Duo zeros in on cross-cultural cuisine
Lawrence restaurant's menu features favorite foods of Asia, Pacific Rim
By Jim Baker, Lawrence Journal-World (Wednesday, October 23, 2002)
 
Three years ago, Subarna Bhattachan and Alejandro Lule opened La Parrilla, 814 Mass., a "Nuevo Latino" restaurant specializing in the foods of Latin America. Since then, Lawrence diners have beaten a steady path to their door, having developed an appetite for La Parrilla's hearty rice bowls, empanadas and fish ceviches. The restaurateurs clearly have a hit on their hands. During the lunchtime rush, there's usually a line of customers waiting patiently to order a range of inventive or traditional dishes whose inspiration is derived from many different countries and cultures: Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru. more.......>>>
 

Now and Zen
Zen Zero brings together fare from Nepal, Tibet, Thailand and Japan. 
By Charles Ferruzza
 
Zen has become such a hip word over the past three decades that it's now attached to all kinds of things that have nothing to do with enlightenment, including alarm clocks, acoustic cables, Internet search engines, and rolling papers. In Italian, zen means the same thing it does in English: meditation, coming from the early Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese chín and made famous by the school of Mahayana Buddhism, which, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, "asserts that enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation and intuition rather than faith and devotion."

Zen Zero adds up to thrift
By LAUREN CHAPIN, The Kansas City Star (March 3, 2005)

Whether you're talking cool used clothes at Arizona Trading Co. or the $1 shots and 75 cent draws at the Bottleneck, "good and cheap" has gotta be a KU student mantra. But Kansas being Kansas, restaurants and bars can't do happy hours, so the thrifty and the business-minded must shop around for deals.
Zen Zero, 811 Massachusetts, figures nicely into a college kid's budget. The same guys that own La Parrilla across the street - Alejandro Lule and Subarna Bhattachan - own this styling restaurant that's all about noodles and rice. The menu crisscrosses Southeast Asia, from Japan, Tibet, Thailand and Nepal to Vietnam. Prices range from $5.95 to $11.95 for super-size dishes.
It's a straight shot from the front door, past the bar to the open kitchen. The sounds of metal on metal as chefs scrape spatulas around woks are accompanied by the glorious aroma of stir-fried garlic and ginger. Tables are scattered about the front of the space; other tables front the long wall. Images of Buddhist gods, replicas of temples and other icons line the wall. Whether authentically feng shui, the place is inviting, ethnic and offbeat. more........ >>>