This Whole Time, The Best Indian Food Has Been Hiding....

......in Florida! Or maybe food just tastes better when you're on vacation?  Anywho, Gabriel and I are visiting my sibs in Jacksonville this week so of course they were obligated to participate in the blog.  My sister Sarah (who doesn't care for Indian food) immediately consulted Yelp (typical first-born), and we settled on the place with the highest ratings.

Sarah, her husband Bryan, their two kids, Lauren and Nate, and Gabe and I loaded up in the van and trotted off to India House. Now lemme just tell ya; this place is PHENOMENAL. I don't know what they put in their food, but everything was amazing. I'm sitting here eating my fantastic leftovers while I write this. It's truly inspiring. ;-)

   

        Before going in, the teenagers stopped to take a shot of their sick "outifts of the day" for instagram. Don't you just love the trash can in the middle of my shot?

Pappadam and sauces were waiting for us on the table upon arrival. The Pappadam was the only bad thing I had at this place. My piece of Pappadam was soggy in some places, stale in others and then had some spots that were just right.  It was like Three Bears Pappadam.

Bryan and I both had the Coconut soup, which the menu described as "Coconut cream, sweetened milk and pistachios, served warm." It's not much to look at, but it was a strange and tasty experience. It was mildly sweet, warm, and full of coconut bits. It was like having a microwaved bowl of coconut gelato (my favorite thing!). I enjoyed it, and Bryan commented that it would be something wonderful to eat when one is not feeling well.

Next came the appetizers; Diwani Kebab and Cheesy Pepper Naan. The Diwani Kebab, "Boneless chicken tenders specially marinated with garlic, ginger and special spices," was so incredibly delicious. It was probably the best Indian dish I have ever had, and everyone at the table gave it rave reviews. Sarah commented that she gave it 5 smiley faces. I didn't try the Cheesy Naan, but it looked so good that it was pretty hard to resist. It very quickly disappeared into everyone's bellies.

Bryan had the Maharaja Thali, the complete King Indian style dinner. We all tried many of the dishes and each one was delicious. Bryan gave it 4.5 smiley faces! To the right are the details of what it included:

Sarah had the Chicken Makhani, "Boneless chicken served with fresh cream, tomatoes, and other special Indian spices." The chicken was very tender, and the sauce was sweet and tangy. She gave it 4 smiley faces!

Nate had the Goat Curry. He said he liked it. He said the meat was tender, but it was not easily removed from the bone (I KNEW it!). He gave it 4 smiley faces. 

Lauren had the Chicken Tikka Masala. When asked about it she gushed, "I LOVED it. Five and half smiley faces! It had just the right amount of heat; not too spicy and the chicken was good, hearty chunks." Gabe had the Chicken Korma.  He ordered medium spice, which they executed perfectly! He said it was awesome and gave 5 smiley faces. While I questioned him about it, Lauren chimed in to add, "But, he liked my Chicken Tikka Masala better, and I liked his equally."  Can you tell we had some ham at our Indian dinner?

Note the goofy cousin photo-bomb behind the Tikka Masala.

                                                                                                           

Here's me, starting a blink, with my Lamb Saag! It was so good that I'll even go so far as to say that it was sofa king good.  It was just SO delicious.  The flavor was amazing. I asked for no spice and they obliged! Although the taste was perfect, I have definitely had lamb that was more tender so I gave it 4 smiley faces.

My parting thought? Too bad my dad missed out on all of this. :)

DETOUR and How I Scored a Better Umbrella

This blog entry serves as a cautionary tale of why it is important, when writing a food blog, to write your entries THE SAME DAY you eat the food. I sat down to write to this post five days after it actually happened and couldn't remember the details of who ate what and how they liked it.  After almost a month of nagging myself about finishing this, I'm just going to publish it with a few "I don't remember"s here and there.

                                     

I recently took a trip to New York City with a group of friends and decided to see how Indian fare in Manhattan compares to what I have been exploring in Omaha in recent weeks.  There were four of us so it worked out that each person got to "play" a member of my family.

We went to a restaurant called Dhaba, on 108 Lexington Avenue, an area where there are MANY Indian restaurants and grocery stores.  This one was recommended on Foursquare as having quality food at reasonable prices.

