Seven Questions for …
Chef Marcie Turney, of the Gayborhood’s Lolita, and its new Indian sister spot, Bindi.
1.Your of-the-moment ingredient of choice right now:
Oh, definitely fenugreek. We’re using it at Bindi a lot right now. You can use it fresh, or use the leaves dried, or use the seeds toasted, or ground, or use it as a powder. We use it in a lot here, the seeds, in the lamb meatballs. The dried version, we use to marinate meats, like the chicken chana masala. It’s interesting because all the forms smell different and have different flavors to them.
2. One trend that you’re just totally over:
All of this chemistry cooking — the foams, the gels, the gelees. It’s one thing to go somewhere where it tastes good, but I’ve been out to eat places where someone’s just using the methods, and it doesn’t taste like anything.
3. Best kitchen toy:
We got a commercial grinder for our spice mixes. It fits on the KitchenAid. It’s perfect, because we have 30 different spice mixes at Bindi, and we get them whole, and then grind them. I had been using these little coffee grinders—and I’d already been through three of them. The commercial grinder can do five pounds at once.
4. Say you get one food for the rest of your life, day-in, day-out. What would you pick?
In the Reading Terminal, there a won ton soup with roasted pork, noodles, and greens. I think the place is called Sang Kee. The broth, the noodles … it’s the best.
5. Okay, what about an extravagance? The last meal before you die.
Red wine and cheese. I love a good stinky blue. And a good baguette. And aged gouda.
6. Anything on either of the menus that you’re sort of over? That you’d like to take off to try something new?
I’d probably change the enchiladas at Lolita, if I could. But I can’t — once you change something, people are all like, “Where is it?” I’d just want to play with different sauces. Now it has a green sauce, but a red sauce could be good for different seasons. But the thing is, I understand why people want to keep what they like. I go to Dmitri’s all the time, and I get the exact same thing every time I go. Shrimp in olive oil with garlic that’s toasty, fried calamari, hummus and baba, and octopus, of course.
7. Name something you love about Philly diners … and something you hate.
For the love part: We’re very neighborhood-oriented. People are very loyal to chefs here, even if the chef moves. I have people who have followed me to Bindi, because they were going to my restaurants for the last 12 years. They’re very loyal. And I love the neighborhood we’re in. The people here have made us a success.
What I don’t like. Hmm. We get a lot of younger kids that come in, and because we’re BYOB, they bring tequila or wine or rum, and will order guacamole and one entrée to split between them, and think that’s okay. And the Mexican cuisine sort of lends itself to that. But we’re a restaurant—not a bar. And the servers need to get paid. — Christine Speer