Washington, DC

The nature of my work requires that I travel to several US cities each year. Washington DC is easily one of my favorite places to visit. While my posts provide casual pointers to interesting things to do in each of the cities I've visited, one important reason I write this blog is to provide pointers to Indian restaurants and to restaurants which, in my opinion, are likely to be of interest to the vast majority of Indian traverlers.

There are so many easy to read tourist guides on what to do in Washington, DC that I'm going to skip writing a detailed section on what to do in the city. Suffice it to say that even if you spend a whole week in DC, the Smithsonian Museums, the historic sights (Iwo Jima, Korean War and Vietnam memorials), and the imposing grandeur of the city will still leave you hungry for more.

Food

DC is full of Indian restaurants, so even if you are a "give me only Indian food" type of traveler, you will have no problem finding good food. That said, my favorites, by far, are

1. The Bombay Club at 815 Connectiut Avenue.

2. Rasika (both locations) - at 633 D Street NW and on New Hampshire Ave. 

3. Indique Heights in Bethesda, MD.

4. Tandoori Nights in Gaithersburg, MD.

5.  Saravana's Palace in Fairfax, VA serves above average South Indian Fare.

6. Woodlands near College Park in Maryland has an excellent South Indian buffet every day.

Of course, DC is filled with outstanding restaurants for every cuisine. 

Kazan, is an outstanding Turkish restaurant in McLean (on Redmond Drive).

Kabob Palace 1 in Crystal City (near the Holiday Inn) is an excellent place for inexpensive yet outstanding kabobs and vegetarian dishes.  Recent renovations now make eating in a very viable option at the place.

Stay tuned for more.

Indian Food in Los Angeles

Unlike its cousin city San Francisco 400 miles to the north, Indian food options are limited and appear to be uniformly mediocre in LA.  Mexican choices, on the other hand (and for obvious reasons), are outstanding! 

Agra Indian Kitchen on Lincoln Blvd in the Venice/Marina Del Rey area offers decent fare.  Importantly (for me!), they offer yellow daal tarka.  Which brings me to one of my pet peeves; for the life of me I can't figure out why so many Indian restaurants will only offer the Daal Makhni dish that is made with masoor daal (known as "lentils" in the USA).  The overwhelming majority of India eats tur daal on a daily basis.  Anyway, back to Agra.  All their dishes are quite tasty; the only drawback is the occasionally the food feels not quite as fresh.

Akbar on Washington Blvd in the Culver City area is OK.  The Okra dish is good and their breads are excellent.  Everything else feels like their cooks are not of Indian descent; the spice balance is off, and there is nothing inspired about any of their dishes.  But the food seems to be always fresh.

Artesia/Cerritos is probably the most overrated "little India" area anywhere in the world. Every single restaurant we tried - north Indian or south Indian - has been disappointing to put it mildly.  The wadas and samosas from Sukhadias were absolutely unacceptable. And I would be shocked if the Udupi restaurant on Pioneer Blvd has a South Indian cook on the premises.  The sambar tastes like its been made with store-bought sambar powder that reflects North Indian tastes more than South Indian.  The Idlis were OK and the medu wadas were acceptable.  But I knew we were in for a disappointment when of the many dosa orders we placed, the onion and chilli uttappam was the first to be delivered to the table.  Utappam takes the longest to cook if prepared right; the cheese dosa should have been the fastest! 

The utappam was flat (not fluffy like it should be), the sambar was spiked with salt (a definite no-no for anyone watching their sodium intake), and the coconut chutney was OK.  The best dish we had at the Udupi was the Special Rava dosa which is usually the most reliable dosa dish anywhere one goes because it is the least complex to make.  But I cannot end without talking about the "Aviyal" at Udupi.  I had the bright idea of ordering Besi Bele Bhath with Aviyal.  What a mistake.  The Besi Bele was made with some strange combination of spices that I've never experienced before in a Besi Bele Bhath.  And the Aviyal tasted like Kurma (mostly made with cauliflowers - as anyone from South India knows, it would be quite the surprise to find cauliflowers in Aviyal).  So I asked the waiter whether they had served me Aviyal or Kurma.  He said they were the same dish because the owner did not like coconut gravy and used cashew gravy (with garlic - in Aviyal!) for both dishes!!!!!  I could not believe what I was hearing and decided that the best course of action was to avoid the place in the future rather than do battle with folks who clearly had no commitment to authentic South Indian food.

