Curry Bowl

Curry Bowl
4141 Hacks Cross Rd.
207-6051

I haven't ever been a big fan of Indian food, with the exception of when Maharabi was open, but I have been hearing great things about Curry Bowl. Since it is waaaaaaaaay out on Hacks Cross, I just assumed I would never eat there. However, now that Satchel (13) is reffing at Mike Rose on the reg, and I am his driver, I decided to take him for lunch when his games ended on Saturday.



We arrived around 1:15pm, and barely found a parking spot. Ditto on a table. It was packed, mostly with Indian diners. There was even a birthday party in the back room.

Apparently the weekend buffet is a big hit and THE time to go. Typically I am not a fan of buffets. I knew I wanted to order off the menu, but I though it would be good for Satchel to try it. The only problem was that he refused to go alone. (Teenagers!) So, he somehow convinced me to get the buffet too, despite being on crutches. (I broke my foot playing soccer last week.) "I'll carry your plate," he promised.

So off we went.



Filling a plate while on crutches is challenging.



I really only cared about Chicken 65, which was not featured, but I was told the Shangri la chicken was similar. (It was.) I have no idea what anything else was, but it was tasty.

Satchel didn't get anything too exciting, but he got two plates of it.



I asked him to get some of the samosa chat and he did. It was ok.



Half of the buffet was American food--French fries and whatnot. Which would be good for younger, pickier monkeys. (There is a kids menu.)



And an impressive bread selection.



Finally, I couldn't stand it. I ordered Chicken 65 off the menu, because I wanted to know if it was good as Maharaba, and I really wanted to try the Honey chili cauliflower. Both came out super fast. I sent Satchel back to the buffet to get rice and naan, since neither seemed to come with the dishes.



The Chicken 65 was really good, but not as good as Maharaba--they used fried chicken. The honey chili cauliflower was AMAZING. Really. So. Good. It actually kind of reminded me of lemongrass tofu, which is weird, and it even had a little buffalo chicken vibe going. I was really glad I decided to go ahead and order it.

Not surprisingly we totally stuffed ourselves. And we still had leftovers!

Our check was ridiculous: $47.94. But we basically had 4 meals. (The weekend buffet is $11.99.)

I'll definitely be back. I want to work my way through the entire Indo Chinese section of the menu.



Try it!

India Palace

India Palace
1720 Poplar Ave
(901) 278-1199

Just before Spring Break we had three snow/ice days. One day, I met Satchel (age 11) and Warren at India Palace for lunch. (Jiro, age 9, was at a friend's house)



India Palace is Warren's most favorite restaurant. I like Indian food just fine, but I don't crave it. So we don't go nearly as much as Warren would like. It's always a little weird for me because I will always remember the building the way it was in 1992-1994 when I worked at Squash Blossom.



The inside is very nice and there is definitely no sign of Squash Blossom left. I'll also point out that it is VERY quiet inside. They play some nice music, but there is no talking and if you were to take a small child or baby, I am pretty sure you would feel like the center of attention! However, I have seen plenty of kids there happily munching away.

Satchel has been a couple of times with Warren and is a fan. When we got to the buffet, he literally squealed when he saw the Basmati rice. That is his favorite. It was fun going through the line with him. He loved pronouncing the names of all of the dishes. Satchel asked, "Have you tried the glokma balls?"



I don't know how much the choices change from day to day, but these are the dishes I remember: Lamb meatballs, chicken curry, yogurt masala, spinach palak paneer, daal maharani, tandoori chicken...and some other stuff!

Here's Satchel's first plate:



And his second, which is more revealing.



He obviously likes to eat the meatier options. And the bread. He loves the naan.



Mmmmmmmmmmmmmnaan.

"This stuff is good," he said. "This is so much better than school lunch. School lunch is nasty. Except fruit and salads." (His enthusiasm for school lunch ended when his second semester teacher started getting them to the cafeteria late thus causing him to end up with a hodge podge of leftovers. His lunch is a 1:15pm, so it's slim pickings regardless.)

Here's my plate. The chicken curry was my favorite, with the lamb meatballs being a close second.



Warren is much more adventurous. I think he pretty much ate one of everything. This is his second plate, which like Satchel's, hones in on his favorites.



