Illustration: Margalit Cutler
To his followers, Vikas Khanna is a choose on MasterChef India and the proprietor of the acclaimed, reservation-scant Bungalow, which opened within the East Village this previous March. However in actuality, he’s cooked in New York’s kitchens because the early 2000s. Khanna runs Bungalow assiduously, staying up till the nighttime, each evening, to scrub up. When he heads to India subsequent month to shoot a brand new season of MasterChef, it’ll be the longest he’s been away from the restaurant because it opened. For now, although, he stays in New York, working his approach by Bungalow’s Thanksgiving menu — he’s nonetheless attempting to nail down his pomegranate-glazed turkey — and infrequently taking a minute to cease into the brand new Louis Vuitton retailer for some chocolate with a facet of earrings.
Thursday, November 14
Each single day for the final 20 years, I’ve had the identical breakfast: a bowl of oats with chia seeds and almond milk, unsalted blended nuts from Costco, and 4 eggs. Then I’ve a big espresso with almond milk. I’m a pet; I eat precisely the identical issues each single day. My eating regimen could be very unusual. I don’t eat sugar, salt, or something spicy. It permits me an enhanced sense of style.
I eat breakfast at round 10:30, which is later than some, however I normally fall asleep at three within the morning. I at all times keep till near get the kitchen cleaned, so I’m there till the final visitor leaves. I began my first enterprise after I was very younger. Cleansing grew to become a ritual for me. I used to be the proprietor, so I needed to clear all the pieces earlier than I left. In any other case, I’d get very dangerous nightmares that I used to be sitting within the kitchen, and issues had been falling on me.
As I depart, I am going to the deli on forty fourth and Third Avenue and get the identical inexperienced juice that I get each day — celery, carrots, and apples. Right now, I head to Grand Central Fish Market earlier than heading to the restaurant to work on a scallop dish with a yuzu labneh sauce on the brand new tasting menu. Yearly round this time, once we’d get sick as children with a sore throat, our mother would give us boiled milk with turmeric. Most kids in India had that rising up. I took these two issues — one thing lactose-heavy and turmeric-rich — and stated, Let me make a sauce out of that. It’s the same old base sauce, impartial oil, turmeric, ice bathtub, labneh or Greek yogurt, contemporary yuzu juice, sugar, salt. It’s such a shiny sauce. The sauce and scallops are cooked in curry-leaf-infused oil, and so they’re topped with roasted black sesame seeds. It took me seven totally different trials to get to this model of this dish. I add a golden gooseberry salad on the facet.
After I am going to the fish market, I am going to the bakery subsequent to it. I don’t know why, however I get two pecan tarts. They’re superb. I don’t normally eat sugar. It hits me arduous after I take pleasure in it. Commonly consuming sugar is tough for cooks as a result of we’re continually tasting issues; these energy actually add up.
From there, I take a Citi Bike to work. I do this each day. It’s modified my life. It’s the most effective, aside from the loopy folks in East Village, at all times attempting to hit you. Beginning at round 4:30, I style each sauce within the kitchen. I’m very critical about tasting all the pieces each evening. I want all the pieces to be constant. I discovered to be like this from a chef I labored for a few years in the past, Henry Meer, at Metropolis Corridor in Tribeca. He tasted all the pieces, each single day. I simply fell in love with it.
I don’t eat something after that. I at all times drink one massive espresso throughout service — two espresso photographs, one scoop of ice, after which about three to 4 ounces of milk — as a result of I’m the one expediting the meals, and I want espresso with 20 runners in my palms.
I eat dinner like I do each evening, with my accomplice Sam. If he’s not there, I don’t eat dinner. I’m very particular: I’ve six ounces of fish, six ounces of rooster, and one piece of bread made out of roasted chickpea flour. I gained’t eat till the final visitor leaves. There’s no time for me to eat throughout service. The one time I ever would is that if a visitor doesn’t like one thing, wherein case I’ll style it behind the kitchen to see if there was one thing incorrect with it.
