Photo Of The Day: Delhi Train

This Delhi train shot by Flickr user clee130 is moody and atmospheric. Devoid of color, it is easily distinguished from typical images of India, which turn on vibrant energy. This snapshot of India feels quiet, pensive and utterly subdued.

The image also leaves me with at least two unanswerable questions. Where is this kid going and where did he get that awesome shirt?

Upload your best moody trains photos to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr. We choose our favorites from the batch to be Photos of the Day.

Photo Of The Day: Vendor In Delhi

Street vendors – you seem them everywhere. From the newsstands of Las Ramblas in Barcelona to the Pad Thai carts of Bangkok, street side commerce is an inevitable, enjoyable part of daily urban life for most of the world. In today’s photo, taken by Flickr user clee130, we find a balloon and toy seller in New Delhi, India. The bright colorful orbs create a striking visual focal point to the image. The man’s comical devil ears add another element of whimsy to the scene.

Taken any great travel photos of your own? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

Photo Of The Day: A Glimpse Of The Dargah

Behind a lattice gate at the end of an alleyway in India lies the Sufi Islamic dargah shrine to Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a renowned mystic, saint and scholar. Flickr user The Delhi Way offers us a tantalizing glimpse at what lies inside this sacred space in today’s Photo of the Day, taken in the complex of Qutb on the outskirts of Delhi.

Does your hideaway photo belong here? Upload your favorite travel shots to the Gadling Flickr Pool and your image could be selected as our Photo of the Day.

Pop-up restaurants: dining for a new decade

First, it was underground supper clubs. Now, everything’s coming up pop-ups. As with food trucks, this form of guerrilla cheffing borne of economic need has become a global phenomenon. Equal parts dinner party and dinner theater, a pop-up refers to a dining establishment that is open anywhere from one to several nights, usually in an existing restaurant or other commercial food establishment.

The impermanent nature of pop-ups means no real overhead or utilities, and little food cost and labor. They’re not enough to sustain chefs financially, but are instead a great way for them to make a name for themselves and draw some income in between (or during) gigs. Pop-ups also give chefs a chance to stretch themselves, stylistically or ethnically, although some prefer to let local ingredients shine. Most pop-ups give props to sustainability by sourcing product from local farms, which is part of what gives these fly-by-night operations such a wonderful sense of place.

I first heard about pop-ups while couch-surfing in San Francisco two years ago (my own pop-up form of survival after relocating back to the West Coast from Colorado). Chef Anthony Myint, the brainchild behind SF’s Mission Street Food pop-up, which started in 2008, was serving much-lauded, locally-sourced dinners Thursday nights, each time with the help of a guest chef. The food was unpredictable with regard to cuisine or style. The location? Lung Shan, a nondescript Chinese restaurant in the city’s vibrant Mission District (FYI, my favorite place for great, usually cheap, eats). I remember thinking at the time, “More, please.”Fast-forward 24 months, and while the pop-up is no more, the venture was so successful, Myint is now co-owner of San Francisco’s popular Commonwealth, as well as newly minted (har) chef at the forthcoming Mission Bowling Club. And Joshua Skenes of Saison, one of Food & Wine magazine’s newly crowned Best New Chefs, started the restaurant as a pop-up.

San Francisco has long been an incubator for innovative ideas involving food, so it’s no surprise pop-ups are, ah, popular there (click here for a recent round-up). Meanwhile, fellow 2011 Best New Chef Jason Franey, of Seattle’s Canlis, has also been getting in on the pop-up. In February, he cooked a one-night gig at “Hearth & Home,” held at one of the city’s Macrina Bakery locations (another tip: if you’re in town, visit Macrina in its own right. Four words: chocolate-orange pound cake).

The pop-up trend–which now applies to boutiques, galleries, clubs, coffee houses, and bars–has gone national. Los Angeles, San Diego, New Orleans, Chicago, New York, Boston, Portland (Oregon), Miami: all popular for restaurant pop-ups. Oakland has seen phenomenal response to its Pop-up General Store, which features a twice-monthly gathering of food vendors held at a catering kitchen. Founded by former Chez Panisse Chef Christopher Lee and his former sous chef Saimin Nosrat (of Berkeley’s defunct Eccolo), the venue features all the deliciousness you would expect when a group of mostly former Chez Panisse cooks and food artisans get together and prepare things to eat.

Pop-ups are even crossing the pond. The New York Times reports that, starting today, Singapore is sending some of its top chefs and a pop-up kitchen on a yearlong trip around the world, with nine stops planned in Moscow, Paris, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Delhi, Sydney, and Dubai. Dubbed Singapore Takeout, the goal is to showcase the city’s eclectic, multi-ethnic cuisine. The kitchen is a converted 20-by-eight-foot shipping container. Also hitting the road is chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, Ad Hoc, Bouchon, and Per Se. He’ll be featured in a ten-day pop-up at Harrods, London later this summer.

Tip: Due to the nature of pop-ups, the best way to find them is to Google the words, “pop-up restaurant, ____ (city).” You can also go to Pop up Restaurants for news. Get popping!

Photo of the Day (11.30.10)

India is the seventh largest country by geographical area and with a population of 1.18 billion people, it’s the second most populous nation in the world. With such an immense concentration of people, unique languages, and religious practice, India has a well known reputation for being a little chaotic at times.

I love this photo for the symbolic dichotomy of chaos; masses of people on the streets and a frightening tangle of wire strung up in between crowded buildings. It’s almost as if the wires are delicately holding the buildings together as the crowd bustles, unaware. The photo was captured by Flickr user Trent Strohm in the crowded lanes of Old Delhi.

Have you gotten lost among the crowd in a foreign place? Send us your pictures! Submit to our Flickr group and it may be selected as our next Photo of the Day.