Indian Garden

You know those little twenty-questions quizzes that get forwarded around on e-mail? Find out about your friends, where they've been, have they ever toilet-papered a car, what was the name of their first dog, do they like rainstorms or snow falling? That sort of thing that we're all guilty of and that suck a little bit of the life out of our workdays every do often. You know what I mean?

I'm kind of a sucker for them, sorry. Invariably there are food/beverage questions, and a common one simply asks for favourite food. I never know whether that means a single item, a recipe, a style of cuisine. I usually respond, truthfully, that Mexican is tops for me. Indian, though, is close behind that.

Darth and Heidi (above) bookended my work week with Darth sharing sushi with us on Monday and Heidi in town last night. I met her and a couple of her friends up on Devon for dinner, and though (don't snicker, FXK) I was having a great day with data analysis for some research and kind of wanted to hole up at home and plug away at it, I hopped the Red Line north to Loyola


and caught a bus west from there.

Heidi always likes Indian Garden, they have her favourite dish. Me, I'm willing to give any place a go. I'd only been up to Devon once, dining at Hema's Kitchen with CG and Conrad after catching a movie in Evanston. I also tried Raj Darbar, in Lincoln Park, years ago.

Now here's the deal: I've never been hugely impressed with Indian food in Chicago despite such a large, vibrant strip of restaurants on Devon. Hema's Kitchen was good, but not memorable. Raj Darbar is easy to get to but wasn't worth me going back. Anyone back home reading this will understand: when you come from a place that has a large Indian population, and you can enjoy good food in people's homes, restaurants don't measure up well. I loved Haryana's when I lived in my hometown, and ViJ's has taken Indian to new heights in my view. Places like Indian Garden have a lot to live up to.

So, let's start with the really good: Heidi and her friends. It was a fun few hours with them. I'd met Alexis before, and Susan was great to get to know. Darth and Heidi live not too far away in Michigan, but we need to get over there and see them at little more frequently than we make time for. It's always terrific seeing them.

The food. Well, hmmm. One interesting dish and a few ordinary ones. I neglected to whip out the camera when the pakoras came, but they weren't the star of the meal anyway. As for mains, we had Tandoor chicken tikkathat had good flavour but was fairly dry. I did like to take the chunks and swirl them in some of the other sauces. Next up, a reliable standby, sag paneer.It was fine, I thought. My selection, the murg badami, sounded really good.I'd never seen it on a menu before, and the description of boneless chicken cooked in a rich almond flavoured sauce was intriguing. I fear, though, that it was a bit subtle, perhaps. Bland, maybe. The chicken wasn't as tender as I would have expected, and it seemed as if it had been cooked separate from the sauce as the meat didn't carry any particular flavour of almond. It's telling that the two chicken dishes were the ones we didn't finish.

Heidi's old favourite proved the crowd pleaser. The photo isn't great, and, in fact, it isn't the most appealing looking dish. It was another I'd never seen on a menu before, I don't think: navratan kormamixed vegetables in a gravy of cashew nuts and fruit. It was good. Different. Just sweet enough without being too sweet. Looked like canned pea soup but tasted better than anything else we had. Great choice Heidi!

Rice, raita, and naan (garlic naan here)accompanied the meal.

I feel like I'm pissing on Heidi's memories of all her good times with her friends at this restaurant. It wasn't bad, by any stretch. The navratan korma was a terrific surprise, and I very much enjoyed seeing Heidi and her friends. Plus, did I mention how inexpensive it was? All in all, though, it left me wondering what other restaurants on Devon to try.