Evening Roundup: Cuomo Gets Endorsement From Opponent in NYC Mayor’s Race, a Moment for South Indian Food, and Horseshoe Crab Love on City Beaches

Janae Pierre: Former Governor Cuomo gets an endorsement from his opponent in New York City's mayor race. South Indian food is having a moment in the city, and horseshoe crab love on city beaches. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Janae Pierre. Democratic candidate Jessica Ramos is endorsing her opponent, Andrew Cuomo, in New York City's mayor race. Ramos had previously criticized Cuomo over his record as governor, citing his handling of coronavirus and multiple women's sexual harassment allegations.

In 2021, she called for him to resign. Last December, she called him a "remorseless bully." Now, the progressive state senator says Cuomo is the best candidate to run New York City because of his experience.

Jessica Ramos: But we need much more than affirmative politics. Those are just not enough to run the greatest city in the world.

Janae Pierre: A spokesperson for Ramos' campaign says she is staying in the mayor's race, and Cuomo told reporters he's not cross endorsing her. Early voting in the Democratic primary starts on June 14th. With the weekend just around the corner, you may be thinking about grabbing a bite somewhere. Well, consider South Indian food. It's having quite a moment in New York City these days. WNYC's Ryan Kailath joined me to talk all about it. He starts the conversation describing what sets South Indian cuisine apart from other parts of India.

Ryan Kailath: So it's useful to think of India, not as a country with different states like the US, but as a continent with different countries in it. I mean, the food and the language is going to be as different in North India and South India as it is in Russia and Southern Italy. It's just an entirely different world. In the US and in New York, when we think of an Indian restaurant, we typically think of Mughlai cuisine. This is influenced by Muslims who immigrated to North India ages ago. This is the butter chicken, the saag paneer, the chicken tikka masala.

South Indian food could not be more different. It's tropical. It's rice paddies more than fields of grain. You're not going to see too much bread. There's no naan, there's no tandoori. It's a lot of yogurts. It's a lot of fresh vegetables, much more fish than meat or poultry. South Indian cuisine that people will be familiar with certainly is the dosa, the huge sort of rice and lentil flour crepe, but that's just a small portion of the many, many amazing food served in South India. The flavor profile is sort of more similar to a Malaysian or maybe even a Southern Thai food than it is to that butter chicken Mughlai cuisine.

Janae Pierre: All right, so this week, the New York Times named Semma, New York's best restaurant. Ryan, tell me about this spot and their menu.

Ryan Kailath: Yes, so there's been a ton of ink spilled about Semma. Getting number one on the New York Times 100 Best Restaurants in New York is certainly going to keep the attention coming. It's already impossible to get a table, but yes, Semma is amazing. It's a Tamilian chef from the southern state of Tamil Nadu in South India. His name is Vijay Kumar. I actually knew his old restaurant in California because it's near my parents' house where I grew up and we used to love going there.

It's been exciting to see him come to New York and win a million awards. James Beard, I think he's got New York's only Michelin star for an Indian restaurant. He does exactly what I want. It's the kind of food you see in a million home kitchens and home dining rooms if you're South Indian, but that you never see in restaurants. I've spent almost 20 years looking now and have found this kind of food in so few restaurant menus. He's doing it in the West Village at Semma. It's the same kind of South Indian flavors that we've been talking about.

Janae Pierre: Well, you said that it's nearly impossible to get a reservation now at Semma. Talk about the other restaurants that are sharing this moment for South Indian cuisine.

Ryan Kailath: I definitely have to shout out the OGs. These are the places that over the past 20 years, I've been hunting down. It's mostly no frills, steam table, often lunch buffet kind of way out Far Eastern Queens or 90 minutes away in New Jersey, because again, there isn't the same audience for this cuisine, or at least there didn't used to be until now. One, I want to shout out is called Taste of Kerala Kitchen. That's in Floral Park or near there, Queens. They have a lunch buffet on the weekends with food from Kerala, the state where I'm from. That is just amazing.

There's a place in New Jersey called Kochi. It's more sit-down à la carte, not a lunch buffet, but also delicious. There are some new spots in Manhattan also, closer in.

Janae Pierre: Oh, nice.