Smile, Warren! We are at your favorite restaurant!



Fine, eat! He's only slightly more cooperative than Satchel.



Ok, back to the food. There's a whole section of extra sauces and whatnot that I usually ignore, but Warren likes them.



Actually looking at this photo now makes me think it's a salad bar? Regardles, this is what Warren brought back.



Mmmmmblurry!

I checked out the desserts. I usually get mango kulfi which is like a pudding, but there was none. (The menu describes it as Indian style ice cream.)

I came back with gulab jamun. They have a milky dough taste so I usually refer to them as milk balls. The menu describes them as "carmelized cheese balls in rose scented syrup." I really don't get that at all. I never really get the descriptions, honestly. The vision I get in my mind is so not what comes out on the plate in an Indian restaurant.



Typically they have yogurt to go with them, but all I found was cream of wheat. Eh.

One of my favorite things about India Palace is the over zealous water filling. It gives me a giggle. And also makes me feel weird and totally self conscious about drinking water!

I think I'm starting to see why I don't go here that often!

Anyways, Satchel loved it. He wanted to know if he could get a to go box of rice. He was also curious about how they charged. "Is it by plate?" He was happy to know it was a flat rate.

The total for the three of us was $29.

I think if Jiro were with us, he might have had bread and a little chicken & rice. Probably not worth the money.

Don't forget to freshen your breath on the way out!



(Warren once bought a whole bag of this to keep at the house.)

Bhojanic (Atlanta)

Bhojanic
1363 Clairmont Rd
Decatur, GA 30033
(404) 633-9233

Warren didn't do as well in the Kendo tournament as he had hoped, so to cheer him up, I found Atlanta's best Indian restaurant--Bhojanic. It looked super swank both inside and out, but it was crawling with families. At least at 6pm on a Friday.



We got a table and drinks right away. I told the kids to leave their DSs in the car, so they occupied themselves with their coloring sheets.



Again, we found ourselves perusing a pretty impressive kids' menu.



Still, we weren't exactly sure what anything was. Ditto for the main menu. Thankfully our waitress was very sweet and forth coming about what was what and gave us plenty of time to figure out what we wanted. As we discussed our options, I noted that they had Chicken 65. This is one of our favorite dishes at Maharaja, and as soon as Satchel heard us mention it, he insisted on ordering it. I read the description aloud: "Chicken marinated in yogurt and spices tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves, and green chilies. A non-fried version of the original!"

Non-fried? No, thanks. (Screw healthy choice!) However, Satchel was insistent. Jiro, on the other hand, didn't seem to want anything. We decided to let them split the Chicken 65 and a rice bowl, which was basically just jasmine rice.

Warren was waffling between an Indian burrito and a platter, so I offered to get the burrito, better known as a Kathi Roll. I went with the homemade layered flat bread rolled with fried egg, Chicken Tikka, Mint Chutney, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onions, which is served with Raita and Papdam. Warren got the Thalis--or platter--with his choice of meat and veg, plus a side of pickles. The waitress also talked us both into getting a Chai tea.

While we waited for our food we chit chatted and reviewed the Kendo tournament's ups and downs. The restaurant continued to fill up, both with families and hipsters. Our food came out fairly quickly and Warren was in heaven. Behold the Thalis.



I was happy that he was happy. His meat choice was goat and it was spicy and delicious just like we had in Cameroon oh so long ago. And I gotta say, those Indians make a mean burrito.



The bread was amazing. I loved the thin fried egg layered on the inside. And the cucumber dip was fab. Does anyone in Memphis make something like this? If so, I'm in.

Initially Satchel was saddened by the look of the Chicken 65 because it was tandoori-ed, but once he tasted it, he was cool. Jiro was very emphatically refusing to even try it, but we I offered to give him a candy bar for dessert if he ate it and that worked.



That green dip was to die for. It was minty and sweet, not spicy. YUM.

The rice bowl didn't look like much, but the monkeys are huge fans of rice. They even liked the peas.



Also, I should add that they served everything with delicious chapati rather than naan.

We ate every single bite and were ready for the check when our waitress came over to apologize for the long wait on the chai. I had actually forgotten we ordered it! It arrived a few minutes later and ended up being a nice dessert. Once we sweetened it up, the kids wanted it for their own.

