From the Kitchen of Chef Boy-R-Mahatma

So on Sunday I went out to find some Indian food to take home. I'd tried to call my regular place, but they weren't answering. It turns out that Indian places close between 2 and 5 on the weekends so, I believe, to not anger Kali during her "me" time. I just thought I'd drive around, find something, order and wait.

Then I remembered that there's a new Indian place in town, called... something improbable I can't quite remember. A Taste of Cuisine? Dunno. Something like that. I'd had the location described to me, and was told it was more like a fast food place. Okay!

The place looks more like a "gourmet" shop destined to fail than an Indian restaurant. Besides the weird name, the long white sign features as its mascot what can only be described as the grinning mug of an Italian chef stereotype. Big hat, improbable mustache, big grin as if to say, "'at's a-spicey meatball!" The sign said Closed, but the Indian owner/random guy saw me and let me in.

Kind of small space, around 12 cheap square tables, 4 cheap chairs around each, display cases in the front filled with trays of what I assume are handmade snacky/sweet things (pass), menu behind the counter above the kitchen doors. The menu is subdivided into around 5 categories, with around 40 items by Indian name, with no descriptions, but I manage to order: Saag Paneer (not actually called that, but he knew what I wanted), Aloo Tikka Masala, 2 orders of Aloo Paratha (potato-stuffed bread), an order of raita (the yogurt "sauce"), an order of somethingsomething chat (Indian street food), and an order of the "veggie" pakora. I ask if they have some onion chutney to adjust the heat. They don't, but he does have garlic chutney. This all comes to $26, and I'll get around 5 meals out of it.

The bad news is that I have to wait around 25 mins for my food. The good news is that the guy gives me a bottle of Thumbs Up!, which is Indian Coca-Cola, only more upbeat. Seemed rude to not accept (though I don't drink pop), and it was actually pretty good... mainly because of these Ziploc bags of what looked like bananas baked/dried in spices. I asked the guy what they were: Spicy green banana chips, basically. I asked to buy a bag. He said to take one, and mentioned that they're great with beer. Freakin' things were delicious. I still have some, to test out the beer theory. He officially opened about 10 minutes after I ordered, and the place actually had quite a few Indian people come in, along with an old American couple who, while out of place, actually seemed comfortable with the whole thing, untraslated menu and all. Indian "MTV" came on and I was reminded again of how much I rightly or wrongly find Indian pop culture to be very silly (though certainly looking more polished). I snagged my food and got it home.

The great fear of a place like this, to me, is that the food will be dumbed down, especially as it had been described to me as "fast food," and the guy hadn't asked me how spicy I wanted anything. But man, it was all nearly perfect. Everything (even, oddly, the chat) was very pleasantly spicy, with bite, but not in any way overpoweringly so. The Aloo Paratha wasn't like the usual thin flatbread, but were freakin' heavy, and the potato spiced enough that I could see eating them plain. Garlic chutney just smells damn good.

It's so rare in my life to find something that's just surprisingly good, especially a restaurant. I do believe my cockles have been warmed. This is actually a place where I might go back and simply order randomly off the menu.