We arrived at the restaurant in the middle of a thunderstorm.  As a city with very little parking and many who arrive to restaurants on foot or having walked from public transportation, New York City businesses often times have a basket at the entrance where one must leave one's wet umbrella.  Such was the case at Dhaba. We all deposited our umbrellas in the basket and went inside to find a table.

The umbrella that I had packed for this trip was small and purple, and sported a faux-wooden handle. It's not my best umbrella but it fits well in my carry-on.  It leaks, and has a broken rib cleat but as my mom likes to say, "It's good enough for who it's for."

I remember that we ate this FANTASTIC appetizer that was big chunks of Paneer with sauteed peppers and onions and big ole' lemon wedge that I sprayed all over it. It was my only memorable food experience from that night.  Besides some weird little sauce that tasted like ketchup with onions added to it. 

Marti decided to be Ken, and have the Butter Chicken. I don't remember now how many smiley faces she gave it. 

                          

                         Here is Mitsie with her dish.

Who knows what Hillary had, but here is a lovely photo of it. 

I have no idea what I ate either, BUT I do remember one interesting anecdote. Hillary's husband Kieren (he joined us later and I have a pic of him somewhere...) ordered Chicken Madras.  I scoured the menu looking for the description of Chicken Madras but I coulnd't find it!  I asked him where it was and he said, "Oh, it's not on there."  How is that possible?  "Well," replied Kieren, "if there's something you want that's not on the menu, you can just ask them and usually they will make it for you."  MIND BLOWING.  I'm assuming this is limited to Indian dishes but maybe the next time I go out for Indian I will ask if they can make me a hamburger.  Heehee.

And lastly, when we left the restaurant my umbrella was MISSING from the umbrella basket.  At first I was miffed but then I noticed that there was another purple umbrella in the box very much like mine.  So much like mine, that the owner must've confused mine with their's.  The purple umbrella left in the basket was nicer; no leak, no broken rib cleat, and a lovely plastic purple handle.  I was quite pleased that someone accidentally stole my umbrella.

I hope my companions from this excursion will fill in some of the missing details in the comments below!

I've Got the Fever for the Flavor of....well, Flavors!

Bahr fam, back again! Bringin' tales of a little Indian- cuisine that is!

Tonight we went to Flavors!  Having already been there a few times for dinner and many times for lunch,  I was feeling pretty certain that this would be a big hit with the whole family and it didn't disappoint!  As a group, it was our best experience so far.

The restaurant started us off with a plate of Pappadam accompanied by onion and potato slices that were breaded and deep fried.  It was very difficult to have only a taste of these. I wanted to eat them all.

Ken had the Shrimp Tikka Masala this time. He gave it 4 smiley faces! He said it had very low spice level and almost a sweet taste. He liked that the onions and peppers were fully cooked and said the tomatoes were good.  He didn't enjoy having to pull the tails off of the shrimp. All in all, a big win for Ken! Yay!

Ruth had her usual, Chicken Tikka Masala.  She said it was sooooooo good! It had a sweet and tangy sauce that delighted the taste buds.  She gave it 4 smiley faces and said it is the 2nd best Tikka Masala she's had so far.

Gabe also had his usual, Chicken Tikka Korma.  But THIS time, Gabe got a surprise!  Instead of chicken, the restaurant inadvertently served him lamb.  It was still very good.  The Tikka Korma sauce was so sweet and yummy that even I couldn't stop eating it. Gabe also ordered some buttered Naan.  No one else tried it, but he ate it all so it  must have been good. 

I ordered the Tanduri Mixed Grill.  It was a heaping plate of meat!  It had large chunks of chicken breast, a few chunks of lamb, two chicken legs, one chicken thigh, and two shrimp.  It was served atop a bed of perfectly sauteed onions, and sprinkled with fresh cilantro and two juicy wedges of lime. It looked very much like an order of fajitas. It was very good!  I gave it 3 smiley faces, though, because most of the meat was a little drier than I like it.

And finally, the restaurant served us a complimentary desert.  Some kind of Mango pudding.  It was very sweet and had a strange texture so I didn't eat it, but everyone else gobbled theirs up quickly. Yay for Flavors! A winner with the whole family! (Kind of made for a boring blog though, eh?)