Somehow our total bill was only $42.00 plus tip, which seemed like a bargain. If we lived in Atlanta, Bhojanic would definitely be on our regular circuit. They even have a market next door. We didn't get to check it out because we were in a rush to meet up with a friend, but I can only imagine the treasures within. Also, on our way out I noted that the bar had some pretty delicious sounding drinks--ginger margarita, anyone? I can see how it might become a super hipster hang out after 9 when the kids are in bed.

Maharaja Cafe (Closed)

Sadly, this restaurant has closed.

Maharaja Cafe
4273 American Way Dr , Suite #2
366-5555

My fake brother is getting ready to move away from Memphis. I asked him which restaurants he would miss the most and surprisingly his list contained a few I'd never heard of. He went on and on about "some Indian place on American Way" so much so that I HAD to try it even though I am really not a fan of Indian food. Since he couldn't remember the name of the restaurant or its exact location, Warren and I had to drive around until we found it.

Boy am I glad that we found it!

We visited on a Saturday afternoon after a busy morning of going to the Farmer's Market and Children's Theater Festival at Rhodes. Not surprisingly, Jiro fell asleep on the drive over, so I had to carry him in. (He's a huge six-year-old so this was no easy feat.) Satchel (age 8) was knee deep in a new book and begged to bring it in, which was unneccessary since I was happy to oblige this request. I deposited Jiro in a booth and Satchel settled in next to him while Warren and I tackled the menu.

There was a nice, young Indian guy working the register--let's call him Shri Dreamy--and he helped us figure out what to order. My fake brother had instructed me to get "Chicken 65" which I assumed was number 65 on the menu, but it was the actual name of a dish. I asked Shri Dreamy if it was spicy and he said it could be, so I ordered it spicy. Warren requested his usual--Palak Paneer--and Shri Dreamy recommended the Chicken Tikka Masala for the kids. My brother had also insisted we get a Mango Lassi, so we did. Warren added on an order of rice and Naan, and that was that. Shri Dreamy instructed us to get our own water from a nearby water cooler and told us to pay after we ate.


We were the only people in the restaurant except for a large group of men at the center table. I peeked at what they were eating and started to get excited about our meal. Back at our table, Jiro was sleepily staring into space, Satchel was happily reading, Warren was playing Word Scramble on his iPhone (he's addicted) and I was taking notes and sneaking pictures.

The restaurant is in a strip mall across from the Waffle House near Getwell. You actually enter through the Regal Indian grocery store. Inside the restaurant part is a a makeshift counter and a menu board and as many blue booths as one could possibly squeeze in. The carpet and wall paper led me to believe the space was not formerly a restaurant. I kind of got a video rental store vibe from it, but that might have been because of the many Indian movie posters decorating the wall.

While we waited for the food to cook--it was made to order--several young Indian families came in. I was happy to see more children, especially younger and more rambunctious ones. There was at least one high chair and the staff seemed welcoming of the families.

There was a toddler exploring the place who I could have stared at all day, but our food was ready so I had to stop. I went to the counter, smiled at Shri Dreamy, and brought our delicious looking lunch back to the table on a tray. The Chicken 65 stood out since it came with a lemon and a chunk of sliced raw onion. In Cameroon (where Warren and I met and served in the Peace Corps), I developed a taste for raw onion. It is actually quite good to eat with spicy food. Just seeing it there excited me. I grabbed a piece of chicken with my fingers and popped it in my mouth. It was super crunchy and intensely flavorful. I was in love! Warren and Satchel immediately followed my lead. It was a bit too spicy for Satchel, but he wanted to keep eating it anyway. Warren and I started trying to pick out the flavors like in a Top Chef challenge. "Ginger," he said. "Tumeric?" I asked. "That's cilantro on top," he said. And so on. The Mango Lassi, which is a smoothie like drink, was quite refreshing and also effective at quelling the heatwave in our mouths.

After some more munching on the Chicken 65, we started in on the Palak Paneer and Chicken Tikka Masala. Both were excellent--the best I've had. I especially liked the big cheese chunks in the Palak Paneer. Satchel was really adventurous and tried everything, but funnily enough, raved about how good the rice was. Jiro, who was still half-asleep, would only agree to eat Naan, then immediately stopped when I tried to take his picture.

