Where is the Indian Food? Good Question...
Here's a comment from Michelle on yesterday's post about where I should eat:
Fully realizing that I might get a lot of hate mail from this, I have to say - I've just never liked Cafe Tandoor. Sorry if this is your favorite Indian restaurant. Please don't recommend it to me, I will never like it.
I do have some preferences when it comes to Indian restaurants:
And does anyone know of any secret plans to open an Indian restaurant in Ohio City?
I'm new to Cleveland. Where is the good Indian food?This is an issue of vital importance to me because a) I can't remember and b) I think I never really found anyplace as good as the Clay Oven, which the city of Fairview Park replaced with a parking lot. The only one that ever came close was Raj Mahal in Cuyahoga Falls, and that is quite a hike. (Although in combination with a trip to Krieger's or the CVNP, I could justify going out there. Wait, no. I could justify going out there solely to get Indian food.)
Fully realizing that I might get a lot of hate mail from this, I have to say - I've just never liked Cafe Tandoor. Sorry if this is your favorite Indian restaurant. Please don't recommend it to me, I will never like it.
I do have some preferences when it comes to Indian restaurants:
- Free pappadums.
- The trifecta of chutneys served with said pappadums has to be thus: tamarind, mint (and it's got to be the glowing green of fresh mint - I can tell if it came out of a can), and fire-engine-red onion.
- Rice or bread has to be included in the price of the meal.
- The Clay Oven used to offer a vegetarian dinner for two that came with soup (oh God! the soup...), samosas, two curries, saffron pullao, naan, raita, dessert, and coffee. I loved this.
- If you order something mild at an Indian restaurant, it should be medium. Order medium, it should be hot. Order hot, and suffer the consequences. The spiciness should also have some depth, not just heat.
And does anyone know of any secret plans to open an Indian restaurant in Ohio City?
posted by Christine Borne at 10:06 AM
11 Comments:
I've not yet found an Indian restaurant that truly excites me, but I have two recommendations. One is the Saffron Patch on Chagrin in Shaker. http://www.pluggedincleveland.com/restaurants/1677+saffron+patch.html
The fare has been tasty but not wowing (I've only been there twice!) The other option, imho, is more fun. http://madgreekcleveland.com/ I used to live one minute from it on Cedar Hill - they have a double personality, half the menu is Greek and half is Indian. I personally was never into the Greek side I've had it better elsewhere. But the Indian side was yummy.
My fav restaurant in Cleveland however is the Siam Cafe. No, I don't think they have tandoor but they do have curry! :-) Let's lobby OCNW for an Indian place in the OC or Tremont or hey, how about Detroit Shoreway....hmmmm.
Christine--India Cafe on Ridge Rd. just over the border on the Cleveland/Parma checkpoint. So, when you do decide to buy, buy in Brooklyn Centre :) There's a really, really nice house on Archwood available for $60,000. Within spitting distance of my house. If you are spitting.
BBC- how long has this India Cafe been there? I'm wondering (hoping...) that it might be an incarnation of the Clay Oven, which was known as Indian Cafe in its third location at the now-defunct Budget Inn on Brookpark Rd. That location opened, I believe, in 2002 and was gone by early 2004.
There's a pretty decent Indian restaurant (it tastes fine to me, but then, I'm no expert in Indian food) in the basement of the Park East building, a 12-story (or so) high rise building at the corner of Warrensville Ctr, Chagrin Blvd. and Northfield, in Shaker Hts. I can't seem to recall the name, though. And glad to hear you tried Crocker Park. Who cares about the PC arguments against going? Life is too short, and the people watching there is great, plus there are two bookstores.
Hi John,
I'm pretty sure that's the Saffron Patch you're talking about. Honestly, now that I think about it, I can't remember if I liked it or not. We'll have to go over there and try.
I have some thoughts on Crocker Park and places like Crocker Park...but I'll save that for a later post!
That's indeed the name. And it's probably the only place Indian food I've ever had in Cleveland. And if you can't remember it, I suppose it wasn't too spectacular. But then, men tend never to forget a good meal. Or perhaps I'm just extrapolating to my entire gender based on my own experience. I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts about Crocker Park.
India Cafe has no ambience, but it has authentic food. It has been in Parma about 2 years. I am trying to get the owner to relocate closer to Metro, for the doctors :) Saree Mahal was the best Indian restaurant, but it closed last year. India Cafe owner Gajendra Shrivastav 440-842-7724. Lakewood has India Garden, which is probably closer to your neighborhood.
I'd definitely recommend India Garden in Lakewood. Very good food, decent prices. It's a nice, intimate little place. Best of all, it meets much of your criteria, with free papadums, the three accompanying condiments, and rice comes with the entrees, rather than being additional, like at Cafe Tandoor. My main word of advice is that they'll ask you what level spice you want on a scale of 1-10. I've never gotten past 4, and I find that spicing things at 2 or 3 are just fine, though I once had a three that was just too hot to eat. But I've also seen people order 8s and 9s and chow down happily. Best of all, it's not that far from your Ohio City digs ... just a straight shot down Detroit Avenue, near the western border of Lakewood.
i second india garden in lakewood. it's as good as any of the indian restaurants back in jackson heights - and the prices are decent. check out the lunch buffet!
Thanks for all these recommendations. I'm going to check them out sometime.
Udupi Cafe in Parma was great - I went there within the last few months with a bunch of people for someone's birthday. It's vegetarian too so many people who keep kosher go there.
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