Tag: NPR

NPR Shows Some Love to Himalaya, One of Houston’s Culinary Jewels

You’ve all read about my visits to Kaiser Lashkari’s little restaurant in a strip mall off of busy Interstate 59; Himalaya is one of my favorite restaurants in Houston, and if I don’t have my fix of saag paneer and masala fried chicken — not to mention chicken hara masala, goat biryani, and chicken fried steak — at least once every three weeks or so, the withdrawal symptoms get bad. The saag paneer is, bar none, the best I’ve had anywhere, including versions served to me in several cities in India and any number cooked by Indian mothers. Himalaya is on The Brockhaus’ Top Restaurants in the World List, and is nearer the top of that roster than it is the bottom. It is the real thing.

National Public Radio has now joined the Himalaya bandwagon, and on Sunday morning aired a visit by Lulu Garcia-Vavarro to the restaurant. If you have not had the pleasure of tasting Kaiser’s food or hearing him hold forth on food and business and life, give the NPR segment a listen by clicking here. Then, take a drive to the Hillcroft area and sit down to some of the best food in Texas. Tell Kaiser I sent you. (And if you don’t know, Himalaya is BYOB, so chill some Riesling and make it a feast.)

Songs of the Lives They Lived: A Voice From My Past

Jascha Hoffman, right, and Spiff Wiegand play at Subterranean Arthouse in Berkeley in 2012. (www.architecture.com)

Jascha Hoffman, right, and Spiff Wiegand play at Subterranean Arthouse in Berkeley in 2012. (www.architecture.com)

When I was the copy chief at The New York Sun I hired a few freelancers; one of them was Jascha Hoffman. I enjoyed talking with him; he was interested in literature and music and science, and we discussed those topics, and more. He was energetic and ambitious. I lost track of him when I left the paper and moved to Paris for a job, but thought of him at times when I read or heard something in which I thought he would be interested.

This morning I heard his voice again, after an absence of 15 years. His latest album is out, and NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday ran a segment on it – the songs are based on obituaries Hoffman wrote. It was a nice reunion for me, and if you follow this link you can get The Afterneath for a great price. Give it a listen. And Jascha, it was nice talking with you.

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