Piazi or Piaza; "Slam Dunk" & ProQuest

Sun May 1 05:59:19 UTC 2005

PIAZI
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PIAZI + INDIAN--42 Google hits
PIAZI + ONION--34 Google hits
PIAZA + ONION--973 Google hits
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I went to PANNA ("Fine dining since 1976), 330 East 6th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. It's one of the original restaurants on "Curry Row" in "Little India." It's a cheap Indian restaurant--not particularly good, but it is what it is.
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NOBARATION--Chick peas, spinach, string beans, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, and potatoes with a touch of cream. 5.50 (0 Google hits. Misspelling?)
PIAZI--Vegetable fritters (4pcs). 1.50
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Piazi/piaza is not in OED. Yes, it means "onion," but at an Indian restaurant it clearly means more, such as "onion firtter."
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(GOOGLE)
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Welcome to Panna II Indian Restaurant Website - Menu
... Papadum, Piazi, Somosa, Banana Fritter, 1.95. Fried Shrimp with Poori ...
Piazi, Onion with chick peas, flour and spices, 1.15. Papadum ...
www.panna2.com/menu.html - 14k - Cached - Similar pages
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Tandoori Restaurant St Annes Lancashire..Welcome to The Moghul
... Restaurant St Annes Lancashire, Serving Traditional Tandoori Indian Food. ...
Piazi (Lentil & Onion) Aloo Pakora Paneer Pakora Aloo Chaat Quorn Chaat ...
www.moghultandoori.co.uk/takeaway.htm - 51k - Cached - Similar pages
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Hartford Advocate: Naan Judgmental
... The three-course Indian lunch special is a nice treat. ... One can choose from
vegetable samosas, piazi (onion fritters) and potato pakoras as appetizer ...
www.hartfordadvocate.com/ gbase/Dining/content.html?oid=oid:59345 - 26k - Cached - Similar pages
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Bukara Restaurant & Global Bar
... of lamb, shrimp, chicken along with saffron Pullao, Raita and Piazi Kulcha all served
in a traditional Thali. $18.95. Traditional Indian Vegetarian Platters. ...
www.where-to-dine.com/M/M60.asp - 22k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
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Chowhound's New England Message Board: New Indian Restaurant in ...
... Message: Spice Indian Cuisine opened in December on Arch St (89 Arch St ... a selection
of 4 appetizers [samosa, banana pakora, eggplant pakora, and piazi (an onion ...
www.chowhound.com/newengland/ boards/newengland/messages/9388.html - 5k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
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Chowhound's Outer Boroughs Message Board (11): Amin ...another ...
... The piazi were excellent -- among the best I've ever had ... Maybe Amin is no better
than an average Indian restaurant (and you could argue in some ways it is worse ...
www.chowhound.com/boards/outer11/messages/19822.html - 7k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
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SAAAIDS: Events/July Gala Raffle Lot #9
... include house appetizers of chana bhaif (Indian chickpeas sautéed with spices and
herbs); shingara (vegetable-filled turnovers); and piazi (spiced onion ...
www.saaaids.org/events/july_gala_2001/ raffle_lots_2001/raffle_lot09.html - 19k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
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(FACTIVA)

SHOW

Gandhi India curries flavor

Pat Bruno
1,239 words
4 May 1986
Chicago Sun-Times
FIVE STAR SPORTS FINAL
17
English
(Copyright 1986)

