Tarfia Faizullah + Sherkaan
“Ya just can’t deal with another stranger’s surprise at yr love of both tequila and mango lassis,” Tarfia Faizullah writes, deadpanning over the microaggression. The Detroit-based Bengali American poet molds language to call out cruel truths. War, gender violence, systemic racism: she names them with hypnotic rhythm and stinging humor. “Your English is great! How long have you been in our country?” she begins “Self-Portrait as Mango.” She pictures ramming fruit down the crass character’s throat. By the poem’s end, rage roils to flash-eyed pride. “My own sunset-skinned heart waiting to be held and peeled...This is the only way to eat a mango.”
Read Faizullah—or listen to her poetry set to chill beats through a collaboration with producer Brooklyn Shanti— at Sherkaan, a new New Haven restaurant that reframes flavors. Think you know what mangos taste like? Sherkaan whips them into ice cream draped with jaggery caramel and pistachios. It glows pale orange like a summer thunderstorm; it thickly coats spoons. The dish is a complexity of tart tang, floral pine, and saline, with those earthy pistachios crisping the smoothness like hard words against a sleek melody.
Well before dessert, Sherkaan’s owner Ankit Harpaldas aims to change assumptions about Indian cuisine by moving away from British-influenced dishes, like spicy vindaloos, and toward cooking that reflects a vibrant and fun heritage. The menu accentuates central and south Indian street food with twists: Buddha’s hand raita, apple pickles, chaat dogs, apricot rosemary naan.
Roger Gross is equally passionate about mashing up classics on his cocktail and mocktail lists (Sherkaan ensures that Sikh, Muslim, and other abstaining guests can also enjoy enticing drinks). To build the beverage program, he sourced ingredients from Bharat Bazaar and the India Farmer’s Market in Orange. He mixes his own chai, syrups, gastriques, and shrubs. Rooh Afza, homemade from petals, rose and kewra essence, and hibiscus, glazes one glass, while another holds saffron-tinged basmati horchata in a salute to kheer. You’ll hear calls for both lassis and tequila at the bar. Order one of each.
4/18/2019