denver/boulder restaurants etc.

[mongo_jones]

there's an older thread on this board listing indian restaurants in various american cities. does anyone have an update on restaurants in the denver/boulder area? i am yet to find one that passes muster. i'm probably just picking the wrong ones each time.

also, are there many e-gulleters in this part of the country? suvir, i was under the impression--from your website and other posts--that you are new york based; more recent posts, however, indicate that you live in denver. perhaps we should have an e-gulleters pot-luck soon.

[Suvir Saran]

I was in Denver for many months. Am back in NYC now. Was in Denver for family medical reasons. Glad to be back in NYC. I do miss Denver. Have made dear friends and have now a very rich and precious fabric of memories I will always come back to in my future.

What are some of the restaurants in Denver that you have visited? Do you mind sharing???

You may be able to find some threads in the heartland forum about my limited experiences with restaurant food in Denver.

I should add that my experiences in many a restaurant often tend to be very different from that of the usual diner. I am have no qualms about making contact with the owner, then speaking with the chef and after determining what area each come from, what each of them are good at, requesting special dishes from them. It was this that really helped my family and I in Denver. We got some amazing food and it gave us sustenance in very bleak times. Our experiences in Denver restaurants hence may be very different from the usual.

[Suvir Saran]

A book project shall get me to Denver sometime later this year or early next. I would love to have a eGullet Pot Luck at that time.

[mongo_jones]

hi suvir, other denver/boulder residents,

i haven't actually been to any denver restaurants yet--i live in boulder (been here a month). the ones i've been to in boulder--the first one's name escapes me, but it is in a strip mall on mohawk, and the taj in the basemar shopping center--ranged from the horrible to the inoffensive. perhaps i caught them on bad days but the experience has made me wary of other indian establishments here. so, i'm only going to go to places that i can cross-reference. i remember from an earlier thread that a couple of people had recommended particular restaurants in denver and that others were going to check those out--any word?

i'm told there's a south indian place in boulder that is allegedly quite good. i think it is called masala. does anyone know about it? if not, i may have to take a chance and be the pioneer.

what i would appreciate though is tips on good indian stores in the area--there's only one indian store in boulder and it only has one brand of basmati rice, so draw your own conclusions. i was spoiled in los angeles with access not just to a range of indian groceries in l.a and artesia but also to a couple of bangladeshi places that had every bengali fish you could imagine (flown in frozen from bangladesh). even my parents--hardcore bengalis--after initial scepticism were impressed by the quality of the ilish/hilsa i got from alladin (vermont and 1st) on their last visit, though the frozen potol (see the mystery legume/pod thread) was a different story. i don't imagine (dare not hope) there's any place in the denver metro that sells indian fish?

[Suvir Saran]

Masala may have been the name of the very good Southern Indian restaurant in Aurora (Denver) as well.

There are many Indian groceries in Denver. There is one run by a Sikh Gentleman on Mississippi Avenue just east of Breakers.

There are several in Aurora near where Masala is. There is one owned by a wonderful Parsi woman as well.

[jess mebane]

when we lived in Boulder, I had a dear friend who always wanted us to go to Masala; she just loved it.

[mongo_jones]

well, even though none of you have been to the masala in boulder i'm going to take these almost confirmations as evidence that it may well be good--i'll probably check it out this weeken and post my impressions here.

[mongo_jones]

okay, so i went to masala a little ahead of schedule--for lunch today. here's my impressions/discoveries:

1. the place is TINY--it can seat maybe 20 people and that's if some sit double-decker

2. it is a branch of the presumably bigger one in aurora (will check that out soon too)

3. the kitchen presumably is to scale since things seemed to be getting cooked one by one--i got my food first and was told not to wait for my companion's meal since my dosa would get cold.

now for the food itself:

i went for one of the thalis--the madras thali, i think, since it had a dosa, idli and vada on it i figured i'd be able to sample all the greatest hits and get a good feel for the place. i didn't have a whole lot of trepidation because the place smells good! anyway, the long and short of it is as follows:

idli: pretty good; i'd give it a b+; a little more sourish than i like but a nice texture

vada: quite good; crisp, not soggy at all in the center, but a little too oily; i'd give it an a-

dosa: mine was a mysore masala dosa; also pretty good, crispy without becoming a papad with a college education, nicely shaped and browned and a pretty good potato filling. my one crib: the masala paste on the inside of the dosa was not spicy at all. i'm used to mysore masala dosas being pretty spicy--but that may just be me. all in all, i'd give the dosa a b+

sambhar: unremarkable but good, which is saying a lot in the average indian restaurant; b-

coconut chutney: bland, watery; c+

my overall grade for the food would be a b+; i don't really care about ambience and crap like that--if the food is good and doesn't kill me i'm happy.

all in all, i'm pleased with the masala experience. this will not make me forget the udupi palace in artesia, but it is a lot better than the south indian restaurants in l.a proper. i look forward to trying their other dishes as well as the other dosas and vadas soon.

[Suvir Saran]

I had loved the Udipi restaurant in Artesia. My grandfather treated all us grandkids to lunch there the day after my grandmas funeral. It was superb. It happened to be her preferred restaurant for Southern fare in LA. Glad to know you liked it as well.

Thanks for your comments on Masala. I must say we had pretty much the same experience

I did think the Idlis at Masala were better than any I have eaten in the US. The Aurora branch made wonderful ones. Maybe you will share your experience after you make a visit there.

[mongo_jones]

suvir,

i still remember the completely disoriented feeling i got when i walked into the udupi palace in artesia for the first time. it was almost as though i'd stepped into a wormhole and ended up in south india. every patron there was south indian (of course this isn't always true anymore) and the waiters looked like extras from central tam-brahm casting. and oh the vadas! i've always maintained that of the three greatest hits of stereotypical south indian food --idlis, vadas and dosas-- it is the vada that is the litmus test of a kitchen's effort and skill. and their mysore masala dosa sets the roof of your mouth aflame when you exhale.

the thing about places like artesia is that since the clientele at restaurants there are so overwhelmingly indian (and sometimes regional) you don't encounter a watering down of flavors (though by the same token i suppose you don't encounter much fusion). the same is true of the korean restaurants in koreatown in los angeles and the amazing chinese restaurants in rosemead, alhambra, monterey park and other parts of the san gabriel valley. i've been to a couple of restaurants in new jersey as well that were similar--had a gongura mans at one of them last december (with a hyderabadi biryani, mirchi ka salan and chicken 65) that almost made me cry.

i'll let you know how i feel about the aurora masala.

[Suvir Saran]

And now you have me craving for Gongura Chutney.

And I only have the Priya store bought one.

I normally get some out of the big jar my friend Jyothi Subbarao (who lives between Bangalore and NYC, and whose chef in Bangalore is from Hyderabad, and makes it back home and brings it for Jyothi from Hyderabad to carry to NYC), and it becomes the highlight of my summer.

This has been a strange summer for me in NYC.. and I have missed her Gongura chutney.

Even Priyas version makes me plenty happy, but the Hyderabad made chutney is sublime.