Check out this interesting story of a chef in NY. Originally from India, he went on the become a chef after a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry.

I’m out of the restaurant on weekends, and people at Tabla know not to call me unless they really need to. I spend that time at home with my family, cooking three meals a day. It drives my wife insane. She doesn’t understand why I can’t just relax and eat cold cereal. I tell her I don’t think of cooking as work. I really love what I do.

In general, I have liked the food at this restaurant. I have no idea if my sickness had anything to do with my visit there. But it sure sounds like it because I hardly ate anything else that entire day (barring some home made soup at night). I plan to stay away from there for the foreseeable future! Presently, I am on the road to recovery and hope I have no further surprises in store for me!

If you are hungry late at night and in a mood for normal food (by this I mean not fast food or the Denny’s variety), small towns in India have plenty to offer. I was recently in Kannur in North Kerala and found myself in exactly this predicament. I was happy to find Omar restaurant very close to the Kannur Railway station. It was close to midnight. There were a few people at the restaurant! It took them close to 15-20 minutes to get the food, causing me to believe that the food was fresh. This was further confirmed by the fact that the food tasted great.

Gulistan Restaurant
34579 Alvarado Niles Rd
Union City,CA,94587
Telephone: 510 471-6536

If you are interested in non-desi food in Chennai, check out Cedar’s in Kotturpuram (I don’t know the exact location, if I am not mistaken its not far from Gandhi Mandapam) which serves Lebanese food.

The food is excellent. The restaurant feels more like a house with an upstairs, terrace etc., so you don’t feel like you are eating at a restaurant, which is nice. There was nice middle eastern music playing all along. To add to this, when asked, the cook and the waiters (all Indians trained under a Lebanese cook who worked here for 2+ years) are capable of "radiating lots of fundas" about the food and the cooking, like you normally observe in western countries. The costs average about Rs. 300+ per dish. Sheesha (hookah) is also available at the restaurant.

The picture shows the cook (Sundar) and the waiter (Milton), both were very impressive with their knowledge of Lebanese food.

Restaurant: Monsoon Cuisine of India
Location: Castro Street, Mountain View, CA

I had been to this restaurant sometime last year shortly after it opened for the first time. The food at that time appeared to be good, like most Indian restaurants do in their early days. In general, I prefer to avoid buffets at Indian restaurants mostly because it fills you up no matter how little you eat (thanks to the generous use of baking soda). However, Indian restaurants are the safest bet from a variety point of view for strict vegetarians. I was taking a friend of mine to lunch and chose Monsoon Cuisine of India based on my prior experience at this restaurant sensitive to the fact that it might have deteriorated since my last visit more the 6 months back. Boy I was disappointed to find that the quality had come down quite dramatically. There was plenty of empty space with no chairs or tables (a sign of difficult times perhaps). Barring this, the decor and ambiance seems to have sustained the passage of time.

However, the variety of the food was far from impressive, and whatever was available didn’t appear very fresh either. Wonder if this was all because of the weekend? I guess I’ll never know because I don’t intend to visit this restaurant for some time to come, weekend or otherwise!

The My Thai restaurant has a virtual monopoly, especially over the desi crowd in the Fremont area. The food is good and the decor decent, though the service is quite slow. For many years now, My Thai has been a very popular place, frequented largely by the Asian Indian population. We recently discovered another restaurant, comparable on all fronts to My Thai named Simply Thai located in Newark (border of Fremont and Newark, cross street newark Blvd., and Jarvis Avenue). Its been around for just three months, so its unlikely that many have heard about it. Worth visiting for sure!

If you are looking for a good place to eat in Fremont, check out at Mirichi Cafe. It is located on Fremont Blvd, not far from Lovely Sweets. Its hard to find unless you go looking for it. The food is very good. The food is called “Fusion cuisine” with a good creative mix of Indian, Pakistani and Italian food. You have recordings of old cricket matches if you care that are shown at all times. Its owned by a American-Pakistani couple. We tried the chicken pizza and the veggie wrap. Good stuff!

I am not a pizza lover. Unfortunately, I sometimes end up eating pizza at work simply because it is convenient, fast and delivered. The closest Pizza Hut to work is at:

1241 W El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Phone: (650)968-8100

For the third time in a row over a course of about 6 months, I have ended up with an upset stomach after ordering pizza from this store!

On the other hand, I have had much better luck with Little Caesar’s pizza. Very aggressive pricing, yet decent quality. They don’t deliver in most places.