Brief accounts: Essence of India, Selmarie

Despite fairly tepid responses here, Mrs. B. had heard some nice things about E. of I., and Lincoln Sq. was very convenient, so off we went. Pretty much have to concur with the consensus. Pretty room and very gracious service. Nothing was bad, but there's just no reason not to go up to Devon.

Papadam with tomato, onion, cilantro topping turned out to be merely plain papadam with the barest scattering of small pieces of the additionalingredients. Not some sort of real topping or condiment as I had imagined. There was a dusting of a dry spice mix that was quite tasty. I don't know if this would season an order of plain papadam or not.

Shrimp coated with black sesame seeds and seasoned with coconut, ginger etc. was tasty, but all about the coating. The shrimp themselves were entirely neutral.

Vegetable Korma was very nice. A fragrant, tasty veg. stew with just enough heat to accent but not kill the other flavors.

A lamb/spinach dish (whose name I forget) was far more promisingly described than executed. Lamb and spinach seasoned with garlic, coriander, ginger (?), cardamom etc. was entirely 1 dimensional. The lamb was moist and tender, but other than that, there didn't seem to be much going on.

The room was fairly full and everyone there seemed very happy. As we left a cyclist coming down the sidewalk slowed to reprimand us: "Aw, you should go up to Devon for the real stuff." Now, while I happen to agree with the sentiment, based on this one visit, I was fairly miffed at the intrusion. If a stranger had asked me for an opinion I would offer it, but it seems both rude and arrogant to stop people exiting a restaurant just to tell them that they chose wrong.

Starving and out of cash at the Lincoln Sq. street fair on Sun., we somewhat grudgingly piled into Selmarie for a quick bite. We have long since stopped eating there because of what we have found to be consistently mediocre food and chronic service glitches. This light meal was at least a step up from that. Thought still a bit too expensive.

Mrs. B. had a crabcake which she found very good. Meaty and well seasoned. The red pepper soup of the day had a nice dollop of creme fraiche, fresh dill and a good, intense pepper flavor. (Young Ben ate all of mama's soup.)

My chopped salad was acceptable, but a bit too heavy on the butter lettuce, and too light on the other components. The style here is that all the components are fully tossed (rather than presented in individual quadrants as some places do). I actually found the butter lettuce (which I like) a bit too soft to support this salad. And there was too much of it. However, it was very well dressed with a flavorful sherry vinaigrette.

Mrs. B. also liked her german cheese cake. (Tall and slightly crumbly, as opposed to low, dense and wet).

Service was much better than in the past. Prompt and pleasant. The hostess even stopped by with a crayon set for young Ben.

I heartily agree with your review of Essence of India.

My experience there was supposed to be something special when I took my girlfriend there for her birthday this year. I was hoping that we would have stumbled upon a nice little Indian jewel within the heart of busy Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Square. What we ended up with was fairly bland food, a mixed up order, no free papadams on the table (as per what I am used to at any Devon Ave. restaurant), and unpleasant customers.

I find that really good Indian food seems to "pop" in your mouth. The flavors are full and fragrant, and you get a sense for the time and experience that has gone into the cooking. We definitely did not get this from the Rogan Josh and Chicken Masala we ordered. It was just kinda blah.

To make matters worse, my girlfriend made sure to ask for mild spiciness for her Rogan Josh. I ordered my Chicken as extra spicy. They mixed up the order and she could barely eat her dish while mine was extremely bland.

Not that it's a huge contention of mine, but why not have free papadams on the table? I can't imagine they cost so much to make/buy that their livelyhooh depends on the possibility of customers coming in, eating the papadams, having a glass of water, then leaving.

Finally, I seem to really enjoy the feeling I get when on Devon Avenue in that it feels like I've left Chicago and the yuppies behind and traveled to a new country. Eating at EoI is just the opposite. Sitting in close proximity with a horde of yuppies was so out of the ordinary for me. There were people on cell phones barely paying attention to the food on their plates.

Overall, I'd say I'd hit up Devon or at least Belmont before going back to EoI.

unhappymeal wrote:To make matters worse, my girlfriend made sure to ask for mild spiciness for her Rogan Josh. I ordered my Chicken as extra spicy. They mixed up the order and she could barely eat her dish while mine was extremely bland.

That happened to me once at a place in Connecticut. Wife wanted mild, I wanted extremely spicy. Poor girl, she was trying to choke it down, and I was like, "What's wrong with you? My extra-spicy dish is so bland it's unbelievable! How could you possibly find your mild dish spicy? Let me try yours. See? It's--ohmyohmyohmy..." I tried hers and my head just about exploded. Sorry, Mrs. Publicblast.

publicblast wrote:

unhappymeal wrote:To make matters worse, my girlfriend made sure to ask for mild spiciness for her Rogan Josh. I ordered my Chicken as extra spicy. They mixed up the order and she could barely eat her dish while mine was extremely bland.

That happened to me once at a place in Connecticut. Wife wanted mild, I wanted extremely spicy. Poor girl, she was trying to choke it down, and I was like, "What's wrong with you? My extra-spicy dish is so bland it's unbelievable! How could you possibly find your mild dish spicy? Let me try yours. See? It's--ohmyohmyohmy..." I tried hers and my head just about exploded. Sorry, Mrs. Publicblast.

