The Girl Who Ate Everything

Unnecessary introductory note: Oh hi. It's been a while. :( As usual, I don't have a good reason for why it's been a while. My not-so-good reason is that about a month ago I decided to watch an episode of Parenthood on Netflix. In the ensuring 28 days, I consumed all five seasons of the show. Now I've left with that empty feeling that only comes when your continuous outpouring of emotional energy into a fictional family's problems and victories comes to an abrupt end.

Q: How do you make Japanese curry taste even better?

C: Stick it in a casserole, top it with a raw egg and grated cheese, and bake it until the egg is set and the cheese is gooey and crisp.

It's a trick question, because all of these answers are correct. ...But especially C. Just look at this thing:

Crusty bubbly cheese tendrils are the best tendrils.

This is the baked curry from Curry-Ya in the East Village. Before I tried the baked curry, I thought of Curry-Ya as the place to go to if I wanted to ladle Japanese curry out of my own personal cast-iron pot onto my rice/meat however I please. This desire rarely presents itself. As much as I love being the master of a mini ladle—don't we all?—I'm quite content with eating curry that is already portioned out as a brown pool touching a mound of rice.

Berkshire pork katsu curry featuring a trio of awkward string beans.

It wasn't until this past February when my friend Christine shared her baked curry with me that I found the real draw of Curry-Ya. For an extra $3.50, Curry-Ya will top your curry and rice with shredded cheddar cheese and a raw egg and bake it all into a mini-casserole of gooey-and-crisp, cheesy, eggy goodness. It goes a little something like this: