The Most Exciting Indian Chef in America
David Rosengarten
The Rosengarten Report
April 2006

Well, I’ll say it flat-out: Prasad Chirnomula, who owns two restaurants in Fairfield County, Connecticut, is the most exciting Indian Chef in America that I know of. And he’s a native of Hyderabad!

I am tickled pink to have his brilliant contribution to the recipes in these pages.

I arrived at my judgement of Prasad some years ago, through tasting his foodat several Fairfield County events-which led to several train treks to NewCanaan, and several visits to his restaurant Thali.

Wow! What a terrific place-with a wonderfully wide range of styles of Indian cooking. You can, of course,find great versions of Indian-American restaurant classics here, likeChicken Tandoori and Rogan Josh. But it goes way beyond that. Prasad has impeccable, little-known regional dishes, like the Goan specialty Prawns Balchao (a zippy tomato sauce with lots of garlic), and the Mangalore specialty Kori Gassi, which is chicken cooked with coconut milk, red chilies and curry leaves.

Even more exotic, arguably, is Prasad’s dedication to a newly trendy type of cooking known as Indo-Chinese-which tastes like an Indian treatment of Szechuan food; anything labeled "Manchurian" on Thali’s menu (like the crisp shrimp in hot soy garlic sauce, or the cauliflowerdumplings) will give you an exciting taste of this style.

Then there’s Prasad’s fancy, creative, upscale food, with high-ticket ingredients, a tip of his cap to the local gentry; I love his fried soft shell crab in split-pea batter on a pile of lump crabmeat, and his killer lamb rib chops with a charred, spicy coating, the best upscale Indian lamb ever.

Lastly, of course, go for the grill! True to his Hyderabadi roots, Prasad has a whole section of "Kababs" on the menu, with over a dozen insanely delicious, perfectly grilled (over hardwood charcoal) choices.

A few years ago, Prasad opened a second restaurant in Ridgefield,Connecticut, also called Thali, which has largely the same menu as the New Canaan place.

But now….exciting news! Prasad is on the verge of opening a third Thali, this one in New Haven, Connecticut -that he says will feature even more exotic meats than you can find at the first two restaurants.

Vegetarian Indian, shmegetarian Indian-you can’t take the meat-lover out of the Hyderabadi!