FACING PAGE:
Smoked spare ribs
with old monk rum.
THIS PAGE: Swordfish
tacos with sauerkraut
avocado.
Even in the most austere
setting, the food of India is
enthralling. A British stew
needs little more than
stock, the French throw in
some red wine, Hungarians a hefty dose
of paprika — regardless of variable,
braised meat remains a common culinary
vernacular across the globe. But curry?
Curry is nuanced. It’s an amalgam of
leaves, pods and seeds that transforms
everything in its wake, perfuming the air
with olfactory rapture.
Chaska, however, is anything but
austere. Sanjiv Dhar’s fourth restaurant
(after Kabob and Curry, Rasoi and Rasa)
is a Bollywood glitter bomb, awash in
color and with the effervescent energy of
a disco ball. The dining room is rainbowhued:
turquoise, red and yellow spill out
in pillows, paint and intricate glassware.
And alongside several massive portraits
painted on newspaper, even the hostess,
jewels circling her heavily decorated eyes,
is a walking piece of art. The staff is young
but deeply attentive — a fact that doesn’t
go unnoticed by two men drinking
turmeric-tinted cocktails whose entire
conversation centers on how impressively
well-trained the twenty-something staff is.
It might have something to do with
Dhar, who often stands stoically by the
kitchen overseeing operations. Or not
— because Chaska has a performative
quality all its own. A cook, entertaining
the diners, pulls three-foot skewers of
marinated chicken out of tandoors and
sends naan flatbreads out on platters. The
menu is often referred to as “fusion” by
the staff but it’s a term that falls short of
articulating a rich cuisine that is wholly
traditional and simultaneously surprising.
(If there’s any complaint from new diners it
comes from those looking for the same
plate of tikka masala that they’ve eaten
every week, without variation.)
Chaska is party-centric and serves most
dishes in smaller portions akin to shot
glasses of Indian spice. Bright red, sticky
Cauliflower 65 marinade has been
converted into tangy chicken bites with
mint sauce ($12), calamari is cooked with
curry leaves and mustard seeds ($13) and
brussels sprouts are roasted with coconut
and lime ($11). If you’re lucky there’ll be a
special such as lotus root on the menu as
well — the world’s most decorative fried
chips served with sweet chili and scallions.
Dishes are more interpretive than at
Dhar’s other outposts, the menu playfully
acknowledging American cuisine and
reading it through a South Asian lens.
You think pizza is only America’s adopted
child? Cinnamon-spiced steak and
madras masala seafood are right at home
on doughy discs of naan ($14). But Chaska
is always true to itself, the scales
perennially tipping Indian culture. So
while some dishes seem to suggest a
culinary assimilation — pork ribs in chili
sauce ($14), swordfish tacos ($14), chili
cheese toast ($11) — everything eats like
an Indian meal prepared from an
international farmers market.
*** +
CHASKA
16 Midway Rd., Cranston, 537-7900
chaska-usa.com
Open daily for lunch and dinner; also takeout.
Wheelchair accessible. Lot parking.
Reservations required.
CUISINE
Indian through a New England lens.
CAPACITY
With social distancing, twenty-five to
thirty inside; thirty-six outside.
VIBE
Curry Leaves of Grass.
PRICES
Appetizers $8–$16; entrees $18–$28;
dessert $8.
KAREN’S PICKS
Close your eyes and point; everything
is worth ordering.
KEY
Very Good
Excellent + Half-star
* Fair ** Good ***
****
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l AUGUST 2020 75