Gandhi India Restaurant is a small, unpretentious place that occupies space in what, I suspect, was a coffee shop or luncheonette in a former life. Subdued lighting, ordinary banquet-type chairs, and plastic table coverings just about cover the decor - and honest and forthright Indian restaurant with food to match. And the menu, if not unsurprising in its offerings, does manage to encompass most of the dishes one would expect to find in an Indian restaurant in this area. There are two exceptions to that statement. Mulligatawny, a lentil-based soup, and chicken vindaloo, a heavily spiced (and sometimes fiery hot) Indian specialty, are not listed on the menu, nor did they make an appearance as daily specials during my visits.
But the prices are right (the highest-priced item on the menu is a tandoori mix for $7.90), the service is friendly and knowledgeable, and the quality and preparation of the dishes are pretty much on the money.
I don't know how Indians who, it appears, frequent Gandhi India on a regular basis rate the chef, but after sampling a broad range of offerings my dining companion and I found more to enjoy than not.
Indian cooking owes its unique character to a refined use of spices. Indian cooks combine spices as an artist mixes colors, seeking balance, distinctiveness and tone. Different mixtures of spices such as cumin, ginger, coriander, cloves and cardamom are ground for every dish, creating masala, the soul of Indian cooking. This varies with each cook and each dish.
Gandhi India has, with good sense, toned down some of that spicing to accommodate the Western palate, which, with certain exceptions, doesn't take all that well to the incendiary effect extra spicing or hot peppers can add. However, if heat is what you want, the cook at Gandhi India can spice it up with the best. One of the best ways to sample the range of starters at Gandhi India is the appetizer platter, which takes in a variety of good things. Pakora, vegetable fritters made with chick-pea flour and filled with vegetables such as crunchy cauliflower, are brown, crisp and exceptionally good. Ditto for the samosa, those deep-fried potato pastry turnovers resembling dumplings - brown, crispy and spicy sweet. Kachumber salad is a refreshing mix of sliced cucumbers, onions and tomatoes lightly misted with a tangy, lemony dressing.
Shish kebab turned out to be one of the hottest items on the appetizer plate. The spicy-hot ground lamb that is formed into pipelike cylinders around skewers and flavored with coriander and other spices was just hot enough to let me know the chef knows how to handle hot without getting feverish. (Table condiments such as a dark and fruity chutney and raita, cucumber-flavored cold yogurt sauce, provide additional flavoring as required.) Papadam, the crisp and crackly wafer bread, rounds out the appetizer assortment.
If spicing is the soul of Indian cooking, the tandoor is the heart of this unique cuisine. And the tandoor tendered at Gandhi India does a masterful job. The tandoor is a barrel-shaped clay oven used in northwestern Indian and Pakistani cooking in which meats marinated in yogurt and spices are seared by radiant heat, thus locking in essential flavors. However, the meats cook rapidly and bears careful watching; one reason they don't emerge charred is the marinating, which has a tenderizing and moisturizing effect.
Tandoori dishes sampled fared extremely well. Chicken tandoori, which features chicken marinated in spiced yogurt, garlic and ginger, comes forth smokily flavorsome, the flesh reddened on the outside yet succulently moist, the bird deeply imbued with the flavor of the herbs and spices in which it was marinated. Boti kebab was especially good. Tender pieces of lamb redolent with a number of the aforementioned herbs and spices was a complexity of texture, taste and heady fragrances. Rogan josh (red lamb stew) is pungent but, in spite of what I said earlier about hot, was a bit too tame for my taste.
Moving away from the tandoor for a moment, chicken do piaza, which translates as "two-onion chicken," is actually a Mogul dish in which spring chicken pieces are sauteed in a special onion sauce (in the Gandhi India version) with a curry made from, I suspect, cumin, coriander and cardamom (I hope I'm right on this, chef). This was excellent eating - the chicken juicy and extraordinarily fragrant, the sweetness of the onions in heady competition with spiciness of the curry - the fusion of the disparate elements of taste one of those won ders of the East, and Indian cooking in particular.
Now back to the tandoor. Gandhi India provides three different tandoori mix options - a tandoori sampler that includes dishes such as those previously mentioned along with vegetable and rice specialties and naan, which is leavened bread baked in the tandoor.
Indian bread is one of the glories of Indian cuisine. In fact, a good alternative (or addition) to an appetizer is one of the breads, as there are many from which to choose. In addition to naan, which is a slightly puffy, free-form flat bread (and the perfect accompaniment to tandoori food), there are other delights - piazi kulcha is naan infused with onion and spices; aaloo paratha and gobi paratha add potatoes and cauliflower, respectively; and my favorite, poori, is the most spectacular.
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SLAM DUNK
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I've gone to seven damn computers here at NYU, and not a single one opens www.paperofrecord.com for "slam dunk."
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I replied to the following, but it went straight to Ben Zimmer instead of the list. I thought he correct this. Evil guy.
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Nothing is easy!
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I typed in "slam dunk." It should have been the same as "slam dunk*" (with asterisk) and it should have still looked for "slam dunks" and "slam dunking" and, yes, "slam dunked." ProQuest is supposedly programmed to look for all forms of a verb.
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Damn ProQuest. And it's even worse with Newspaperarchive.

-----Original Message-----
From: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at rci.rutgers.edu>
To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Cc: bapopik at aol.com; jester at panix.com
Sent: Sun, 1 May 2005 00:47:57 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Slam Dunk (1969)

  On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 19:46:06 -0400, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>21 December 1969, Los Angeles Times, WEST magazine, pg. 19, col. 3:
>
>For the first time, West's three sons, David, 8, Michael, 7, and Mark,
>6, are beginning to show an interest in sports. But they prefer
>Chamberlain to their father because he can slam dunk a basketball "and
>Dad can't." Their appreciation for a man who can shoot better than just
>about anyone, dribble superbly, pass effectively and play great defense
>may come later.

Sorry to do this to you, Barry, but here's one from Feb. '69:

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1969 _Chicago Tribune_ 10 Feb C1/1 With West missing his 14th game of the
year and the 109th of his oft-injured career, Wilt slam-dunked and used
his fall-away shot to hit for 17 in each of the first two periods and 22
in the crucial third quarter when Los Angeles outscored the Suns, 39 to
18.
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And here's an interesting variant, "slam-bang dunk":

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1969 _Los Angeles Times_ 29 May C3/1 The NCAA outlawed the stuff or
slam-bang dunk following Alcindor's sophomore season.
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--Ben Zimmer

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Sent: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 07:24:04 -0400
>Subject: Re: Slam Dunk (1969)
>
>
>On Sat, Apr 30, 2005 at 03:50:32AM -0400, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>>
>> ProQuest has this only in abstract form, but it appears that
>> "slam dunk" is mentioned in the Los Angeles Times (as
>> expected) on December 21, 1969, beating the evil Ben Zimmer
>> by seven days. I can check it in the NYPL later today if
>> anyone wishes.
>
>Well, if you're offering....
>
>JTS
>OED