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The little restaurant that could... not

The city of Austin is known for its live music, food, university and an eclectic lifestyle. It is a place where hippies and techies alike call home. It is frequently referred to as the Silicon Valley of the South. The city houses Dell, IBM, Samsung, Texas Instruments and countless others. With the surge of the IT dotcom sector in Austin, the number of Indian residents steadily rose.

Despite my unabashed love for the city, what Austin is not known for is a decent Indian restaurant. Last nite my sister in law's parents came to town so we all went out to Madras Pavilion. Now I know this isn't a very fancy place, so I wasn't expecting a professionally trained waiter with a pinstriped apron to make wine recommendations with each course, but that shouldn't take away from the food, service or ambience.

This is not going to be a fun review, so let's just dive right in. First impression, the plates were chipped. Not regular wear and tear from a dishwasher, but large pieces of plate were missing. My sister in law's mum ordered a mango lassi and asked for an extra glass, the young server girl who brought it to her seemed to not really understand English, but nodded her head anyway. She didn't get a glass. When the order taker guy cum manager cum owner arrived we asked again for a glass and he brought it out quickly, but it was dirty like the soap scum hadn't been washed off. This is my biggest problem with restaurants - that they don't inspect the barware before sending it out. Strange enough, it's also the easiest to fix. I walked over to the register where the order taker guy cum manager cum owner was standing and showed him the dirty glass and asked him to bring another. This time around, he brought a foam cup. Maybe they ran out of glasses. Hey, it could happen. I suppose.

Then the food began to arrive. To start with, we all shared a plate of gobi manchurian which was good, a little too oily though. Then my sister in law got something like idli manchurian. The idli was cut into large pieces and then deep fried. It was then covered with a spicy sweet gravy. This was actually really good. So good in fact, we were all getting hungry and anticipating the food.

Ok, so here comes problem number 3 - the food arrives in 10 min intervals. The two people that order a plain dosa and an onion dosa get theirs first. 10 min later, the 3 mysore masala dosas come out. 10 min later, the 3 chinese dosas come out. So, by the time the last group got their food, group number 1 already were done eating. I am sure if Chef Ramsey is reading this, he's probably headed straight there. Even my sister in law mentioned that this was straight out of a Kitchen Nightmares episode.

There was nothing spectacular or memorable in the least about the food. The chinese dosas seemed promising from the menu description, but they were a complete dud. I've had so much better from hole in the wall type of places than this one. The other thing that is really surprising is that they get so many orders and catering events from the local Indian population because they are the only vegetarian Indian restaurant in Austin.

I was going to give this place an F, but decided that the order taker guy cum manager cum owner stayed pleasant regardless of our criticism. So, this place gets a D- for bad dinnerware and service. Next time you're in Austin, eat Tex-Mex.

Olde Crone's soaps

I emailed Amy of Olde Crone's Bewitching Bath Soaps awhile back to find out some more about her products and mentioned that i found out about her through Manisha's wonderful blog. I was intrigued because of the goat milk chai soap that Manisha had mentioned. I am constantly on the lookout for new natural and organic products, so when I was researching her product line, I found most things to be VEGAN! Truly, this lady rocks you all.

Sometimes it can be difficult in the U.S. to be able to purchase products directly from the artisan, whereas in India, you will find them all over the streets peddling their goods. And unlike shopping at retailers like Walmart and even Bath & Body, where the name of the game is shelf life, isn't it refreshing to find someone who has taken the time to make these wonderful handmade artisan soaps without chemicals? I've just ordered 4 types of soaps, citrus herb lip balm and lavender lemon lotion. Most of the soaps I saw run for $5. A small price to pay to be a goddess don't you think?

Spicy fingerling potatoes

Since our president insists on this time change thingy, I cannot seem to get my sleep and waking up patterns going smoothly. To top it off, me and A have had sore throats and coughing fits. You know those nites when you keep tossing and turning because you can't breathe from one side and then have to turn to the other? Ya, one of those. Then my phone was off by an hour. So by the time I got to sleep it was time to wake up. I was dressed and ready for work at 6am. WTF? Should I go in early? ya right.

