Food
Houston has a plethora of restaurants. We have Indonesian, Indian, Iranian, Irish, and Iberican. And that does not even cover all of the “I”s. So part of this last year in my 40s I have made a pledge to try and be as adventuresome in eating as possible. This is not anything silly like saying I will never eat fast food (who can live without an occasional Sausage McMuffin with Egg?) or that I will only eat ethnic food on Wednesdays.
But when I can arrange a meal with a suitable friend, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner, I will try to do something “interesting”
So when a friend of mine said he wanted to get together for lunch and discuss work, I thought this was the time. He suggested the Raven Grill. I was not interested. But I remember seeing a place that served Himalayan food advertised recently and suggested that. After seeing these reviews, how can anyone say no?
I arrived a few minutes early and was greeted by your standard strip center restaurant. A TV blaring in the corner (a special about Anaconda snakes in Venezuela – which I took as a good omen), linoleum on the floor, and your standard cheap Formica tables. The menu was written in black marker on a white board, and showed all sorts of food that looked Indian to me (no surprise when you think about it) and two tables occupied. One was an American negotiating with a South Asian (Pakistani, Indian, or Nepalese, I could not tell) about buying his gas station. The other was a woman in a sari looking sort of sorry.
I read the board and the owner (Chef Lashkari, BS, MS, MRMGT) came around to chat. I told him I was waiting for someone, and he said that their lunch special ($6.99) was comprised of two curries (chicken, lamb, goat, beef [!]) rice, and bread. If you ordered a drink ($1.89 for Ice Tea) you got dessert (rice pudding) for free.
We were in, and ordered the chicken and lamb curries. They came with raw onions, some sort of a thin green sauce, a wonderful huge piece of nan (bread) and white, white rice.
The curries we wonderful. Hot (they made my buddy sweat) and flavorful, I am still able to taste them hours later. The rice pudding was wonderful – rice, almonds, and cashews sprinkled with pistachios. Delicious.
This is one place I will return to. AND it was an adventure.
But when I can arrange a meal with a suitable friend, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner, I will try to do something “interesting”
So when a friend of mine said he wanted to get together for lunch and discuss work, I thought this was the time. He suggested the Raven Grill. I was not interested. But I remember seeing a place that served Himalayan food advertised recently and suggested that. After seeing these reviews, how can anyone say no?
I arrived a few minutes early and was greeted by your standard strip center restaurant. A TV blaring in the corner (a special about Anaconda snakes in Venezuela – which I took as a good omen), linoleum on the floor, and your standard cheap Formica tables. The menu was written in black marker on a white board, and showed all sorts of food that looked Indian to me (no surprise when you think about it) and two tables occupied. One was an American negotiating with a South Asian (Pakistani, Indian, or Nepalese, I could not tell) about buying his gas station. The other was a woman in a sari looking sort of sorry.
I read the board and the owner (Chef Lashkari, BS, MS, MRMGT) came around to chat. I told him I was waiting for someone, and he said that their lunch special ($6.99) was comprised of two curries (chicken, lamb, goat, beef [!]) rice, and bread. If you ordered a drink ($1.89 for Ice Tea) you got dessert (rice pudding) for free.
We were in, and ordered the chicken and lamb curries. They came with raw onions, some sort of a thin green sauce, a wonderful huge piece of nan (bread) and white, white rice.
The curries we wonderful. Hot (they made my buddy sweat) and flavorful, I am still able to taste them hours later. The rice pudding was wonderful – rice, almonds, and cashews sprinkled with pistachios. Delicious.
This is one place I will return to. AND it was an adventure.
posted by Dan Piette at 11:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home