Tamarind

Tuesday night, a couple of my girlfriends and I had planned on attending the launch party of Catch-22.  It was being promoted by a couple of different blogs and sites, but it turned out to suck hard.  Though HB arrived and got on line at 5:45, they didn’t open the doors until 7:30, and the line stretched all the way around the block.  When we got in, the food they were serving was an insult – cucumber julienne with mayo on pieces of stale bread, random crap deep fried, and just… yet another poorly organized event I’ve been to recently.  Anyway, after we walked out, we were hungry – obviously – and decided to wander around and find a place. 

Tamarind immediately jumped out at us, though it was upscale Indian and we all have our preferred dives for Indian.  (HB and I were going about once a week to the same place…)  One of the girls said “Oh! This is Rachael Ray’s favorite Indian restaurant,” we laughed and decided what the heck, let’s give it a whirl.  Maybe we’ll even see Ray Ray!

I was outside taking photos of the place as my friends entered ahead of me.  I found it kind of annoying that during the 30 seconds I was outside, the hostess refused to seat them “until your party is complete.”  She could see me standing outside, through the glass front, but still.  A bit pretentious, considering we were seated as soon as I stepped inside; there was no wait.  There were a decent number of tables around, as well; our table was in a slightly enclosed area on a raised platform.  Very interesting. 

Thankfully, almost immediately after we were seated, a waiter came over to deliver this dish to us.  I couldn’t hear what he said they were, but puff pastry with something inside and a slightly tangy dipping sauce.  The puff itself was a bit dry and bland, but the sauce made up for the dryness.

Inside

We quickly made our choices… and I am shocked and a bit ashamed to say it has been months and I mean years since I did this, but I actually somehow managed to completely forget to take a photograph of my own entree.  Aish.

StB’s bharwan paneer was actually quite tasty.  Each disc of paneer (an Indian cheese) was filled with a slightly creamy substance that lent a lot of flavor to the overal dish.  I must say, normally I’m not a fan of paneer, finding it boring and very tofu-like when I’ve had it in saag paneer in the past, but this was different.  It was like a big disc of mozzarella that had been broiled, but instead of melting into blobs of oil and running all over the place, the paneer held its shape and a surprising amount of flavor.

HB and I consistently order the same thing at our fave Indian dive: chicken korma.  Like me, HB has a standard dish to test out places by; pad thai for Thai places, chicken korma for Indian places (ironic since neither dish is actually authentically representative of that cuisine, but that’s another story).  I tried a bit of the sauce spooned over the rice, and found it super flavorful while not being overwhelmingly creamy or thick – some places make it a bit too milky and thick, almost like its own stew as opposed to a sauce.  This version of korma had a slight kick to it that I found intriguing.

SpB ordered the saag paneer.  I didn’t try any of the paneer in her dish, but I did try a bit of the spinach.  I know she liked it quite a bit, though everyone agreed StB’s paneer dish was by far the better one.  The spinach in this dish was bursting with spices and flavor. 

Though I didn’t manage to get a photograph, since HB had ordered my go-to dish at Indian restaurants, I decided to step slightly out of my comfort zone for Indian food.  I ordered the chicken tandoori, full sized portion so we could all have some.  On our way in, I’d seen the tandoori oven they had – even felt the heat emanating from the monstrous thing – and was curious how well they would be able to cook my chicken.  The chicken was still moist, juicy inside, and the outside was coated in many spices, giving it a slight kick, though nothing I couldn’t handle.  My big disappointment was how difficult it was to eat with a knife and fork – I didn’t feel this was the kind of place I could just use my hands – and that the platter was HUGE.  Why hadn’t the waiter warned me that a full sized portion was 4 pieces, essentially a whole chicken?  I wound up taking half of it home. 

Tamarind rice.

Garlic naan. 

Both of these side dishes were very aromatic and yummy.  My biggest issue here is that StB, who ordered first, ordered these and told the waiter we’d be sharing the naan and the rice.  When he brought them to the table with our entrees, he announced “Here is two portions of rice and two portions of naan.”  We didn’t order two of each.  We didn’t completely finish either, but we ate most of each… Though no matter what, I’d have preferred he suggested this option to us (perhaps we’d have gotten a plain rice and a rosemary naan instead, then, instead of just duplicates).  I didn’t appreciate what felt like bill-inflating to me.  It was a bad assumption on his part and it definitely influenced my feelings on the restaurant.

Yvo says: Overall, the food was mostly tasty.  The bill-inflating was uncool, and the waiters were a bit intrusive in their attentions.  My biggest contention here is that I don’t think it was worth what we paid.  If it was a lot better than other Indian places, then I would be fine paying the $30/person we paid for fantastic Indian food.  (Having written that, I just realized, it wasn’t that expensive, either, per se.)  But the food was just tasty, not “OMG I have to go back” and so I’ll have to dole out yet another mildly recommended rating.
recommended every once in a while, not for regular visits