"Aside from Oscar Isaac and Michelle Zauner from Japanese Breakfast, few of us are having as triumphant a year as the team behind Semma. After opening Dhamaka on the LES, they recently unveiled an exceptional new West Village spot where their restaurant Rahi used to be. Semma focuses on South Indian regional specialties typically made in rural home settings rather than in big-city restaurants, like a crispy gunpowder dosa served with brothy lentil soup we’d like to eat for lunch at our desk every Wednesday. The dishes we’re most jazzed about, though, are the ones no other NYC places offer, like soft snails taken out of their shells and mixed with fiery tamarind and ginger, or a vat of tender venison drenched in a dark brown sauce that tastes like clove and smoke. If you’re someone who prioritizes seafood and using crustacea to coerce your date into falling in love with you, call ahead and secure a $115 whole Dungeness crab for the night of your dinner. Semma serves only three to five crabs a night, and we can’t think of any recent restaurant experiences that made us happier than putting on a bib, getting a little violent with a crab’s joints, and eating the incomparable combination of buttery meat and cardamom-heavy chutney over coconut rice." (edited for length) Hannah Albertine The Infatuation @semmanyc photographed for @infatuation_nyc The lineup: * Mulaikattiya Thaniyam (sprouted mung beans) * Nathai Pirattal (Peconic snails) * Gunpowder Dosa (rice & lentil crepe) * Attu Kari Sukka (lamb, black cardamom) * Mirchi Ka Salan (stuffed long peppers) * Chettinad Maan Kari (venison (deer)) * Kanyakumari Nandu Masala (Dungeness crab; limited availability) * Side of Parotta * Aiyo! (Mezcal, red chili, tamarind, lemon) ___ #southindianfood #nyc #southindianfoodlove #southindianfoods #southindianfoodie #southindiancuisine #indianfoodlovers #indianstreetfood #foodloversindia #indianfoodstories #indianfoods #indianchef #indianmeal #indianfoodiye #foodsofindia #indiandish #alootikki #indianfood_lovers #indianfoodlover #biharifood #indianfoodtales #biryanilove #desifoodie #thegreatindianfoodie #platinggoals #newyorkfood #newyorkfoodie #newyorktrip #nycgo