights (Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, Mighty Quinns BBQ, Roberta’s). Instead of simply being a music or food festival, Pinknic aims to create the best overall music, food and drink experience this summer.
Did I mention the overall aesthetic though? It’s an Instagram wet dream. A sea of pink and white concert goers sipping rosé on pink blankets. In the VIP section, there’s a pool with jumbo size inflatables of every type of flamingo, swan, and animal for your feed, and if you want to shell out the extra cash-ola for a cabana, you can have a private ten person party with your own rosé, champagne and day service.
Photo by Pinknic
The idea for this magnificent idea? From wine connoisseurs, Derek van Bakergem and Pierrick Bouquet. At first glance, off duty European models, maybe? Purveyors of the non-sale section of James Perse? Definitely. But the one common thread that I come to learn throughout the interview, these guys know their wine and how to throw a party.
Back in 2015, Pierrick Bouquet was working with a group of 16 winemakers from the Loire Valley to bring the distribution of French wines to the United States. Not too long after, he was managing branding, marketing, and social media for all French wines all across the states, eventually opening up his own agency. If you’re wondering how Rosé got to be the “millennials drink of choice”, you can bet Pierrick played a major role in making it land in your girlfriend’s brunch.
Simultaneously, Derek van Bakergem was in the midst of his own startup, a Sparkling Wine Cocktail in a can that was the ideal drink for poolside parties and rooftops (first rule of club partying…no glass). He then dove into the music industry, managing musicians all across the country.
In 2015 – the two met at Pierrick’s first rosé themed party, a three-hour cruise around the city sampling over 100 different rosé wines called La Nuit En Rosé. The boat cruise saw 2,000 people join and over that time, revelers were asked to dress in all pink and white, and thus began the concept for PINKNIC.
A quick note: Let’s take a look at what makes Rosé so damn loveable.
Oh rosé, how we love you so. That light pink that slinks down your gullet like a smooth, smooth summertime 2000’s R&B ballad. The crisp sweetness that’s light, but not too light. It’s the perfect medium for the wine drinker that’s intimidated by big wine lists, but yummy enough for a self-appointed connoisseur to still comment, “I’m picking up hints of cherry and kiwi”. Combine that with the generally affordable cost and universally simple ordering of “I’ll have the rosé” sans year, region, birth note and you have yourself a millennial hit. Plus, the pink glass in your hand when you’re laughing by the pool is simply visual gold on the gram’.
In the late 1990s, White Zinfindel had its own resurgence, and drinkers killed off the supply. With a waning supply of white wine, winemakers opted to sell rosé instead for its light varietals that were flavor and color adjacent to the Zin. Rosé continued to grow in popularity until the 2010’s when the pink glasses started taking over Instagram feeds worldwide, and the “Rosé All Day” lifestyle was born.
In the late summer of 2014, Hampton’s beachgoers were consuming so much of the pink stuff it was deemed the “Great Hamptons Rosé Shortage of 2014”. Last year, a whopping 50 percent of Provençal rosé was consumed by Americans.
In 2016, the duo decided to scale up and take Rosé from a boat cruise to a festival. With Derek’s music background of booking talent and Pierrick’s background within the wine industry, they were able to successfully pitch Governor’s Island for the city’s first ever Rosé festival. The first festival drew over 8,000 New Yorkers to the festival.
“This is for New Yorkers. We’re a cultural institution focused on building events. We want to create incredible food, music and arts festival that will stick for years to come and highlights the diversity of NYC and rosé”.
2019 will be the biggest year yet for PINKNIC. With an estimated 20,000 revelers, the two have pulled out all of their stops. Hope to see you there!
In New York comedy is all around us. Take a walk through the West Village and you’ll find street hawkers, sandwich boards and bars all hawking one thing, stand up. With so many options, how are we ever to distinguish the good from the bad? We’re either left paying upwards of $80 a night on two drink minimums or left with some sub-par comedy in a dingy basement bar. That’s why comedians Sachin Shaan and Anish Mitra set out to create The Surprise Show: NYC’s best live comedy experience.
