CHENNAI GARDEN

He says:

I’ve been given all sorts of advice about dining in New York City, but this one is probably the best: When eating Indian food, trust the Indians. My mother heard from an Indian friend (who heard from her Indian friends) that Chennai Garden has the best dosas in the city. You know what? They’re right.

I’ve often found the dosas in other Indian restaurants dry and tasteless. Not so at Chennai Garden. Their golden-brown dosas are crispy and delicate, like thin, oversized crepes. Folded inside is an excellent filling of potatoes, fried onions, and spices. My potato filling came mashed together with mushrooms and was utterly sublime. I haven’t had an Indian dish this remarkable in years. The curry soup on the side is terrific for dipping. Even better is the coconut chutney, which provides a sweet, creamy counterpoint to the potato filling’s spiciness.

She says:

It’s true, the dosas are delicious, and you really can’t go wrong with the filling. Mine had spinach and was great, but even better was Downtown Boy’s mother’s selection, the Mysore Dosa, which had an extra kick of spice. We finished off with an order of kulfi (excellent) and rasmalai (decent).

We say:

If you don’t believe us, believe the Indians: these dosas are dynamite.

Chennai Garden

129 E 27th St, New York 10016

(212) 689-1999

DESI SPICE

She says:
We should have known that it would be too good to be true to have a fantastic Indian restaurant next door to the nearby Midtown Art Cinema. We’ve walked past Desi Spice dozens of times on the way to the movies without even noticing it, but we recently stopped by with my brother and his wife one night before a show. After all, you never know when there might be a hidden gem right in your own backyard. As it turns out, though, it couldn’t have been much worse.

He says:
Dinner got off to a shaky start when I ordered a mango lassi that was so sickeningly sweet that I couldn’t finish it. It was like drinking honey.

Our group split the vegetarian sampler for four, which includes samosas, fried onions, dal, saag paneer, two types of vegetable curry, naan, and rice. The samosas were solid though they left a bit to be desired. The outer pastry was nice and thick, but the potato and peas within didn’t stand out in any way.

The rest of the entrees in the sampler suffered from a fatal flaw – the complete absence of any spice. This is all the more peculiar since “spice” is in the name of the restaurant. It seems that Desi has so thoroughly Americanized its dishes that this “Indian” cuisine no longer tastes Indian. In fact, it doesn’t taste like anything at all.

She says:
Agreed. The dal was the only edible dish, probably because it’s the only dish you wouldn’t expect to be spicy. The other dishes – a vegetable curry, sag paneer, and some other forgettable dish with veggies – were completely bland. Coupled with the fact that most of the veggies (and the paneer) were overcooked, this meal could have been repackaged and sold as baby food.

As we were leaving, my sister-in-law took another look at the menu. At the bottom it read “If you like spice, please tell your waiter.” Wait a second… Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Isn’t Indian food supposed to have some kick?

We say:
Desi “Spice” is unfortunately lacking.




Desi Spice
931 Monroe Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
http://www.desispiceatl.com/

BHOJANIC

He says:
In the world of dashed hopes, there are letdowns, and then there are letdowns. I am sorry to report that Bhojanic falls into the second category, which is unfortunate because I really want to like – and recommend – this north Indian restaurant. Heaven knows Atlanta needs some good South Asian food.

Earlier this year Uptown Girl and I took Indian cooking classes at Cooks Warehouse with Archna Becker, and after 3 hours of crazily running around the communal kitchen trying to keep pace with Archna’s madcap exuberance, we feasted on some of the freshest and best Indian cooking I’d ever had. At the end of the meal, Archna told us to visit her family’s restaurant, Bhojanic, where the food was even better than what we’d just tasted. Needless to say, we were thrilled to drive over to Decatur to try the finest Indian cuisine in Atlanta!