Ryan Kailath: There's a great place in Flatiron called Kanyakumari, which focuses on dishes from all of South India. In fact, the menu is organized as sort of a trip down the coast, so you get a dish from each city or region as you travel down.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Ryan Kailath. You can read more about the explosion of regional Indian cuisine in New York on our news site Gothamist. It's not Valentine's Day, but love is certainly in the air at New York City beaches. Horseshoe crab love, that is. More on that after the break.

Kid Voice: You're listening to WNYC.

Janae Pierre: Long before dinosaurs roamed the earth, horseshoe crabs were crawling along beaches. Scientists call them living fossils. Over the last century, the 12-legged arthropods have declined by about 70% in New York-New Jersey Harbor. Recent data show New York City beaches are the site of a surprising conservation success story. WNYC's Rosemary Misdary joins ecologists surveying horseshoe crabs along Plumb Beach in Brooklyn.

Rosemary Misdary: On the side of the Belt Parkway, ecologists and volunteers gather on a narrow strip of sandy beach. Ann Seligman is site coordinating.

Ann Seligman: It's a pretty high, high tide. It's almost a kilometer walk. We're going to walk down to the jetty. Does everybody have headlamps?

Rosemary Misdary: It's mating season for horseshoe crabs. Under a full moon, thousands of the 10-eyed creatures are coming ashore. Multiple males are stuck to single females. They will remain attached for the entire mating season from May through June. Matthew Sclafani is a marine educator at the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Matthew Sclafani: It's a bar scene, yes. It's typically three to one males to females in this area. Sperm is cheap.

Rosemary Misdary: Scientists doing the annual count to Plumb Beach have recently recorded higher numbers after decades of sharp declines. Katherine Chen is a scientist with the New York City Bird Alliance.

Katherine Chen: They're millions of years old, but they are facing threats. Part of that comes from habitat loss. Part of that comes from over harvesting.

Rosemary Misdary: The pharmaceutical industry uses the crab's blood in testing for toxins in medical products, such as vaccines. Statewide, commercial take is limited to 150,000 per year.

Katherine Chen: Because of data that we are collecting here and elsewhere, there are horseshoe crab limits that get put in place to help prevent over harvesting.

Rosemary Misdary: The data collected on sites like Plumb Beach is vital to conservation efforts. Ecologists do more than just count crabs. After surveying the shoreline, volunteers lay out a tarp on the beach. They carry horseshoe crabs out of the water for measurements, noting gender, age, and condition of its shell.

Katherine Chen: Sorry, buddy.

Matthew Sclafani: What is that? 20.1.

Ann Seligman: 20.1, and then what's the-- Is it male or female?

Katherine Chen: It's a male.

Ann Seligman: Shell condition is what, three? Look how dark he is.

Rosemary Misdary: Before they return the crabs to the ocean, scientists tag them.

Katherine Chen: Ready for this one?

Ann Seligman: Yes. That's 557. I got it.

Katherine Chen: Okay. This one can go back.

Rosemary Misdary: Last year, a coalition of advocates and scientists petitioned the federal government to designate horseshoe crabs as endangered. The application is still pending. The State Department of Environmental Conservation prohibits any harvesting of horseshoe crabs during peak mating season. Sclafani says horseshoe crab regulations in New York waters appear to be working even as the overall population declines in the Atlantic Ocean.

Matthew Sclafani: We're starting to see some positive trends the last 5 to 10 years in almost all of the areas that we're monitoring, so that's really encouraging. Jamaica Bay has been showing a slow and steady increase over the last 5 years, the last 10 years, for sure.

Rosemary Misdary: The 2023 Jamaica Bay survey counted nearly 40% more crabs than the previous year. Chen says protecting horseshoe crabs is critical to bird conservation.

Katherine Chen: They play a very important ecological function in our ecosystems. Some birds can even double or triple their body mass when they're gorging themselves on these horseshoe crab eggs. It's a really important fuel source for them to be able to make it for the rest of their migratory journey.

Ann Seligman: What have we got, ma'am?

Rosemary Misdary: Ecologists say it will be another three years before they can truly assess the success of current conservation efforts, but advocates point to the growing population as a reason for more restrictions. Some are pushing for a complete ban of harvesting horseshoe crabs in New York waters.

Katherine Chen: Ooh.

Ann Seligman: Oh my God.

Katherine Chen: It's blue.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Rosemary Misdary. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Have a lovely weekend.

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