BITES...
After much anticipation, I finally made it to Himalayan Cuisine (2440 Cerrillos Road, 471-6688), the new restaurant on Cerrillos, near the College of Santa Fe. I had fun
exploring the menu and if you're a food adventurer you should trek on over and check it out.
Located in a space formerly occupied by a Chinese restaurant, the place is draped with multicolored Tibetan (or Nepali) Buddhist prayer flags
that barely distract from the
ubiquitous golden Chinese dragons.
The décor isn't too thrilling, but the service is quick and friendly, and who really comes to a place like this for décor, anyway?
The owner of this unique restaurant, Shambhu Dhungana, is from Nepal, a small country (about the size of New York state) in the Himalayan region. Dhungana lives in California but travels frequently between his three Himalayan Cuisine
restaurants in Las Vegas, Nev., Durango, Colo. and here. Perhaps the name "Himalayan Cuisine" conjures more romantic notions than "Nepali Cuisine" would; maybe it was simply a shrewd marketing decision. But Nepali food does derive much from its Himalayan neighbors, so it could be that the name simply gives credit where it's due. This sparerib-shaped country is sandwiched in between two much bigger countries, India and China, not far from Tibet. Food from the region is characterized by spicy curries, lentil
daal
, steamed dumplings and noodle soups.
At Himalayan Cuisine, the challenge is to figure out which items on the menu aren't too similar to Indian dishes you might have had before. If you love Indian food and are seeking new territory for your tastebuds to explore, then you'll be tempted to pass over the
samosas
, chicken
vindaloo
and vegetable
korma
in favor of less familiar dishes like vegetable
momo
, chicken
chau chau
or lamb
thukpa
. I took three very adventurous eaters with me on a recent Saturday afternoon: My mom, who visited Nepal as a college student in 1969 and is known as a connoisseur of organ meats and "dangly bits," and new friends Terry and Becky Murray, who were happy to find on the menu a version of the tomato soup they remembered from a recent trek in the Himalayas. (At a political fundraiser in October, the Murrays bid on and won a restaurant review date with me. Luckily, they are fun and interesting folks and I had a great time helping them redeem their prize.)
Becky and I simply couldn't decide on one dish from the menu and so we opted for the buffet ($7.95), which is only available at lunch. Buffets can be awful affairs with badly-aging food languishing under hot lights, but if done well they can be an excellent way to explore an unfamiliar cuisine. Here we had mixed success. The buffet was tasty and I did get to try a wide variety of dishes (including eggplant fritters, vegetable
korma
and creamed spinach) but the most interesting things we ordered came from the menu.
I love
naan
, the soft and fluffy flatbread so often seen at Indian restaurants and here the
naan
on the buffet was good, but even better was the
alu paratha
($2.75) that my mom ordered.
Alu paratha
is a whole wheat flatbread stuffed with potatoes; not for the carb-fearing, but delicious nonetheless. Also intriguing were the vegetable
momos
($9.95), steamed dumplings that are common both to Nepal and Tibet and not unlike Chinese steamed dumplings. Although they weren't astonishingly good, it's probably not fair to judge all
momos
by the vegetable version. Next time I plan to try the meat
momos
, which are stuffed with ground buffalo and vegetables.
The tomato soup that Becky ordered as an appetizer wasn't as good as the version she and Terry remembered from their trip; the soup was creamy and spicy at first, but had a canned-soup aftertaste. The chicken
thukpa
($9.95) that Terry ordered was the best thing we tried. Thick noodles tangled with chicken in a savory broth that had an addictive slow heat. The soup can be ordered with more or less spice according to your taste; we ordered it mild and it was still spicy, so I suggest that you start mild unless you're looking for a serious endorphin rush.
Also, do try the chai at Himalayan Cuisine. Far less sweet than the chai that's become so common lately, this is mildly spicy, mildly sweet and very refreshing. Try a cup with your
khir
($2.95) a sort of light and satisfying basmati rice pudding.
Overall, I think this place will surely please people who like Indian food and are interested in trying something similar but different. Vegetarians will be particularly interested in the very wide variety of meat-free dishes. And at $7.95 for the buffet, it's pretty affordable.
...AND BOOKS
In other news, Santa Fe's resident grilling and smoking experts, Bill and Cheryl Jamison, released their newest cookbook this week.
The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking & Entertaining
is indeed a big book, filled with 850 recipes for grilling, barbecue and rotisserie roasting as well as fish fries, crab boils, and lobster steams. If you like to cook outside then you should go out and pick one up today.
Oh, and if you're the kind of adventurer who likes Himalayan food and eating your way through France, check out
www.cookingwiththejamisons.com
about the Jamisons' culinary trips in the Dordogne region of France. They've got spaces left for adventures this October and next July.
Himalayan Cuisine
471-6688
2440 Cerrillos Road
Open 11 am-2:30 pm and 5 pm-9:30 pm every day.
Tell me where to eat! I need your input. Send all of your tips, gripes and raves to
.