We've been told that Woodlands serves very good South Indian fare.  So we are hoping that is true.

Notes on Barcelona

This July I visited Barcelona, Spain for a week almost exactly 10 years after my first trip to that wonderful, lively city. Barcelona's joie de vivre (sorry, I don't how to say that in Catalonian!) is just unique. The city is alive and ticking 24x7x52. And La Rambla (the street that seems to be filled with tourists every day of the year) is one of my favored walks.

And for the trivia geeks - Barcelona is in the Catalonian region of Spain. The local language is Catalonian, not Spanish. If you don't speak Spanish or Catalonian, be prepared to convey more through gesture than speech with cab drivers because most of them don't understand English.

So what does the Indian tourist or traveler to Barcelona do?

First the basics.

Learn to use the metro. It is fabulous and is the best way to get around the city. Next best are the hop-on-and-off tourist buses. If you are in Barcelona for a few days, then consider buying the multiday metro pass for unlimited travel during the days that the pass is valid. One thing to watch out for - fares are set by the number of zones one traverses during a trip. If you plan to stay within the city, a single zone multiday pass should be adequate. Otherwise, consider buying a 2 zone pass.

The famed architect Gaudi has left his stamp all over Barcelona. All over. If you have just 2 hours to spend in Barcelona, you've got to spend it at the Sagrada Familia church. At least see it and walk around it from the outside. The expiatory church designed by Gaudi is constantly under construction which started about a hundred years ago and is expected to continue for another 30 years.

Other interesting sights in and around the city include the Ramblas, Parc Guell, the fountains at Montjuic, and the Gothic Quarter. There are interesting Gaudi buildings on the Gracia which runs parallel to La Rambla. The fountains at Montjuic are spectacular. Make sure you get there 10-15 minutes before sunset. The fountain lights are switched on and you get to see a spectacular dancing fountain whose water spires move to the best of renaissance music. If you plan it right, you can do all the items described in this paragraph within one day.

If you have a few days to spend in Barcelona, there are several options for entertainment.

Montserrat, a monastery on an austere stonefaced mountainside, is an hour by train from the Espanya metro stop. The trains run once an hour so be sure to check on the schedules before you start. Once you arrive at your destination, you can either take the cable car to the monastery or the funicular train. The roundtrip ticket from Espanya to Montserrat includes the cost of the cable car ride as well as 4 free metro rides. So don't throw that roundtrip ticket away after you return from Montserrat!

The town of Figures, also an hour away, is host to the Dali museum. For fans of Dali's art, this is a must-see museum.

Finally, the beach. Most tourists from Europe come to Barcelona to laze on its beaches. If you have the time, join them.

Food

The place for people watching is Placa de Catalunya (PdC). The busiest stretch of La Rambla is between the PdC and the ocean where La Rambla ends. Of interest to travelers of Indian descent hooked to Indian food is the fact that there are several Indian restaurants just a few minutes off La Rambla along this stretch.

Bombay Spicy on a street named Sant Pao (right off the Rambla) is my favorite Indian restaurant in Barcelona. The server there (he seems to be the only one), a young guy by the name of Kala (real name Dhyan Singh), has an energy level that will leave you feeling like you need to step up those visits to the gym. I recommend the Dal Tarka, Karela, and Bhindi Masala. Sant Pao also has other Indo-Pak restaurants for you to consider.

A couple of blocks away from Sant Pao on the Rambla is a street called Nou de la Rambla. Walk down that street for about 7-8 minutes and you come to an intersection with Sant Pau (notice the difference!). At that intersection, you will see Bollywood Grill. This place also serves good fare and the owner there is an outstandingly gracious person. Feel free to ask him for a dish you really want even if it is not on the menu. If he can make it, he will.

Moti Mahal also on Sant Pau was the third Indian restaurant we tried. We were disappointed by the fare though our friends, who had visited on a different night, were quite happy with the dishes they ordered.