Slideshow

Can Pranna Be the Sapa of the Flatiron District?

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We’ll give ’em points for creative PR — instead of farm-to-table, Pranna, which soft-opened yesterday, is hyping its “bike-to-table” offerings. After leaving Sitar, his family’s Indian restaurant in Huntington, chef Chai Trivedi went on a six-month motorcycle odyssey across Southern Asia and came back with some cool Buddhist tats — and inspirations for menu items like San Luam fried chicken (he picked up a taste for it in Bangkok), dried shrimp (from Laos and Cambodia), and whole roasted fish (from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand). Trivedi got deep into satay, too, and is offering a serious array of meat-on-a-stick options for office parties spilling in for after-work cocktails. We’ll see whether his dinner menu, which was also shaped by a recent stint at Sapa, can elevate his profile above that of Pranna’s pastry chef, Jehangir Mehta of Graffiti. In the meantime, have a look at architect Wid Chapman’s handiwork.

Pranna, 79 Madison Ave., nr. 28th; 212-696-5700

Can Pranna Be the Sapa of the Flatiron District?