Bombay Talkie (1943)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

BOMBAY TALKIE--5,980 Google hits, 87 Google Groups hits

Over the weekend, I went to get the oldest book the NYPL had on "tofu," going way back to 1975. The book was off-site. I requested it.

So now it's Wednesday, and I go to the great New York Public Library, and my book...is not there.

I walked over to "Bombay Talkie" (Ninth Avenue and West 21st Street) for dinner. The restaurant says that's the pre-"Bollywood" name for those kinds of movies. It was popularized by the Merchant-Ivory film title BOMBAY TALKIE in 1970, but ProQuest has "Bombay Talkie" from 1943. "Bombay Talkie" is not in the OED.

The restaurant was small and somewhat busy (it was the second day), but that doesn't excuse the service. I had to wait forever to order my meal. I never got a placemat. Finally, I got a knife and fork. I never got the "raita" that comes with it. Then I had to wait forever for my check, then forever for my change. The restaurant got some big press lately for its design, but I could pick a hundred Indian restaurants in New York City where you can get cheap Indian food and get outta there. I sat at a little bar-stool type thing. The plates are rectangular, the meals small. The starters (which I didn't order) such as "beggar's purse" looked better.

Another diner's date, an Asian woman, took pity on me. And I thought, how do you do, I'm Barry Popik--ah, forget it.


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
The Home Front
TOM TREANOR. Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: May 14, 1943. p. A (1 page):
Menaka made one exception in favor of the movies.

"Bombay Talkies," she said, "often do authentic dances."

(FACTIVA)
Rev of film 'Bombay Talkie'
11 words
19 November 1970
New York Times Abstracts
Pg. 42, Col. 1
English
c. 1970 New York Times Company
Rev of film 'Bombay Talkie'

(NEW YORK TIMES)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/dining/12QUAT.html?oref=login
SUNITHA RAMAIAH'S idea for an Indian restaurant featuring street food has become BOMBAY TALKIE, new to 189 Ninth Avenue (21st Street). There are kathi rolls, dosas and blue-plate dishes, each $15; (212) 242-1900.

(NEW YORK)
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/openings/10782/
On a Roll: Indian street food has become a legitimate New York restaurant subgenre, and the latest entrant in a newly crowded field, Bombay Talkie, is scheduled to open next week, with Aix pastry chef Jehangir Mehta as culinary consultant, Aix chef Didier Virot as wine director, and a menu of dosas and kathi rolls.
Bombay Talkie
189 Ninth Ave., nr. 21st St.; 212-242-1900

(NEW YORK TIMES)
House & Home/Style Desk; SECTF
CURRENTS: INTERIORS
For an Indian Restaurant, Birch and Bollywood
By ELAINE LOUIE
176 words
30 December 2004
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
3
English
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.

Minimalism meets Bollywood excess at Bombay Talkie, a restaurant that will open on Jan. 10 in Chelsea. ''It's a clean, modern take on Indian teahouses,'' said Sunitha Ramaiah, the owner and a former corporate lawyer. The restaurant features lushly colored paintings based on Bollywood movie posters by J. P. Krishna, an artist in Ms. Ramaiah's home state of Tamil Nadu.

''The paintings had to be prominent, and the backdrop simple,'' said Thomas Juul-Hansen, the architect, below right with Ms. Ramaiah. He painted the walls white and designed simple birch tables, black leather banquettes and a birch veneer ceiling, bottom. His one nod to ornateness is the laser-cut wood veneer wallpaper, called Marquetry, below left, from Maya Romanoff ($100 to $170 a square yard through architects and designers, 800-465-6909). Bombay Talkie is at 189 Ninth Avenue (22nd Street), (212) 242-1900. ELAINE LOUIE