She says:
At Bhojanic, you won’t find the garish decorations typical of Indian restaurants; instead, live jazz, colorful décor, and a front patio attempt to make the dining experience a bit more modish. Happy in our outdoor seats, we so wanted to love Bhojanic!

We started with the samosa chat, which was a potato samosa topped with yogurt, tamarind chutney and mint chutney. Although the samosa was on the bland side, the chutneys and yogurt added an interesting tangy and sour relish. We also tried the daal canai (lentil of the day); it tasted like a watery bowl of unflavored black beans and so we left it mostly untouched.

For entrees, rather than eating family style, you create your own platter and pay according to how many meat and vegetable dishes you choose from the menu of specials. Downtown Boy and I both got the punjabi, which included one meat dish and one vegetable dish, along with rice pullao, chapati, pappadam, raita, and salad. For the meat, we both ordered the chicken tikka masala, remembering how scrumptious this dish turned out during our cooking class. Unfortunately, Bhojanic’s version wasn’t nearly as good as Archna’s. The chicken that was so fresh and spicy the first time was now goopy and tired. As for my veggies, the okra I ordered was so salty that it was inedible. Fortunately, the waiter had accidentally delivered the wrong platter, so I also ended up with chickpeas, which turned out to be the best dish of the night.

He says:
I agree with Uptown Girl. Overall, the food was underwhelming in terms of flavor. In fact, I don’t even remember much about my side items, they were so boring. Another oddity was that the meal was served on a stainless steel tray, like something you’d see in the mess hall of the Citadel.

After such a disappointing appetizer and dinner, Uptown Girl and I opted to skip dessert. Can you blame us?

We say:
Alas, the search for great Indian in Atlanta continues …



Bhojanic
1363 Clairmont Road, Decatur,GA 30033
http://www.bhojanic.com/

PUNJAB

He says:
Uptown Girl can attest that whenever we try a new South Asian restaurant, whether we’re in Atlanta or Seattle or Washington D.C., at some point in the meal I will inevitably say, “It’s still not as good as Punjab!” I probably sound like a broken record, but you would too if you’ve ever eaten at this legendary hole-in-wall.

It is fairly well-known around Brooklyn that at lunchtime, 691 Coney Island Avenue is jam-packed with double-parked taxicabs, full of Pakistani drivers stopping for their lunch break. It certainly says something when cabbies, who can drive to eat wherever they want, will head deep into Flatbush for quality food. In fact, if I recall correctly, my father first heard about Punjab via a recommendation from a taxi driver.

Punjab is not much to look at, which isn’t surprising since Flatbush is the kind of neighborhood that has more collision shops than Starbucks. Back in the day the restaurant only had one Formica table (always greasy), and naan was cooked by throwing the dough against the walls of a brick oven coming out of the floor like a well. It would appear that Punjab is doing better these days because now they actually have multiple tables and chairs and tiles on the floor. It’s not much, but hey, you don’t go to Punjab for aesthetics.

She says:
I have to admit, I was a little doubtful about Punjab… and it wasn’t so much the spare setting, but the fact that we ordered our food at a counter by pointing at pots full of unidentifiable (and not completely appetizing) medleys of meat and sauce. But all doubts were laid to rest as soon as I took my first bite of vegetable samosa. The pastry shell that enveloped the spiced potatoes and veggies was substantial and crunchy, much like a very good pie crust. Delicious! They were easily the best samosas I have ever tasted. The one other vegetarian dish they had – a saucy chickpea dish – was also excellent.

The rest of the food followed suit. As expected from Pakastani food, all of the food was well-spiced, heavy on the meat, and rich (as well as cooked in an ungodly amount of oil, although it didn’t taste oily).

He says:
The lamb curry at Punjab is the standard by which all others are judged, and to this day I still have not found its equal. The thick curry swarms with oil, robust spices, and gigantic chunks of meat, which are still on the bone. Keeping the bones in the curry may very well be the secret to this dish because the resulting intensity and gaminess of the lamb is simply awesome.