Stop #4: Tanduri ConFusion!

Last night, we completed Indian food adventure number four!  Using our second groupon, we made our way out, WAY OUT to Tanduri Fusion, on 174th and West Center. And this time, we switched things up a bit.

Gabe and I started with an appetizer, the Chicken Pakoras. The menu described them as "6 Pieces of chicken dipped in spiced chick pea flour batter and deep fried." The batter didn't stay on very well while eating these chicken balls, but they were quite good! I'd eat them again. 

At Tanduri Fusion the dinners are accompanied by either soup or salad. The choices of soup were Mulligatawny (right) or Spicy Squash (left). Gabriel had the Spicy Squash and ate it all up!  Ruth and I had the Mulligatawny.  It had a wonderful creamy, think consistency and was topped with a little Jasmine Rice.  I didn't care for the flavor though.  It was too tangy and sour for my taste.

Ruth once again ordered the sweet Naan. I didn't try any any but it sure looks yummy!

Guess what Ken had? The Top Sirloin! It came with a side of sauteed veggies (zucchini and grape tomatoes), as well as mashed potatoes with peas and Indian spices. He liked it!  He remarked that it was better than he expected and even gave it three smiley faces.

Ruth stuck to her guns and had herself some Chicken Tikka Masala.  The Chicken Tikka Korma at Tanduri Fusion was very different than any other we have tried. The sauce was watery and tomato based. It didn't have the thick sweet creaminess that she experienced at the two previous stops. On her rating sheet Ruth gave it a sad face and commented, "Something was missing from the sauce."

Gabriel had his usual as well, the Chicken Tikka Korma. It was a very bright red, thick and creamy sauce.  He raved about it.  When I wondered aloud how they got the sauce so red, he quipped, "Paint chips." He gave it 3 out of 5 smiley faces and was sleepy by the end of the meal that on his comment sheet he wrote, "It gave me fatigue."

Soooooo......what about me, you're asking?  Well the thing is- the lamb dishes at Tanduri Fusion seemed a bit pricey to me. $17.95.  So I decided to have the Goa Chicken and save a few bucks.  The menu described the Goa Chicken as "Boneless chicken cooked in a spicy coconut based sauce."  The sauce was really delicious. It looked like a Thai Yellow Curry, but wasn't sweet.  The problem with my dish was that my chicken was so tough I could barely chew it!  It was like the goat all over again.  I gave it a smiley face for the sauce, and sad face for the chicken.  Am I turning into my dad?

We have decided on three more Indian restaurants and were even lamenting the end of our family dinner adventures together.  So it was decided that after the Indian food tour, we will search for Omaha's best burger.  Yay!

Meal #3: Ken Finds a Winner!

      
Well......maybe.........

The Hindu gods must be smiling down on this project because recently there were groupons offered for TWO of the Indian restaurants on our list!  And by "gods" I mean my dear, awesome friend Elisabeth Percival who told me about the special offers and emailed me the links.  One of them just so happened to be for Paradise Biryani Pointe, you know, the one we tried to go to for our very first stop on the tour?  It's a good thing they were closed that night! 

We had our first guest join us this evening; Elva Rodriguez, Gabriel's girlfriend.  She is a lovely young woman and we brought her along in the hopes that Gabriel wouldn't make fart jokes in front of her. It didn't work.

Ruth, Gabe, Elva and I, arrived at the restaurant before Ken and decided to pick his food for him before he got there.  We decided he should have the Chilly Chicken and the Potato and Pea Samosas.  The Chilly Chicken is breaded chunks of chicken in a sweet and spicy tomato sauce with chunks of onion and green peppers and a hearty sprinkling of fresh cilantro on top.  His first reaction? "Pthhah.....too much cilantro!" At one point during the meal he declared, "These things were actually pretty good together!" I was feeling pretty optimistic about his attitude which was premature because at the end of the meal Ken heaved a heavy sigh and followed it up with, "This is just so much work. It's just......torture." In spite of that, he gave it three smiley faces. 