Interesting. What’s The Surprise Show?
The Surprise Show is a comedy show for the no-frills New Yorker. Just great comedians, no two-drink specials, in a place you can take a date and still impress them. We call it a surprise, cause you’ll never know who to expect. We’ve had Jim Gaffigan, Judah Friedlander, Hasan Minhaj, Todd Barry and TJ Miller drop in.
From L to R: Sachin, Jim Gaffigan, Anish and Leah Bonnema
Who are Sachin Shaan and Anish Mitra?
Close your eyes and picture Batman and Bruce Wayne. Then picture two brown guys who are slightly worse looking than Christian Bale, significantly less rich and not famous (yet). That’s Sachin and Anish. They channel Bruce Wayne inside corporations (where they work) but evoke Batman (when they drop punchlines instead of punches). Both of their parents immigrated from India and they’ve followed the traditional (South) Asian model minority game plan, that is, until becoming comedians.
Got it. So, how’d you guys even get started in comedy?
Anish: In high school and college, I did a lot of debate, public speaking, and writing. I had this weird Indian guilt about not being in love with math or science and cheating on them with English and history. Fast forward a few years, I was banging my head against a keyboard on Wall Street and wondering how all of my humanity had been vacuumed out of my body and said: “Enough is enough”. I saw Sachin do a comedy show at The Stand (he killed) and realized comedy was something that was actually accessible and I told myself I needed to try before I died. Haven’t looked back since.
Over the last few years, I’ve been booked to headline at the North American Bengali Conference (my family is from Kolkata and we’re Bengalis), and this forced me to really learn more about the Indian cultural contributions we’ve made in cinema, poetry and the arts. I ultimately learned that I should let go of these bullshit stereotypes about all of us having to lust over equations and realized I was actually being true to my identity by pursuing a career in the arts.
Sachin: I get this question the most. Almost everyone in my life has been pretty shocked since I was the opposite of the class clown: I was the class nerd. I felt like most people laughed AT me, instead of with me. But everything changed since the summer of 2013 when I registered for Rick Crom’s “beginner” workshop class at the world-famous Comedy Cellar. If you don’t know who Rick Crom is, you should – he’s the comedy world’s journeyman and he was in last season’s “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” I’ve also trained under Dustin Chafin who has trained many comics, perhaps most notably Pete Holmes (start of HBO’s “Crashing”). So, yeah – I have a couple of comedy trainers: instead of making me do push-ups, they make me write better jokes.
So why bother creating a show? Why not continue to hustle in the clubs and streets?
The comedy scene in New York City is gritty and it’s near impossible to get quality stage time when you start out. To perform at a proper club, you normally have to do a “bringer” show, where a booker lets you do maybe six minutes of jokes after you bring, say, 10 people out on a Monday night at 6 p.m. (for $20 bucks each + drink minimums). We realized pretty quickly this wasn’t sustainable, especially when the shows themselves weren’t high quality — our friends deserved better if they were going to drop $60 on a Monday.
So we sidestepped this by creating our own show. The entire show is curated from start-to-finish and every performer is handpicked. We do a mix of up-and-coming talent, very established comedians you would see at the Comedy Cellar (NYC’s #1 comedy club), and A-list comedians like Jim Gaffigan, TJ Miller, Hasan Minhaj, Todd Barry, and Judah Friedlander – all of whom have dropped into our show several times.
Anish, TJ Miller & Sachin
We always end up with a lineup that is both gender and ethnically diverse. PLUS, we love variety acts and always feature a non-comedy act (or two). We’ve had professional singers/musicians, mentalists and magicians, and even a juggler!
