Hellbender’s Chamoy
A salty, sweet, sour, and spicy condiment perfect for summertime
This week’s newsletter starts off with two big words! The first is Hellbender, which is a restaurant in Ridgewood, Queens (the new Bushwick?) that I had been hearing about and had been wanting to try. It is also the name of a weird-looking salamander that I happened to read about just a few days ago in The New York Times. That doesn't explain why a large diorama with a faux cheetah (or is it a jaguar?) dominates the scruffy and casual dining room, but no matter! It’s a cool and memorable name for a cool and memorable restaurant.
The second word is chamoy, which is the name of a versatile Mexican sauce that has its anthropological roots in either China or Japan, depending on who you ask. It’s been present in Mexico for a couple of centuries, but only gained in popularity in the 1970s—perhaps when someone decided to bottle it? You can buy it in a bottle, but I highly recommend making it yourself. One of the many (and more popular) ways to serve it is with fresh fruit. Chamoy is very reminiscent of umeboshi plum, a salty pickled Japanese condiment, but also completely different.
On the very sultry evening when we made a side trip to Hellbender on our journey back from Long Island to NYC, I was grateful to get off the Long Island Expressway just before the next traffic jam. After a bit, we found a parking space (not easy) in this neighborhood that has become the next (somewhat affordable) frontier for the young and creative, amidst an established Queens neighborhood once full of German immigrants. Before that it was farmland that produced a lot of the food that fed the residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
We settled into our seats at the restaurant (which was only mildly air-conditioned), and tucked into some delicious tacos. At some point during the meal, the young and talented chef, Yara Herrera, personally delivered a beautiful plate of watermelon cubes stacked up on each other and drenched in this gorgeous and savory-sweet sauce. I wasn't quite sure what I was eating, but it was one of the most refreshing things I’d ever had. Chamoy is salty, sweet, sour, and just a tiny bit spicy.
I wasn't expecting to be VIP’d, but apparently Yara keeps an eye on who’s coming in. I was flattered that she knew who I was and wanted to kick our dinner up a notch, which she definitely did. The dish wasn't calling my name from the menu, but it was the perfect thing to send out as an extra. Light and refreshing, fruity and cool. It was just what the doctor ordered.
Yara generously shared this recipe with us. I asked her some of her favorite ways to use it, aside from over fresh fruit (mango is another good choice) with a squeeze of lime (and some of the grated zest) and sprinkled with Tajín, the salty chile condiment that you might find in your supermarket. She also recommends drizzling it over potato chips or adding to micheladas or Bloody Marys. I tried it as a marinade for grilled chicken breasts yesterday, and it would also be good on pork. Some recommend using it as a dip for raw vegetables. The recipe makes a fair amount, but luckily it keeps well in the fridge or freezer, or makes a good gift. I plan to give one of my jars away!
Hellbender’s Chamoy
Adapted from Hellbender in Queens, NY