After a few minutes Satchel asked if we could get another order of Chicken 65 "not spicy." I had no doubt that it wouldn't go to waste, so I obliged. I also got another order of rice. Shri Dreamy seemed pleased that I was back to order more. I asked him where the name Chicken 65 came from, but he looked sheepish and said it was hard to explain in English. I did gather that it had something to do with the age of the chicken. I wondered if it was a house specialty, but he said that other restaurants made it too. I doubted it was as good anywhere else though!

While we waited on our second order, we polished off all of the food at the table. Then Warren went to explore the grocery store while I hung out with the kids. Of course by the time the second order was ready, our food had settled and we were too stuffed to make a dent in it, but Shri Dreamy had thought ahead and given it to us in a styrofoam to go container. (It was kind of Styrofoam City there, but I let it slide because the food was SO good.)

Satchel kept reading while Jiro and I went in search of Warren in the grocery store. I told Jiro he could get a treat, but everything was pretty foreign looking to him so he never found anything. (There was a bar of soap that he thought was a candy bar. Once I told him it was soap he gave up trying!) Warren had no trouble finding things he liked. He scored some garlic paste and some of the Indian spices/licorice candy that they usually have in a bowl at the check out.

We paid for our lunch and our groceries at the grocery register. It was being operated by a young woman who I guessed was Shri Dreamy's wife (or sister?). Our lunch total came to $34.91 and our groceries were about $8.

Full and happy, we went outside and explored all of the other treasures buried in the stripmall. (You'll have to wait to hear about those!) The kids scored some popsicles and Warren and I found where we want to do our next DWM review, then we all piled back into the car and headed home. I had the Chicken 65 in my lap and couldn't help picking at it all the way to Midtown. It's just absolutely addictive. Needless to say it was gone before nightfall!

Editor's note:While eating at Maharaja Cafe I noticed that they are closed on Mondays. This conflicts with what is on their website, which says they are open everyday. Their website is actually hilarious. Had I visited the website before going to the restaurant, I would have been very confused. It makes the restaurant seem fancy, when it is definitely casual. Also it says that there is a daily buffet. This *may* be true, but there wasn't one on the day we went. The best part about the website is the pictures--there's a nice one of the family that owns it (sadly Shri Dreamy is not pictured), but all of the other photos are stock photos. I especially love the fat white guy in a chef's hat and the basket of chicken tenders!

Woodlands Indian (closed)

Ed. Note: 9/12/11 Woodlands was recently purchased and is now Flavors Indian Cuisine.

Ed note: Woodlands started serving meat February 12, 2010. It is no longer a vegetarian restaurant. Only in Memphis!

Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine
4205 Hacks Cross Rd. #101
737-9914

Last Sunday, Warren, the kids (Satchel, 7, and Jiro, 5) and I were at my mom's house in Germantown. Warren spent the afternoon fixing my nephew's bike. As a 'thank you' I suggested that we go to Woodlands Indian restaurant. Warren loves Indian food, and I figured this was our chance to finally try the vegetarian place we had heard so much about from friends.

After a much longer drive than I expected (Hacks Cross is REALLY EAST), we arrived at 5:30pm. Woodlands is located in a nondescript strip mall and the interior is pretty nondescript as well. The place was practically empty, a function, I'm sure, of the fact that they have a lunch (and not a dinner) buffet seven days a week. We know our way around a Japanese restaurant, but Indian? Not so much. With the absence of a buffet and Chicken Tikka Masala, we were a little lost.

I let Warren peruse the menu options while I tried to figure out what to order the kids. There were five options (all $5) on the kids' menu: iddly fry (fried rice and lentil cake), plain dosa (rice crepe), sweet dosa (crispy rice cake layered with sugar and butter), cheese uthapa (rice and lentil pancake topped with grated cheese), and cheese dosa (rice crepe topped with grated cheese). Since telling the kids their far from familiar choices could be potentially damaging and result in them refusing to eat, I made the executive decision to order Satchel the iddly fry and Jiro the cheese uthapa.