We don’t like the 2-drink minimums and we try our hardest to avoid those types of venues. And the show isn’t expensive – we charge the bare minimum of $10 or $20 to cover our production costs and pay our talent. On the other hand, we’ve sold out every single The Surprise Show over the last 18 months so don’t wait!
What’s it like being producers? Is it really that hard to do this?
Sachin: It might look easy, but it’s not. We’re wearing multiple hats – remember we’re also performing in the show as either the host/MC or doing a set (it would be kind of lame if we weren’t in our OWN show). I’m so glad I brought Anish on to help me because the show was just getting bigger and bigger. Anish literally went from being an enthusiastic audience member to starting stand-up and then he became both my co-producer and a super funny comic.
Anish: What he said. It’s like planning a wedding, except it happens every month. Ok, maybe not a wedding but like doing a rehearsal dinner on a monthly basis.
What’s it like a week before, the day before, a day of?
Sachin and Anish: We literally do everything for the production – ticketing, the sales/marketing/promotions, booking the talent, managing the talent, and way too many day-of things (our favorite is when our friends like to wait an hour before the show to ask us for tickets to a sold out show). We’re lucky to have a small team that helps us with the fancy fliers, taping the show, and the great photos so we can feel cool on the ‘gram.
What’s one of your favorite “war stories”?
Anish: In January 2017, we had Jim Gaffigan drop by our Surprise Show, right after Judah Friedlander had already dropped by. After Jim finishes his set, I’m bringing him towards the exit, I look up and I lock eyes with human Bambi. “Hi, I’m Hasan,” he says. As in Hasan Minhaj. I was desperately wishing I had actually gone to medical school because I knew we’d have some cases of cardiac arrest in the audience after putting him on stage (spoiler: we didn’t).
Anish, Hasan Minhaj and Sachin
Sachin: Last month, Jim Gaffigan dropped in and it was our first time hosting the production at Hotel Chantelle. He commented about how cool the room was, and that people want to experience comedy in a trendy place, not a dark basement like most comedy clubs. Jim is my favorite comedian on the planet so I still can’t believe that he’s dropped in so many times and supported us over the years. I heart you, Jim, even if your 5 children sometimes may or may not.
Ok. Let’s say a friend’s in town, is craving comedy and missed the Surprise Show. Where do you send them to get their fix?
Sachin: I’m sounding like a broken record at this point, but the Comedy Cellar is the “cathedral” of comedy in NYC and there’s no better place. I also really like Gotham Comedy Club in Chelsea. But don’t be afraid to try the shows that are more off-the-beaten-path (that’s us!) and super fun. For example, comedian Sheba Mason runs two weekly shows and they’re both always packed. The Grisly Pear in the West Village, which was featured on HBO’s “Crashing,” has really stepped up its game and runs shows every night.
Anish: My boy Eugene Chang runs a free, weekly show at Oppa Bar (as of this writing) in the West Village. The vibe is cool because it’s in a karaoke lounge and it’s always packed (the show was featured in the New York Comedy Festival this past year). If you want to find cool and affordable shows outside of Manhattan, check Eventbrite vs. Google. There are tons of shows for free or basically free ($5) with comics on the come up you won’t want to miss (along with folks that have credits, etc.)
Anish and Sachin with World Champ, Judah Friedlander
Does it help you get the ladies?
Anish: Honestly, unless you’re getting them anyway, no. Comedy is like fitness. If you’re hitting the gym non-stop and your arms are screaming out of your shirt and you look like you bleed Muscle Milk, chances are, you’ll mostly get attention from other dudes telling you things like “hey bro, I hit the gym too, wanna lift together?”. I don’t do it to find love, I do it because I love it.
Sachin: No. This is a total myth. Excuse me, but I think I need to cry now.
And where can people follow your journey?
Sachin: Instagram is the best for me – I’m @sachinshaan
Anish:@mitranyc on Instagram. DM me your email, and we’ll put you on our list. Also on Facebook as Anish K. Mitra.