Likewise the grilled chicken tikka and chicken kababs were spicy – hot, but not too hot – and surprisingly tender on the insides. We polished off the meal with Ras malai, which are balls of ricotta cheese soaked in sweet, thickened milk and cardamom. They were firm enough not to crumble in the bowl, yet retained their velvety mouth-feel. Even Punjab’s desserts can knock it out of the park!

She says:
In general, Pakistani food is too meat-heavy for my taste, but I’d say this is as good as it’s ever gonna get.



He says:
Can you tell that I love this place? For me, Punjab sets the standard for South Asian cuisine.



Punjab Restaurant
691 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218
(718) 856-6207

PANAHAR

She says:
It seems as though everyone in Atlanta either loves or hates Panahar. Reviews on CitySearch range from calling the Bangladeshi restaurant “homey” and “one of the best restaurants in Atlanta” to warning: “If you or your parents are from the Indian subcontinent or ANYWHERE in South Asia (or just know authentic when you taste it) DO NOT GO HERE!!!” Similarly, reports on the service either tout it as incredibly attentive or excruciatingly slow.

First conclusion: the service is excruciatingly slow. We arrived on a Saturday evening around 8:00, assuming that a restaurant in a Buford Highway strip mall wouldn’t have a problem finding seats for two. Guess we assumed wrong. The owner chided us for not making reservations. But he also said he could seat us in 15 minutes. After 30 long minutes we were finally seated. (During this time we came to our second conclusion, that the irate CitySearch reviewer’s warning had in fact been heeded: there was no one of South Asian descent anywhere near this place.)

But Panahar’s service is also incredibly attentive. Almost to a flaw. The owner, Mirza, is a tad on the overbearing side, and, acting as host, waiter, and your new best friend, is hard to avoid. When I asked what type of sauce had come with our appetizer, he elaborately described exactly how the sauce was made, detailing each of the 10 or so ingredients. Later on, as we paid our bill, he presented us with a coupon and proceeded to explain no fewer than 6 times that it could be used unlimited times. This type of service can go either way – it’ll either make you feel right at home or slightly violated.

He says:
Personally, I’m offput by Mirza’s enthusiasm. The first time I ate at Panahar was a slow Wednesday evening when he hovered over our table, insisting we order mango lassi and lauding the deliciousness of his chicken curries. I find this strange since curries are where Panahar stumbles the most; all the ones I’ve tried are goopy and generic. On that first visit Mirza also insisted that we order the cheese naan (a truly horrendous suggestion by the way – slices of American cheese baked onto naan? WTF?!), and afterwards he stood over our table for a good 45 seconds grinning like a fool while we sampled it.

Fortunately I find Mirza handles certain dishes better than he does personal space. On Saturday we started with an appetizer plate of pakoras, chicken shingaara, and vegetable shingaara (shingaaras are similar to samosas). The chicken shingaara lacked real flavor, but the vegetable one had a tasty potato, pea, and herb stuffing with an outer shell fried to a pleasant crisp.

For the main course I ordered the chicken tikka, which comes sizzling on a cast iron pan with a generous helping of onions. Indian restaurants often over-grill their breast meat, leaving them dry and tough, but Panahar got it just right. The meat is seasoned as well as one can hope for, neither too mild nor too hot.

She says:
I was happy to see one of my favorite Indian dishes on the menu, Matar Paneer, which I had been craving for weeks. Although I’ve had better versions, I’ve also had far worse. The sauce was creamy and pleasantly seasoned, though it was a little heavy on the peas and light on the cheese.

We say:
Panahar’s food is nothing mind blowing, but since options for South Asian food are limited in Atlanta (and since we have a coupon we can use unlimited times), we might go back. After making reservations, of course.

She says:



He says:
Because of Mirza …



Panahar
3377 Buford Hwy. Suite 1060, Atlanta, GA 30329
http://www.panahar.com