Southeast Asian food with unusual updates to tradition mark the food at Nemesis.
Open just two months, Nemesis took off from the first night and has been packing them in ever since for some very exciting Asian food you won’t find anywhere else and more resembles the kind of tantalizing street food found in the night markets of Bangkok and Taipei.
The name may be a tad off-putting, given that nemesis means an archenemy, but the owners—Rudi Jan, Renk Dong, Jane Rotari, Nick Hwang and Alexander Lee, with Executive Chef Francis Tanrantana powering the kitchen—is meant to convey in some way that their restaurant is “coming back with a vengeance” after Covid. No matter, the reception and staff is very friendly and they very much care what you think of the unusual food. Thai-born Tanrantana , previously at Nowon and Tong in Brooklyn, has a deft hand with seasonings and heat and takes requests seriously. He has a lot of surprise in store for the adventurous gourmand. This also goes for beverage director Nick Hwang’s exotic cocktails. (One snafu when we visited on a night when the bartender was overwhelmed was that our cocktails took a half hour to arrive, after food was already on the table.)
Marble tables and Alan wall motifs of natural vegetation show refinement without posh.
The atmosphere is warm, live plants plaster the brick walls beneath a skylight, and the rear room can get loud only because of the people enjoying themselves, but by nine o’clock things quiet down.
Everything is meant to be shared, and portions are large indeed, starting with some Asian tapas items. The menu is Pan-Asian but the focus is on Thai delicacies with regional underpinnings. Most unusual are the spiced corn ribs ($14) that are really corn cobs with a cilantro-tamarind glaze. I tried to eat the cob—wrong move! —learning to gnaw the kernels off the cob.
Sambal skate is crisply fried and the bones are meant to be consumed.
Tiger prawn lumpia is Filipino derived ($17), the large shrimp stuffed with chopped pork in a spring roll wrapper on a bed of banana ketchup. I hadn’t expected to see skate on such a menu and was happy it was, as a sambal of marinated fish, roasted with a glaze ($32). This time I was correct in eating the crackling fish bones on the dish that provided a snap and unexpected texture. Jungle chicken thigh is richly spiced and tinged by turmeric ($18) simmered in consommé with soy sauce and chili, and, if you like beef tongue, Nemesis’s version is out of the ordinary, marinated in Thai spices with a cabbage slaw ($22). It’s a bit chewy but very good.
Tender shu mai dumplings are filled with various ingredients like tiger shrimp.
I crave shumai dumplings and those made here with tiger shrimp, masagon shiitakes, corn and chili ($16) are steamed and juicy.
I loved the crab fried rice ($32) of Alaskan snow crab with aromatic spices and a fried egg with spring onions and Thai seafood sauce, and even after helping myself to two heaping servings, there was plenty to take home. One cannot fail to have noodles in an Asian restaurant, and we ordered the “drunken” noodles ($25), pad kee mao, a very spicy and filling street food.
Night market noodles are of the kind eaten as street food in the evening at outdoor stalls.
“Crying tiger steak” ($39) packed a real punch as a grilled skirt steak that had a pleasing chewiness to it, lashed with chimichurri and served with crisp fingerling fried potatoes.
The desserts like flan and cheesecake are not memorable.
New York now abounds with similar Asian restaurants in every borough, but few so unique in showcasing unusual dishes cooked with care and respect for a tradition that is now settling in to the city’s foodscape.
NEMESIS
30 East 20th Street
917-838-0827
Nemesis is open for dinner and dinner Tues. – Sun.; Brunch: Sat. & Sun.
