Indian Restaurant Experience #1: Maharaja Indian Cuisine

For our first adventure, we chose Paradise Biryani Point, formerly known as Dhaba, on 117th & Blondo.  BUT, they are closed on Tuesdays.  So we drove to the next closest thing: Maharaja Indian Cuisine on 114th & Dodge. The pics for this week aren't the best quality. Next time I'll use my real camera and not my phone.

We each chose our dishes, and Ruth quickly handed out our rating forms so that we could each jot down the name of our dish and the location.

We decided on Gobi Manchurian Dry as an appetizer, which is cauliflower breaded in corn flour, fried and topped with a yummy sauce that they referred to as a "sweet soy sauce."  It also had loads of finely chopped onions and peppers on top.  Ruth, Gabe and I all loved it.  Ken wasn't into it at all.






Ken ordered Butter Chicken. He gave it a rating of 2 out of 5 smiley faces. He said it was "okay."







Gabriel ordered the Tandoori style Chicken Tikka.  He initially complained that there wasn't very much of it.  He ate it all and said that it was pretty spicy in a good way. On his form gave it 2.5 smiley faces and in the comments section said, "It was ight."




Ruth ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala (pictured below on the left). She gave it 4 our of 5 smiley faces.  Everyone tried it and thought it was great!

I had the Goat Curry (Pictured above on the right). It was awful. I gave it a big ole' sad face.  The meat was so tough I couldn't get it off the bone and what I could get off was so covered in gristle and fat that it wasn't edible.  I think maybe goat isn't for me. I ended up eating half of my mom's Chicken Tikka Masala which was very yummy. I may be the only one who tries a different dish next time.

We also all ate the Papadum and an each had a little piece of dryfruit Naan. Both were delish!

We Embark on an Indian Food Adventure

We're the Bahrs!  Oops, and there's a Centeno too. More about that in a bit. Our aim is to each try the same Indian dish at many different restaurants around town and report back on our experiences. We represent a variety of dietary lifestyles, tastes, and ages so hopefully there will be helpful information in this blog for just about anyone!



Who we are, and how we eat:

Ken Bahr (my dad), Ruth Bahr (my mom),
Karen Bahr (<---that's me), and my son, Gabriel Centeno.

Ken is 67 (for three more weeks). He likes meat and vegetables and is currently trying to stay away from carbs and salt.  About this adventure he said, "I don't want no kinda spicy stuff!" He doesn't like asparagus, brussel sprouts, or sweet potatoes. His favorite foods are well done meats, whether it's pork, beef or chicken. He also loves green beans, broccoli, mixed vegetables, and good tossed salad.

Ruth is 62.  She is gluten intolerant and also allergic to fresh tomatoes and any kind of melon. She describes her diet as meat and potatoes; mostly potatoes. She is not a big veggie eater nor much of a fruit eater.  But she does love squash, broccoli, asparagus and cucumbers. She doesn't like fish, seafood, corn, green beans or mixed vegetables for sure. She says, "I have a tough time eating salads; I'll do it but it's tough."

I (Karen) am 38 and also gluten intolerant. I follow pretty strict paleo type diet in which I mostly eat meat, eggs, green veggies, nuts and seeds.  I occasionally also have grains, lentils, sweet potatoes and squash.  It's pretty difficult to follow the diet strictly when eating in restaurants so I often cheat, but I do my best to eat this way unless I'm on vacation. Some of my faves include the deviled eggs at Kitchen Table (if you haven't had them you MUST go and eat them immediately!!), sweet potato fries, raw cashews and cashew butter, and brisket or cochinita pibil tacos (cochinita pibil is a slow roasted pork dish of Mayan origin). I don't really tolerate spicy foods, foods that are too salty, and I HATE beans.

Gabriel is 14.  His tongue is half Mexican so he can be found snacking regularly on hot Cheetos, hot Funyuns, and Takis. When asked what his favorite foods are, Gabriel responds, "Anything mainstream."  Which means nothing gluten free, no almond or coconut milks, nothing weird. This is a lie because when I make breaded tofu fingers, he eats them ALL.  As his mom, I know that he loves pizza and hates avocados.  I usually find him with a Gatorade in one hand, and box of white cheddar Cheez-Its in the other.