Several weeks ago, I got into an electronic brawl on Chowhound when I had the audacity to disparage Bombay Club, an Indian restaurant in D.C. that is inexplicably popular:
Bombay Club is terrible. I ate there with several other people, and, therefore, was able to try a broad swath of their menu. Our conclusion is that Bombay Club is there for the expense account crowd, who want to treat their clients to something a little more exotic than a steakhouse. Perhaps its swanky British colonial ambience has fooled people into thinking that they're actually enjoying their meal there.
I was trying to be a little bit funny and a little bit controversial, but when people don’t know you personally, all that comes across is the jackassery. So, of course, I got slammed with all sorts of sarcastic remarks from people who have ludicrous message board handles.
My favorite “burn” was from some chap named “Bonz” who tag-teamed with his colleague “Pappy” to show me up for the fool that I apparently am:
I totally agree: that British colonial ambience is so swanky, it even fooled some of my Indian friends into having their wedding reception there. Unlike you, Pappy, I had it all figured out from the start. Boy did I laugh as three generations of this large South Asian family, as well as 75 of their Indian guests, foolishly thought they were actually enjoying their meal there!
I expanded upon my earlier remarks in a subsequent post just to explain more precisely what I found underwhelming about Bombay Club, and, hoping to establish some Indian food bona fides, offered up Bombay Curry Company in Alexandria as an example of excellence. That prompted a more thoughtful response from someone else, though that particular poster still remarked:
The Bombay CC is good for everyday curry, but I don't know about wonderful. It's not breaking any boundaries that aren't covered everywhere else. Maybe you mean wonderful value.
At this point, I didn’t want to initiate another verbal donnybrook, so I decided to let that statement go unchallenged.
But lest there be any confusion, I think Bombay Curry Company easily ranks among my top five favorite Indian restaurants of all time. And I say that after having spent nine years in New York where I sampled curries and kebabs from the shabbiest kwik-e-mart cab stands to the latest restaurant finds in the South Asian epicenter that is Jackson Heights.
And owner Balraj Bhasin somehow finds the time to be fairly active in the D.C. food message board and blog community even though he owns two restaurants. Indeed, though I have absolutely no idea how he stumbled upon our site, Bhasin was kind enough to post a comment offering another spicy Indian soda recommendation in response to my post about Duke’s Masala Soda.
True, Bombay Curry Company may not be “breaking any boundaries,” but they take a comparatively short and simple menu and make every dish sing. We love Bombay Curry Company’s butter chicken, shammi kebab, and chicken kadai. And my mornings at work fly by whenever I have some of their leftover vegetable biryani awaiting my lunchtime assault.
But respect is due for one menu item, in particular, that I haven’t seen pop up too often on other Indian restaurants’ menus: Pathar Kebab.
In a post on Don Rockwell’s message board, Bhasin described Pathar Kebab as follows:
Pathar Kabab is a pounded lamb scallopine marinated and flash grilled on the griddle. Traditionally the shepherds cooked it on the hot stones around their campfire.
The first time I tried it several years ago, I was admittedly underwhelmed. But they have since taken an intriguing, though formerly underachieving menu item, and transformed it into one of the most respectful treatments of lamb that I’ve ever had.
The lamb is flattened and thickly marinated with spicing. The ends of each piece are nicely charred, and the contours of the meat slightly dip toward the center of each piece, pooling the juices, and presenting an appealing glisten of meaty essence. The dish is accompanied by nan still piping hot from the oven, and I like to add a side of their refreshing raita (tangy homemade yogurt with cucumber) to create my own Indian style gyro.
The Pathar Kebab can easily be shared by two people along with two or three sides of vegetables.
Check out the Pathar Kebab at Bombay Curry Company:
3110 Mount Vernon Avenue
Alexandria, VA
(703) 836-6363
—AC
Biscuit Boy and I stopped reading and posting to Chowhound more than a year ago. There was way too much childish behavior on the boards and it seems that things haven't changed much. We post on Don Rockwell now and it's a much nicer forum. People can agree to disagree without getting snippy or downright rude.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it also seem that the majority of people on Chowhound have the most pedestrian tastes (i.e., liking expensive, "nice," but underwhelming Indian restaurants)?
ReplyDeleteI actually am a member of Don Rockwell, but I haven't had the energy to really participate yet beyond two posts about Russian Gourmet. I intend to step that up in the months ahead. The snippiness on Chowhound really irritates me at times, since, with the exception of the post mentioned above, I generally try to be helpful and informative and not controversial at all. I used to live in NYC, and the Chowhound board up there had a lot more actionable intelligence than the D.C. board, which is plagued by people who just want tips on where to eat with their parents or celebrate an anniversary. There is one gentleman who posts on the D.C. board whose adventurous spirit reminds me of Chowhound's chief Jim Leff, and I would like to interview him for ST or DCist in the future. I stick around almost solely for his items.
ReplyDeleteIn fairness to Bonz and Pappy, they do seem somewhat knowledgeable about other restaurants even if I think their wrong about Bombay Club- maybe the busboy was cooking that night, but for those prices I'm not giving Bombay Club another chance to disappoint.