Meanwhile, Warren decided he definitely wanted the palak paneer, which is one of his favorites. I mentioned that someone told me that the vegetable pakora platter was a hit with kids, and he liked the sound of that. Based on the pretty pictures in the menu, we also ordered a special spring dosa, one of their specialties. We added an order of naan (which is normally free at India Palace, I think) and a mango lassi (which is a shake).

Feeling proud of ourselves, we sat back and waited for our food to arrive. First up, three mango lassis. Yep, the kids' meals came with mini mango lassis. (Oops--there went $3!) It tasted pretty good in my opinion, but the kids declared it yuck. Good thing we had three of them to drink!

A few minutes later, the rest of our food arrived.

The way that Indian food is described and the way it actually looks never quite matches up in my mind. Take for instance the iddly fry. I didn't think that a "fried rice and lentil cake" would look (or taste) like wedge style French fries. They certainly sounded more nutritious than they looked, but they tasted good and Satchel was eating them, so I considered it a successful dish. Jiro's cheese uthapa was also tasty in my opinion, but I could only get him to eat a couple of slivers. (He instead opted to eat nearly all of the basmati rice we were given to go with the palak paneer.)

The palak paneer was very good, and got a thumbs up from both Warren and I. It looks like creamed spinach with tofu looking chunks of cheese in it, but when we tried to get the boys to taste it, they refused. The vegetable pakora platter was the Indian equivalent of tempura, but even the fried factor couldn't garner any interest from the kids. The special spring dosa was okay. It came with a few sauces that I wasn't sure what to do with (which probably would have elevated it to more than okay). Warren seemed to like it, but it was too big for us to finish.

I heard Satchel say, "Jiro that's not disgusting, that's delicious!" I think he was referring to the iddly fry.

The kids were done eating fairly quickly, but managed to stay seated and quiet. Had we come during a buffet when they were a little hungrier, they may have been more embracing of Indian cuisine. After a solid hour of behaving, Jiro wanted to sit in my lap for the last few minutes of dinner.

We had lots of everything left over--everything except the iddly fry. Our total bill was $43.15 plus tip, which convinced me even further that the lunch buffet (which is $7.95) is the way to go. However, in general, I felt like the food was rather blah and our order was way heavy on the fried.

On our way out, Warren got the kids interested in the Hindu statues adorning the front and had them try the Indian "breath mints." It was the most animated they'd been all evening.


On our way home, I reread Steph's review of Woodlands in Nashville as well as the write up in the Commercial Appeal by Jennifer Biggs. When I mentioned that the "Bombay Chat Corner" of the menu featured street food and that Biggs highly recommended a cauliflower dish that we never saw, Warren got huffy with me and suggested that I do research BEFORE we go out to eat and not AFTER.

Snap!

Woodlands Indian (Nashville)

Woodlands has opened a restaurant in Memphis since the writing of this review.

Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine
3415 West End Ave.
Nashville, TN
615-463-3005

On a recent trip to Nashville, my in-laws suggested we lunch at the Woodlands Vegetarian Indian buffet. Although Chip and I love Indian food, this is not necessarily best destination for a family meal. Although Chloe, my two-year-old daughter, is willing to try whatever is on my plate, my five-year-old son won't touch a thing. And if I bring something different for Connor to eat, I have to bring the same thing for Chloe--she really must always do exactly what he's doing, or the Earth will stop spinning.

We wanted to try this place, which had gotten rave reviews from everyone in the family and from a food blog I like. We decided to follow the sad precedent we had already established at Mayuri and get the kids some fast food to eat while we enjoyed the buffet.

Chip's parents took the kids ahead to the restaurant, while we went a few yards down the road to Mickey D's. We pulled up to the drive-thru to hear "Welcome to McDonald's cash only mayItakeyourorder?" Of course we didn't have any cash on us, so we kept right on driving. I thought we had passed a Panera, so we tried to go there. After pulling in the wrong parking lot on a very crowded street, we started to panic. Knowing there was a Wendy's in the other direction, we decided to go for it since it was a sure thing (and was on our side of the street!). What a poor decision that was!