Needless to say, I had an extra hour on my hands. I figured I might as well put it to use by cleaning up a bit and getting dinner semi-prepared. I soaked some brown basmati rice and washed about a pound of fingerlings. I also washed about 7-10 thai chili peppers, peeled 2 cloves of garlic and got out a knob of ginger and crushed these in my mortar with some sea salt and a sprig of curry leaf.

When I get home I will only have the actual cooking left to do since almost all the prep work is done. Just quarter the fingerlings and saute them in a bit of oil and then cover for about 10 min, stirring in between. Then add the crushed mixture and 1/2 - 1 cup of water. Keep covered and stir once in awhile until the potatoes are cooked thru. Squeeze in half a lime. Before you start on your potatoes though, put your rice on to cook so it will be done around the same time. Oh ya, I probably should have told you that first - my bad.

Serve with a tomato & onion salad. And write to your congressman/woman and tell them how you really feel about time change. after all, if you're not with me, you must be against me :)

For you folks spoiled by the written word,

Serves 2-3
Prep time: 10min
Cook time: 20 min

The VIP's:

• 1 lb fingerling potatoes
• 7-10 thai chilies
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• knob of ginger
• sprig of curry leaf - optional
• sea salt
• half lime/lemon
• 2 tbspn oil

The play:

1. wash and quarter the potatoes
2. saute in oil and cover, while you pound in a mortar: chilis, garlic, ginger, salt, curry leaf
3. after 10 min, add this crushed mixture and 1/2 - 1 cup of water to the potatoes
4. cover and stir once in awhile for another 10 min or until potatoes cooked thru.
5. check seasoning and squeeze lime over potatoes

NOTES:

• sweet potatoes would be a good substitute for those of us trying to steer away from bad carbs.
• garnish with cilantro if you have it on hand
• serve with roti, naan or rice
• for a more pronounced indian flavor - after the oil is heated, add the following and allow to pop: mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds and cook on.

Ziggy's enchiladas

So the other nite we met up a friend at a place called Ziggy's in downtown Houston. It's a funky little cafe-ish bistro type of place. At first I thought I would have to get dressed up because I'd never been there before, but A said it's not that kind of place... so as usual, jeans and flip flops were still the order of the day. Don't hate, it's in the 80's here!

When we got there, it was not what I really expected - in a good way. Sometimes downtown dining is way tooooo formal and stuffy. As soon as we pulled up, I saw people sitting and talking on tables outside. We love our winter weather here in Texas by the way. It was a good mixed crowd. There were some older couples eating dinner and some students sitting around messing with their laptops and having a beer. Very casual. Very flip-floppy. I liked it.

Once you walk in, you basically order and pay at the counter where the young guy hands you a menu and he'll serve you your drink and give you a number. Sodas and iced tea were self serve at the fountain. I got the iced tea and noticed that they were both decaf and one was white peach. I'm not so into decaf or white peach. I stuck to plain decaf and with a couple packets of Splenda it was pretty decent. A and our friend Paras both got the black bean burger. Paras had the good sense to ask for it with jalapenos and cheese. I wasn't feelin the burgers that day and not wanting to get stuck with a lemon, I ordered the spinach and mushroom enchiladas and we all shared a large side of potato and sweet potato fries.

I tasted A's burger, it was so good. The burger was on wheat bread which was really soft. The regular potato fries were made on premise and they were also very good. The sweet potato fries were cut super thin and it seemed like all we got were the skins. Just crispy skin. Not so good.

The menu stated that the enchiladas take an extra 20 min, so I was prepared for the wait. The guys were eating their burgers and were almost done before I got the enchiladas. Now I make some good Tex-Mex at home myself, so I'm not exactly going to give a restaurant the benefit of the doubt if it ends up sucky. Hey - when in Texas! The enchiladas arrived smothered in cheese. First impression failed to impress. However, once I scraped off all the cheese nonsense, the corn tortillas were pretty awesome and the filling was decent. The spinach stayed a nice bright green so it was obvious they didn't cook it to death and the mushrooms were sauteed. It was served with some brown rice and black beans on the side. Can I just say, I really needed some salsa? The black beans and rice were bland. If I had to reorder again, I would stick with the black bean burger. I will post a couple versions of Tex-Mex enchiladas in a later post.