I do have an indulgence that I don’t prefer to struggle at this age. I drink this phalsa sherbet — the Indian identify for the fruit is phalsa — that we make on the restaurant. It’s a drink that comes from sherbet berries, a bitter, north Indian selection. We make lemonade out of it after we purée them, and the colour is launched: a dark-pink beetroot. The one we serve has loads of sugar in it, however I make one with much less for myself. It’s nostalgic for me. The berries had been solely ever bought towards the top of spring again dwelling. Once we’d go to our grandparents’ home throughout summer time trip, my grandmother at all times had them. They didn’t have a shelf life, and, by night, we’d must eat all of them. I end cleansing up and go to mattress round 2:30 a.m.
Friday, November 15
I get up round 10:30 and have my similar breakfast: oats with nuts and chia, 4 eggs, and a big espresso. I publish the scallop recipe on my Instagram. (I at all times attempt to do my Instagram posting within the morning.)
I am going to the health club at New York Sports activities Membership on the thirty ninth and Third after which get my inexperienced juice. From there, I trip the Citi Bike right down to the Flower District. I do know folks normally go to the Flower District within the morning, however it’s good to go round 2:30 as a result of they’ll offer you loads of the leftovers. All people prefers shopping for buds in order that they last more, however for our pots on the skin of the restaurant, we want flowers which have already blossomed. I carry them on my bike to the restaurant.
Throughout service, I make myself nearly 100% out there to company, which is a problem but in addition the most effective half. All of it comes from excessive darkness. A few years in the past, my sister took me to a restaurant. We had been enormous followers of the chef, however he refused to return out and meet us. The supervisor stated, “In case you had ordered the tasting menu, my chef would’ve come out,” which actually damage my sister. She made me promise that I wouldn’t prove that approach, and that’s why I converse to nearly 300 folks each single evening.
Tonight, now we have a visitor celebrating her eighty fifth birthday. She is about to begin chemo the following day. Her children are along with her. The following individual at that desk — desk 204, the one with the image of my sister above it — is a pregnant lady, right here from Princeton, New Jersey. She tells me her child is “so completely happy” after she eats.
Saturday, November 16
I get up, have my common breakfast, go to the health club, and bike to the restaurant. I’m desirous to get there as a result of Mysha, my accomplice’s daughter, works there on Saturdays.
Mysha is 16. She has Down syndrome. When she is on the restaurant, my whole coronary heart shifts. Over the summer time, she would come each day of the week, however because the faculty yr began, she solely is available in on Saturdays. She was once very shy, however now she’s the preferred lady on the restaurant. All of the company know her. Some folks know she works on Saturdays and produce her presents. Right now, she helps me put out flowers exterior. Mysha at all times tries to make her week sound further fascinating to me, so she makes up these huge tales about what occurred at school. She talks to me about her dream of opening a doughnut store collectively when she grows up. “It’s going to have numerous cats and canine in it,” she informs me. “Okay, we’ll take it because it comes,” I inform her.
When service begins, she helps with the dessert counter. She makes a mango dessert. At 6:30, we go to say hey to all of the company, and he or she tells them, “Completely satisfied Saturday.” Her favourite dish is lamb chops, and at any time when somebody orders them, she turns into a horrible waiter. One time, her brother was eating within the restaurant and ordered them; after I requested if she may take the dish to his desk, she stated, matter-of-factly, “No.”
We make an Instagram Reel; she tells me what to do. After we are saying hey to everybody, she says goodbye and hugs me twice earlier than she goes — one for me and one other for my sister. When she leaves, the restaurant goes again to being a enterprise; when she’s there, it appears like a temple.
Sunday, November 17
I eat my similar breakfast, go to the health club, after which the identical juice. All people on the deli acknowledges me as a result of I’m that silly New Yorker who eats precisely the identical factor each day, in order that they don’t even must ask for my order.