Pictured to the left is what I assume to be Papadum.  I asked our server what it was made of but he had no idea. The most fun during the meal was when Ken discovered the dolphin-shaped piece of Papadum and made it swim around the table with his hand while he made squeaky dolphin noises.  I wasn't quick enough to get a pic.  :(

Ruth again ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala.  It was probably the most incredible dish that any of us have tasted on the tour so far.  I took several bites myself.  It was sweeter and creamier than any of the other Tikka Masala's we have seen.  Even though the highest possible rating is five smiley faces, Ruth gave this one six smiley faces and wrote along side, "best so far!"  Ruth also ordered the Kashmiri Naan, which is what Paradise calls their version of the sweet raisin flat bread.  This time I was smart and only took one tiny bite.  We all agreed it was so-so.  Kind of dry and flaky. No where near the decadence of last night's sweet naan.

GabriElva had the Chicken Korma and neither one of them had very much to say about it. Neither of them remembered to fill out their sheets so I guess we'll never know the number of smiley faces; but hey- aren't they cute?!

While Paradise Biryani Pointe does have goat, the menu said that all of the goat is served with the bone in.  I didn't feel like wrestling goat bones tonight, so I stuck with the same dish I had last night; Lamb Curry.  The flavor of the sauce was good; it was creamy and a little sweet. It was also a little bitter and spicy and had so many spices.  The lamb meat was not tender like the meat I had at Mother India, so it was disappointing.  I also had a bowl of Mulligatawny Soup.  It was more watery than I expected, but that made it nice as a summer soup.  It had a nice, light flavor and loads of yummy lentils at the bottom. Two and a half smiley faces from yours truly!

See you next time!

Meanwhile in India......

Mother India, that is!                            

Tonight we spontaneously ventured out for our second Indian meal in the grand Mother Omaha tour.  We were sitting around together waiting to see 90 mile-an-hour winds and softball size hail and found that this can make a family VERY hungry.  We decided to risk our necks and be fearless in our quest in spite of the flash flood warnings and tornado watch until 11pm.

                                   This is a lovely photo of Ken and Ruth pretending to read their menus!

                                                                           

Ruth was very naughty again and ordered the raisin and almond Naan.  It was DELICIOUS. Much better than what we sampled at our previous stop. It was fluffy and moist.  I very much enjoyed eating it with the contrasting flavor of the spicy, fresh raita on top. 

So if you'll recall, last time Ken had the Butter Chicken.  We couldn't find a dish by the same name on Mother India's menu, but the Chicken Tikka Makahani said it was made with a butter sauce so we all agreed that it would probably be the most comparable. I forgot to snap a pic of Ken's dish but no matter, it pretty much looked like the rest of them below.

"Hey, dad, do you like yours?"

"No."

Oh, I'm sorry, do you want some of mine?"

"No."

Oops!  The sauce on Ken's dish was extremely gingery.  I tried it myself and it was too much ginger for me, and too much ginger for him.  So, did he give it one smiley face, or one sad face?  I don't know! I can't read

his handwriting.  We're hoping dad doesn't drop out of the tour and we've promised him that if there is hamburger on the menu of the next stop, he is more than welcome to order it. He and Gabriel did get some buttery looking Garlic Naan with their dinners and they ate it all!

Ruth ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala.  She raved about it! Said it was so yummy and satisfying. She gave it five smiley faces and wrote, "So good!"

Gabriel had the Chicken Tikka Korma this time.  I'm not quite sure what's behind the switch, but he is a rebel after all. Wonder who he gets that from..... Gabriel seemed to enjoy his very much! On the rating sheet where one writes either smiley faces or a sad face, Gabriel gave it a 100 over 5 in a fraction format and two hearts followed by the phrase "It was good  perfect!!"

And as for me and my house, we shall eat the goat curry! But there is no goat at Mother India!  YAY!  So I picked the closest thing I could think of, lamb curry.  This dish was fantastic!  The sauce was very close to the same flavor as the curry sauce at Maharaja, but perhaps a bit creamier and filled with tender, juicy, boneless chunks of lamb.  I was so happy! I gave it four smiley faces.  Mother India was a huge hit, well.....maybe not for Ken. Poor Ken. 

Will there be a second stop on the Mother Omaha tour this week?  Indian food twice in one week? Stay tuned and see!


This is picture of Gabriel not wanting to have his picture taken!