A pose of objectivity is almost
always a sham. I’m more concerned with being fair to a restaurant that being
objective, but in the case of Tandoor of India, my
opinion is plain biased. I eat lunch there every Wednesday, and one of the
owners, Makhan Singh, treats me and my family like
his own.
That said, I
would not be eating there once a week if the place weren’t great. I eat from
the same buffet everybody else eats from, and aside from a very friendly
greeting — which, come to think of it, everybody else seems to get — I get
standard Tandoor service on my visits.
What makes a person a regular at a
restaurant? Most want consistent quality and value, and many come for one item
they simply can’t get enough of. My children eat chicken makhani
and little else, and are quite happy. Many others would say the same of those
lovely chunks of chicken in aromatic, honey-tinged cumin sauce.
But I love Singh’s other restaurant, Thali of India, for its diversity. Two years ago, I wrote,
“India is
dizzyingly diverse, and it’s exciting to experience a broader slice of its
culinary spectrum.” Both restaurants have food from all over India,
like Kerala black peppercorn meat; rich, coconut
sauces from Goa; and the
Anglo-Indian Balti dishes.
At Tandoor,
Singh and partner AshuSanyal
have upped the ante. From Bombay,
there are puris and chaats.
Generally, a puri is a freshly-made fried bread of
some sort. Some are puffy, almost like a savory donut. Then there are panipuri,
the famous “water balls,” which are crisp orbs filled with potatoes and dunked
in a thin, aromatic water ($3.95). “Chaat” basically
means crunchy and soft things in tart/sweet yogurt sauce. Tandoor
has many kinds, usually one on the buffet. It would take a dozen visits to try
them all.
Thali
occasionally serves South Indian specialties during Sunday brunch, but Tandoor puts them on the menu. A dosa is a thin crรชpe made of
ground rice (and sometimes lentil, though not here), filled with any number of
things. Masaladosas are
filled with spicy potato and onion ($6.95), and come fresh as part of the
weekend buffet. Idli are plain, steamed patties of rice and lentil that come with a sour dip called sambar ($4.95).
All this is common takeout food in India and is on the buffet.
An odd addition at Tandoor is a short menu of “Manchurian specialties.”
Chinese food is popular in India, particularly in the North (where Singh is
from). My friend Charlie though the Manchurian chili chicken was like General Tsao’s chicken ($11.95), but it’s less gelatinous and the
chicken is exceptionally tender.
At dinner the other night, we had the
aforementioned Kerela black peppercorn dish,
positively popping with pepper ($11.95). We also had Goan
fish curry, with a thick coconut sauce.
But I’m a buffet junkie. Tandoor’s offers more breadth than any other local Indian
restaurant can. There are daily staples: chicken makhani,
palakpaneer (farmer’s cheese in spinach), idly with sambar, chick
peas with deep-fried bread, and tandoori chicken. But
there will also be another two or three vegetarian and meat dishes, two or
three desserts, a chaat, and masala
tea (and dosas and more on the weekends). It’s an
absurd smorgasbord, just $6.99 daily, $7.99 Saturday, $8.99 Sunday. There is
also a dinner buffet on Tuesday ($10.99).
Singh wanted to attract students, so
the buffet is just $5.99 every day with a valid ID. Dinner boxes — what the
South Indians call a “thali” — are just $10 and
include a main dish, a side, rice, and naan (a second box is half price for students).
Tandoor is
the King and I of Indian restaurants: big, clean, and comfortable, with a vast
menu, high quality, and reasonable prices. The weekday lunch buffet is simply
the best dining value in town. It’s hard to know where to start exploring
Singh’s wild menu of Indian delights, but go to a few lunches and you’ll be on
your way.
Tandoor of India, 376 Jefferson
Road, 427-7080.
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (lunch) and 5 to 10 p.m.
(dinner).
Food tip
“Relish” is one of the best
restaurant names I’ve heard in years. Scott and Jan Stead of the Pultneyville Pickle have opened this sister restaurant
overlooking Lake Ontario in Pultneyville. With all
the great restaurants in Rochester, it seems implausible that Relish has the
only certified sommelier (Jon Link; Michael Shaw is the chef) between Syracuse
and Buffalo. Pultneyville is a quaint, historic
village less than 30 minutes from Rochester. 4135 Mill Street, 315-586-4512
— Michael Warren Thomas
Michael Warren Thomas can be heard
weekends on WYSL 1040 AM. Details
and archives available at www.SavorLife.com.
This article appears in Dec 21-27, 2005.