Sunday morning O'briens

I have this little (my sister would even go so far as to say, nasty) habit of waking up EARLY on the weekends. Usually between 6-7am I wake up, do my weekend ritual of opening all the curtains and blinds and letting the sun pour in while I go around dusting and sweeping and whatnot. This is when I am full of energy, the sunshine in the house renews me, letting me borrow it's life and vitality. And trust me when I say I take advantage of this rare time. If things don't get cleaned, swept, mopped or dusted in the mornings, then they never will until the next weekend. And for some reason, I don't like to clean or do any housework when it's dark out, I know that may sound silly to some of you out there, but I just can't. This may be partly my mom's fault because we had this weekend thing of waking up on Saturdays and cleaning the entire house before we were allowed to go out. Actually, before we even asked to go out or for her to drive us to a movie or over to a friend's, we knew the house had better be cleaned. I can appreciate that sort of thing now, thanks Mum!

However, after last nite's bridal shower/party, I was pooped. There was no cleaning to be done nor blinds to be opened. I didn't have any strength. It's like those certain times when you've been up all nite and your stomach is queasy and nauseous because you've been doing stuff you probably shouldn't have. Think Anthony Bourdain type of nite! Well, I don't think he can ever be outdone, but we sure try.

I guess all the cleaning gets to me because I am usually starving afterwards. I needed to make something quick and easy and in one pan.

O'briens:
Serves 4
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min

VIP's:

• 15-20 fingerling potatoes - washed and quartered
• 1/2 red onion - chopped in large chunks
• 1/2 bell pepper - washed and chopped in large pieces
• 2-3 jalapenos - washed and chopped in large pieces
• 2 tablespoons oil
• salt and pepper to taste

The play:

1. in a wide saute pan, heat oil, add chopped potatoes and salt, cover
2. after a few minutes add the onion, bell pepper and jalapenos, cover
3. stir every so often for the next 10-15 min until the potatoes are done
4. after the potatoes are cooked, add freshly ground black pepper and serve

Notes: if you want something even more filling and carb-laden or to feed a hungry crowd, turn these into breakfast tacos. Warm up some tortillas, fill them with O'briens and refried beans, and then top off with some spicy salsa.

weekend partying with Jack & Jill

This Saturday, we went to a friend's Jack & Jill bridal shower. They were gracious hosts and served so many delectable appetizers. There were two tables set up for appetizers and a separate dessert counter. The first table consisted of mostly meat based dishes. There were meatballs in a tomato sauce, eggrolls, shrimp and garlic bread. The other table consisted of a veggie platter with a light green ranch dressing - i'm guessing it was blended with either cilantro or green peppers. There was also a cheese and cracker tray, tortilla pinwheels filled with cream cheese and chopped bell peppers, a pasta salad and a spinach corn casserole. I'm sure I'm missing a lot of other items, but this is all I could remember.

On the counter and in the dryer* (yes, you read right) there were a variety of drinks - basically choose your poison option. The desserts consisted of fruit skewers with a vanilla sauce and chocolate dipping sauce. Delicious! There was also a tiered tray of bite sized cheesecake in raspberry, turtle and plain flavors. I tried the turtle flavor. The crust was a thin layer of chocolate wafers and topped off with nuts and more chocolate. Sort of reminded me of an Indian burfi I had once. Finally, there was a tray of different flavored pound cake slices.

All in all, it was a fun night relaxing and catching up with friends. Thanks to Mitch and Bon and their families for throwing a great party!

* Apparently there was a little bit of mystery involving the "good stuff," in the dryer. It was put there as not to offend certain family members. Permission to enter the lair was granted only to the cool.