As has become the norm at Wendy's, service was slow and rude. I had to wait four minutes for my chicken nuggets to cook- despite the fact that there weren't that many people in the store, they had still managed to run out. Chip tried to call his parents and warn them, but no one answered the phone. Finally I got our food and ran out of there, frustrated and feeling guilty about how hungry I knew my kids were.

We got to Woodlands a good twenty minutes later than we thought we would. My very hungry family was waiting in the parking lot, trying to keep busy so that the kids, who hadn't had much to eat that day, wouldn't freak out.

Unfortunately, I was already freaking out. We went in, and as the kids clawed at the Wendy's bags in my hands we got a table. "How are you today?" the nice waiter asked. "Good," my mother-in-law replied, as I simultaneously said, "Not good!" Chip chastised me for taking it out on the server, but I wasn't mad at that guy. I just didn't have it in me to lie to him. As I pulled the kids' food out of the bags, it got even worse. It seems we were not allowed to bring meat into the vegetarian restaurant. That makes perfect sense! Too bad I had lost my mind somewhere in the Wendy's dining room and hadn't thought of that myself.

I marched the kids outside to sit on a stool and eat their nuggets while everyone else ate. Of course, everyone else followed us out there. They had forgotten that when a woman has small children, she never actually gets to eat a peaceful meal! I didn't expect everyone else to suffer. We sent the men back inside to get started, while my mother-in-law (she hasn't forgotten!) and I swatted flies away from the kids' food and begged them to shovel those nuggets down their throats. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that they took their time.

Eventually we made it back inside and ordered Sprite for the kids to drink with their mandarin oranges. (The chocolate milk and French fries were finished before the nuggets. Of course.) Then we finally got to eat the outstanding food on this buffet. It was so good! I don't know enough about Indian food to properly describe it all, but I had: masala dosa bread filled with potato and onion; lentil and rice(?) pancakes with vegetables; basmati rice with lemon and spices (to die for!); spinach and lentils in a spicy tomato broth (my other favorite!); a masala sauce with okra; fried onions; lots of other things I can't remember because I was too busy eating to ask what was in it.

I can't wait to go back to Woodlands, but next time I go I will bring food for the kids from home. The days of bringing a bag of fast food into a nicer establishment are over. If the kids can't enjoy what the restaurant has to offer, then they don't get to have "restaurant" food. I'm not doing myself or the kids any favors by letting them slum it with nuggets and fries--from now on they can eat off the menu, or they can have the pb&j I've shoved in my purse. This disaster was bad enough to cause a policy change in the Chockley household!

If you are in Nashville, I strongly suggest you try Woodlands Vegetarian Indian Cuisine. The bathrooms are clean, the service is friendly, and the food is amazing and it's very reasonably priced. And if you're lucky, at least one of your kids will fill up on some good food that didn't come with a toy.

Mayuri

Steph has instituted a BYOCN (Bring Your Own Chicken Nuggets) policy!

Mayuri Indian Cusine
6524 Quince Road
753-8755

When I was a server, I used to look down my nose at people who came into the restaurant with a kid and a Happy Meal in tow. Then I gave birth to Connor, an extremely picky child, and realized that the only way to avoid committing this faux pas would be to eat family meals exclusively at restaurants that serve chicken nuggets or pizza. This is surprisingly easy to do, even at Mexican restaurants, but it has kept us from taking the kids to an Indian or Thai restaurant. Until today.

My in-laws were in town and were looking to take us out to lunch. We ran through our usual list of restaurants, until I blurted out, “What about Mayuri?” An Indian buffet sounded good to everyone- everyone except Connor, age 5. I knew we couldn’t talk him into eating the first morsel of food from there without causing a scene, so I made the suggestion we’ve spent four and a half years avoiding. “Why don’t we just run through the drive-thru at Wendy’s?” Chip looked pained, but he knew it was the only way to have a pleasant meal. So he dropped us off at Mayuri, and less than five minutes later was back with the nuggets and fries.

