Using Aleppo to Za'atar from Kalustyan's
Editor's note: Please welcome Serious Eats community member BaHa, aka Barbara Hanson, who will be checking in now and again with dispatches about the various little one-of-a-kind food stores and markets in New York. Here is her recipe for A-Z chicken made with spices from Kalustyan's in Murray Hill. --zach
When Kalustyan's was founded in 1944 (sixty-three years after Chester A. Arthur took the presidential oath of office in the same Lexington Avenue building), the focus was on all things Indian, which might still seem true as you first walk inside, and your senses are met by the toasty, familiar smells of curry, Telicherry pepper, and cumin. Look a little further, though, (don’t miss the bin of dried guava, which looks improbably like sliced bologna) and you’ll find the shelves stocked with food from well over forty countries, ranging from Pakistan, Iran, and Lebanon to England, France, and Germany (food, thank goodness, knows no politics). You’ll also discover such hard-to-find items as coconut scrapers and Puck Cream, which is not a sports emollient but a creamed honey from Dubai.