After I get to the restaurant within the afternoon and it’s time to style all of the sauces, I resolve that for each spoonful, I’ll additionally add one other spoonful to a bowl to trace how a lot sauce I eat in a day. I’m engaged on a Thanksgiving recipe that I’m not pleased with but. It’s a tandoori turkey. We’re utilizing a brine that’s made out of pomegranate molasses, which additionally works as a tenderizer. I have to do one thing totally different from the normal Martha Stewart turkey, and I additionally want it to mirror part of my tradition. For the glaze, I soften an Indian cheese, add contemporary pomegranate juice to it, and scale back it. After I do trials, I do three to 4 variations of all the pieces. I take over all of the counters. Then there are permutations of these mixtures — some have a salad, some have another garnish on prime. If I needed to take care of a chef like myself within the kitchen, continually attempting to rediscover dishes 24 hours a day, I’d be so pissed off.
I get a message from a good friend that Sarah Jessica Parker is coming tonight. Now we have this dessert that I’ve been engaged on that appears like a peacock, and it jogs my memory of that image of her on the Brooklyn Bridge. I make it for her so she could be the primary one to style it. The passionfruit sauce continues to be just a little too candy, so we spend the afternoon making just a few changes.
I had by no means met her earlier than, however my sister, who handed away in 2022, was an enormous fan. She compelled me to undergo all of the episodes of Intercourse and the Metropolis when she was within the hospital. At any time when she would get dangerous information from the medical doctors, we’d watch an episode. Plus, The Satan Wears Prada, which I’ve seen 100 instances. My sister was a clothier, and he or she was obsessive about that film. I do know each phrase. It made her completely happy. My sister met Sarah Jessica at New York Style Week and at all times remembered how good she was. I inform all that to her that evening on the restaurant; it’s all very emotional for me, and he or she’s very courteous.
Monday, November 18
Right now is my mother’s birthday. I begin and finish my days by calling her. All she needs to speak about is Mysha, her past love. I’ve to ship her photos of Mysha; her doing something — even simply respiration — is sufficient. I ship her flowers from New York. If I despatched something extra extravagant, she would say, “You might be losing cash.” I don’t wish to upset her. Making mother completely happy is my first rule in life.
The final time I noticed my mother was when the New York Occasions article got here out concerning the restaurant. I stored it a secret, and I went to India to indicate it to her. She was upset it wasn’t within the native newspaper in our village. I stated, “Mother, that is the Occasions.” She needed it within the native paper so all our family members would name her. On our name, she tells me she doesn’t wish to come to New York this winter. She hasn’t preferred New York since my sister handed away. The final time she got here, she felt down. All the things we did reminded her of my sister. She was a bigger-than-life determine, and with out her, there’s lots to overlook.
The restaurant is closed immediately, however I nonetheless have my similar oats, nuts, and low. Monday is my busiest day. There’s loads of upkeep to do on the restaurant. I additionally do the stock. There’s an enormous shoot arising this week that I’ve to arrange for. Individuals inform me, “It’s best to simply be in mattress after you’re employed 16-hour days.” However days like immediately are vital for a restaurant — they make it easier to iron out your goal.
I eat the identical rooster and fish tonight, however earlier. I am going over to the brand new Louis Vuitton retailer simply earlier than it closes and head to the chocolate counter; I don’t know the way they do it. I assumed I had eaten all the pieces in my life till this. It’s a revelation to me that chocolate could possibly be manufactured from this high quality. I get considered one of all the pieces they’ve. The lady working there, her identify is Asia, speaks a chef’s language. The best way she talks about percentages! The best way they’re making chocolate there needs to be unlawful. They will put everybody to disgrace.
I am going downstairs to get a shock for Mysha: new earrings. The shop is very large; it’s like an amusement park. It’s all superb, however I can’t appear to recover from the chocolate excessive.
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