With that unpleasantness out of the way, the rest of us could get down to enjoying the wonderful buffet. Mayuri, located in a strip mall on Quince near Kirby, doesn’t have much in the way of ambience but it more than makes up for it with friendly service, good food, and reasonable prices. For $8.95 a person, we enjoyed a buffet with more choices than I can possibly mention. (This has as much to do with the quantity as it does with my limited knowledge of Indian food.) I shared everything on my plate with Chloe, my adventurous two-year-old. She and I both enjoyed curd rice, mango salad, onion pakora, papadam with raita, mushroom masala, chicken makhani (which I can’t for the life of me distinguish from chicken tikka masala), plenty of rice and naan, idli (steamed rice cakes) and gulab jamun. Her favorite was the mango salad, and my favorite was the chicken makhani. This is shocking, considering it is chicken cooked in a tomato sauce, but that wasn’t a problem since the other main ingredient was butter. Chip ate all that along with two other chicken dishes and some kind of lamb, which he said was all tender and delicious. The Chockleys ate all of the meatless items on the buffet, which I was told they enjoyed. Connor was offered some of everything, refusing it all with a polite “No thank you.”

Less than an hour later we were all stuffed. Chloe started to have a bit of a meltdown, so I picked her up quickly to get her outside without bothering too many people. The manager of the restaurant stopped me to ask if everything was alright, and offered Chloe a lollipop. I was amazed, considering that if I were him I would have held the door open for us in order to facilitate our exit. The lollipop did the trick, and we were able to linger at the table as my generous father-in-law picked up the tab and secured a lollipop for Connor. We left, promising ourselves that we would visit the buffet again in the near future. If we have to stop by Wendy’s first, so be it.

Editor's note: As a child I took McDonald's everywhere--even to Taco Bell--and I turned out okay!

Golden India

Golden India
2097 Madison Ave.
728-5111

Warren is a big fan of Indian food. Me? Not so much. I usually like it okay once I get there, but getting me there is the hard part. We almost always go to the buffet and we almost always go to India Palace (On Poplar & Evergreen). When I say "always" I mean about once a year.

Last week was Warren's birthday and in the spirit of doing things he might enjoy, I suggested we take the kids to eat Indian on a Saturday afternoon. "Cool, let's go to Golden India," he said. "I hear it is even better than India Palace." I easily agreed since we can see Golden India from our front door and it was a nice day to go on a walk.

We had been to Golden India once before--right after they opened and long before we were parents. I remembered that we had no idea what to order, we were the only customers there, and two waiters stared at us while we ate, anxiously awaiting the opportunity to refill our water glasses after each and every sip. It was a little creepy.

When Warren, Satchel (age 3), Jiro (age 1), and I burst through the doors of Golden India I was somewhat disappointed to see that not much had changed since our original visit. The two waiters stood at the counter, each gripping a pitcher of water. "Um, uh, hi, uh do you have a highchair?" I asked as they stared at my two exhuberant children.

One waiter went in search of their only highchair (circa 1972) while the other immediately began filling our water glasses. "Do you have cups with lids for the kids?" I asked hopefully.

He stared and nodded.

"Ok, let me get the kids some food and then you can load up," I told Warren as I went in search of something they might eat. The buffet looked pretty similar to the one at India Palace. I scooped some lentils, rice, and samosas onto two plates and delivered them to the table. Jiro dug right in, but Satchel just stared.

"Just try it," I encouraged him to no avail. Instead he opted to just drink his water. The plastic top didn't actually fit the styrofoam bottom and water spilled everywhere. I was able to mop it up before the waiter arrived with a basket of naan and two Tandoori chicken legs.

"Ooh, bread!" Satchel said as he reached in. "What are these green things?" he asked apprehensively, staring at the basil flakes on the glistening naan.

"Seaweed," I said, like I always say when he asks about anything green.

"Mmmmmm!" he said as he took a big bite.

Meanwhile Warren was happily filling his plate with various things from the buffet. I ate some rice, lentils, the samosas that the kids rejected, and lamb dish (I think). It was okay. I don't think it was actually any better than India Palace.

Once Jiro was done eating, he wanted nothing to do with the highchair. I let him out and he and Satchel occupied themselves looking out of the window and climbing in and out of a chair. The waiters didn't seem to mind this behavior, but they continued to stare at us, and the feeling of being watched did not make it a pleasant dining experience overall. Warren enjoyed himself though and I think the kids ate for free, so it wasn't a total loss.

Next time I think we'll go to India Palace.