a samosa pizza?!
This is a story all about how a joke got flipped, turned upside-down.
Last year I did an episode of the comedy cooking show Gastronauts for Dropout, hosted by Jordan Myrick. I made the chefs do a dumb challenge where they made a dish named after me. Little did I know my hometown of Philly was watching and wanted to turn this dumb dream into reality?!
Flash forward to tomorrow, 2/25: Queen & Rook board game cafe in Philadelphia is debuting a new pizza called THE REKHA. A dish WITH MY NAME!
It’s a samosa chaat pizza. A sour crust (South Indian food is all about sour), with potato/peas (like in a samosa), channa masala (MY FAVORITE FOOD), cilantro chile chutney, tamarind date chutney, vegan yogurt, bhel & sev (lentil flour crunchies), red onion, and cilantro. 😊
It is salty, sweet, spicy, sour, and everything I love about Indian food but on a pizza. And they are delivering it to me and my friends at Dynasty Typewriter at my show called Rekha and Friends Present the Afterlife.
Here’s a few reasons this pizza is meaningful to me:
1) ACTUAL food fusion feels rare. You’ll find a place that’s “Indian fusion” because they put curry powdre on a vegetable or cheese on a naan. There’s no real love or appreciation for the two cuisines being fused. THIS pizza feels different. There’s a genuine COOL connection between two cuisines in this dish.
2) PHILADELPHIA GOES SO HARD.
I didn’t interact with Philly a lot growing up because AP tests were my life and watching TV was my only hobby. So I’ve been pretty oblivious to the Eagles and the Mummers and the hierarchy of Tastykake pies (I prefer butterscotch krimpets). But through my ludicrously large Philly network in LA am slowly learning. And to feel immediately waved in by this passionate, arty, FERALLY supportive city in my adulthood is amazing.
I saw my name in book once (The Namesake — a random girl in Gogol’s class who didn’t talk) and got emotional. And now A PIZZA IS NAMED AFTER ME? I could cry (but have been raised NOT to).
So stop by Queen & Rook this Tuesday 2/25, and try the Rekha. And if you want to see ME try it, check out the live & livestream show at Dynasty Typewriter that same day.
****If you like me & food, you’ll love my movie. Head to rekhamovie.com and hit “notify me on launch” and be the first to get allllll the info.****
More sooner than you could ever believe —
Rekha/Go Birds