Indian food at Vij's
This list came to mind as we came up for air tonight at Vij’s, an Indian restaurant in the sleek suburb of South Granville Island, Vancouver, BC. This topic was apropos at the moment because both Lisa and I were trying to find other restaurants that had such an impact on us as this one. Remember, this is the restaurant Mark Bittman (of NYT and The Minimalist fame) said was one of the best Indian restaurants in the world.
As expected, there was an hour wait at Vij’s, but it was assuaged by the relaxing lounge, a few local pilsners, and free tastes of pakoras and other goodies the staff kept passing around. The appetizer of BC shrimp was spicy but complex, with mung sprouts. We don’t even know that that means. We had the lamb popsicles, de rigeour for Vij’s, which as advertised were flavorful, tender and bathing in a curry sauce that we both wanted to bathe in. The scene stealer were the short ribs, rich with cinnamon and cardamom and served with roasted kale. The syrupy gulab jamin practically drove us to tears. We spent 10 straight minutes so engaged in worshipping the food we didn’t realize we were completely ignoring each other.
Given our tendencies toward nerdy foodie obsessions, you would think we could rattle off a laundry list of places. But we only came up with four others in that elite category. That’s right, four.
Liverpool House, Montreal, Quebec: A farm-to-table joint tucked into the working class suburb of Petit-Bourgogne. The menu is written on a chalk blackboard, and includes such delicacies such as Guinea hen and pig-ear salad with micro greens. It’s not so much “Quebecois” as it is local fresh ingredients prepared incredibly well. What we remember most about this meal is that it was prepared so perfectly that in each bite you could tell how much care had gone into the dishes. One of those meals where you just don’t want it to end.
112 Eatery, Minneapolis, MN: We love this place so much we drove 8 hours out of the way on our cross-country roadtrip just to go. So that should tell you something. This tiny place in the Warehouse District isn’t exactly small plates, but more like everything on the menu looks amazing and is under $15 so you might as well order everything your stomach can fit. The duck pate bahn mi, any of the pastas, the sandwich with harissa, anything on special: just order everything you crave and worry about the bill and your stomach capacity later. Also, we are still recovering from that one time we ordered the tres leches cake. That was in May of 2008.
The Kitchen Table Bistro, Vermont: We ate a LOT of amazing food on our trip to Burlington in October of 2008. We would be remiss not to mention the pizza with local bacon, cheese and onions from American Flatbread or the bountiful farmers market downtown. But the Kitchen Table, in the nearby town of Richmond, was astounding. It’s in a converted house and the chefs/owners/couple use as many local ingredients as possible. The decor was gorgeous, but appetizers and dessert stood out the most: cider steamed mussels with bacon and aioli, and apple cake with cinnamon ice cream. GAH.
Paseo, Seattle, WA: We don’t care if it’s “only” a sandwich shop that’s been around for years and only takes cash and often runs out of bread and has scant if any seats and almost always has a line out the door and doesn’t have a website. We can’t think of any other place that always, ALWAYS satisfies like Paseo, with its pork sandwiches bursting with Jamaican spices and aioli and grilled onions and cilantro and the freshest baguette you’ll ever find. Guaranteed foodgasm 100%.
Lisa
Jeremy