To add to Indian tales of woe, my sig other, I, and a couple of Brits who also love Indian food occasionally travel to a place in Grand Rapids, MI when we can't get our Devon fix often enough. They play it way too safe with the spices (which is probably appropriate for the area) and after several meals of asking for mine spicy and getting it bland, I looked the server in the eye and said, "I REALLY want this hot." When I saw the cook peeking out the kitchen as I was served my meal, I knew I was in for trouble. The Indian owner stopped by as I tried to eat a little and we laughed about it though I am still not sure if the blistering meal was meant as punishment or as a reasonable attempt.. He told us about his spicy woes: There seems to be some sort of rivalry between Thais and Indians as to who can stand the most heat. He asked for a meal very spicy in a Thai restaurant. The server asked "how hot?"--of course, he had to answer "very hot" and he was served an inedible meal such as mine. Instead of crying uncle, like me, he pretended to eat a bit, then asked for it to be wrapped to go. The meal was quickly deposited in the garbage outside.

unhappymeal wrote:
To make matters worse, my girlfriend made sure to ask for mild spiciness for her Rogan Josh. I ordered my Chicken as extra spicy. They mixed up the order and she could barely eat her dish while mine was extremely bland.

This brings up an interesting note (at least to me). Folks who know me know I look my food pretty spicy, and with Indian food, I like it as spicy as it would be prepared in India. That being said I would never order most items on typical indian menus "extra spicy".

Things like rogan josh, for example, at least as I know how to cook them (which is as they are made in kashmir), even though they are long cooked, it is essential for the spice to go in at the beginning of the cooking process, adding heat in the form of chili powder afterwards will lead to a grainier unicorporated dull taste (and I am pretty sure that in restaurant cooking the base sauce for most of these dishes are made in advance).

In india, folks doctor their own heat preference for the most part with these sort of items by eating raw chilis or pickles. The dishes that I wopuld add extra spicy are the more quickly cooked dishes, such as the karhais or some S. indian items like chili and onion uttapam.

I would disagree about Essence of India. I have been there about 10 times and I love the food -- I think it compares to Tiffin, which I also think is quite good. And they do provide free papadams -- every time I've been there. I particularly like the Samosas and the Butter chicken, although the latter was a little off on my last visit. The gulam (jamun?) for dessert is also excellent. I have also always found them to be very accomodating on spice (I like spicier) and I find the service much better than many places on Devon (like Tiffin or Viceroy or Udupi).

Well, now that I seem to be the only one not getting free papadums I feel justified in never returning again

It pains me to criticize Essence of India because for a while, I liked it quite a bit and it's a short walk from my home. For a long while, I thought the food was as good as most of what I find on Devon. But while I used to go there regularly, I have decided that after my last couple of visits (mostly the one last night) that it is just not worth returning until they right their ship, if ever.

Last night, I was there with a couple of friends. The place was packed, inside and outside, so maybe others are having better experiences or simply chose Essence as a convenient neighborhood alternative to Devon. Or perhaps, like me, they were former devotees hoping that Essence had not lost its charm. But something bad has happened with the food.

My friends and I started off with Samosas which were very good, as usual, and I have no complaints about the basmati rice or naan either. The main courses, however, were major disappointments.

The butter chicken, which was always one of my favorite dishes at Essence, was anything but good. The chicken was fatty and chewy, the sauce was unusually thin and way too sweet (and I have no idea where all of the sweetness could have come from) and the sauce simply lacked the flavor of the mixture of spices I am used to. Unfortunately, this has now been the problem with the butter chicken on my last two visits.

On the other hand, the sauce with the Rogan Josh was certainly flavorful enough. But the pieces of lamb were fatty, chewy and not in the least bit tender. This was enough to ruin the dish.

The Malai Ka Kofta (cottage cheese, potato and dried fruit) was simply uninspiring, but I never tried this dish before so I don't have a benchmark.

On another recent visit, Tandoori chicken was less flavorful than on previous visits, and the chicken was too dry.

I had also always enjoyed Essence's Gulab Jamun and this night, it was impossible to enjoy. It was served lukewarm at best, and the dumplings were falling apart as if they had been sitting way too long or were reheated. The dumplings simply lacked any consistency so they basically wasted away in the lukewarm syrup.

I am not sure what happened with Essence of India -- perhaps a new chef -- but I sincerely hope that they figure it out. If not, oh well. I would be forgiving if they screwed up one dish, but it seems like they're ruining most everything.

On a side note, I notice that Passage to India, which is a couple of doors down from Essence and opened only a few months ago (I have not tried it), is temporarily closed. There's a sign on the door that says something about redoing the kitchen (or something like that) -- seems strange. Needless to say, I'm skeptical about such a claim. Perhaps I've just seen too many restaurants claim to be closed for "remodeling" only to never open again.

Pretty bad meal from Essence of India tonight. Stale naan with chopped garlic that tasted like it came right out of the horrid jars of oily, bitter, devoid-of-garlic-flavor garlic. Baigan Bharta, supposedly made from "smoked eggplant" had no smoke taste at all. Actually, it had no taste, period. I've been to E of I six or seven times now, and while at least a couple of those meals were pretty good - tonight's was more typical, and I'm unlikely to return.