Flavor of India: My home away from home

If you keep up with my whereabouts at all, you’ll know I’m frequently at Flavor of India. It’s the only place in the world where I have an honest-to-goodness bar buddy. I was in last week and I looked over and saw a familiar face coming up to me; it wasn’t my bar buddy but it was another friend who frequents the place. He says, “Well, I was heading over to [other enjoyable Main St. establishment] but I thought since it was Wednesday I’d see if you were here!” I wasn’t aware until that point that I had a reputation to uphold as the Wednesday night buffet promoter! Daman and I were joking about me bringing in people off the street just by being there. There is a bit of a Flavor of India family that has been created around the ACTUAL family that runs this little haven of good smells and good times. I’m happy to be a part of it, if I do say so myself. Daman and Suki treat me like family and I am grateful for their presence in my life.

But on to the food!

Indian food is not the 1^st choice for many. But I think it’s misunderstood…
There’s more to Indian food than curry. Daman always recommends the lamb chops (which I’m ashamed to say I’ve never tried…but I will soon!), especially for people who aren’t very familiar with Indian food. Here are some of my all-time favorites: chicken pakora or samosas (appetizers), their chicken soup is AMAZING and will cure you of a sore throat in record time, nan of any variety is always a must, chicken tikka, tandori chicken, vegi or chicken korma (creamy and flavorful), chicken makhni (basically tandori chicken off the bone, in a creamy sauce), aloo gobi (potato & cauliflower) or aloo sag (potato & spinach) are good for vegi lovers, chicken biryani, and my favorite for dessert…kheer (rice pudding). Add a Mango Lassi for the kids (think- yogurt milkshake), chai or a King Fisher (Indian beer) for you and you’ll be in gut-busting heaven.

If you can’t decide, or still aren’t sure about the whole thing, I suggest going for the buffet. Go for lunch any day for $9.95; or dinner buffet on Wednesday nights for $12.95. I can’t resist the fried green beans and meatballs when I go on buffet night.

You’ll be greeted with a friendly hello, or if you’re as lucky as me….a few hugs, and feel at home while you’re enjoying all the flavors that Flavor of India has to offer. If you see a chick at the bar giving someone a hard time or giggling the night away then it might just be me.

 

http://flavorofindialongmont.com/

 

Beyond Longmont: Yak & Yeti, Elvis Cinema- Westminster/Arvada

I don't often venture toward the Denver-ish areas but on a toasty Thursday afternoon I had several reasons to take the trip.
First stop was Winchell's on Sheridan to meet my new friend Sarah. She operates Casa de Paz in Aurora and I had a coffee table and a big box of kitchen bits to donate to her house. I'm happy to get it out of the garage and happier if she can make use of stuff that's otherwise just sitting in a box.
After loading/stuffing the box in her car I had time to kill.
I went to King Soopers to grab a cold drink and saw the EZ Nails & Spa next door and decided to get my nails prettified. $10 for a manicure, if you pay with cash. Sweet!
I've learned over time that I can often to a better job on my nails than anyone else can but it's still nice to get the massage and for them to work on my sad cuticles. All things considered I was quite happy with my bargain and newly neon pink nails. She shaped my nails perfectly as well.
I hit the Big Lots down the walkway, and then decided to try and find my next destination.
I still had plenty of time so I stopped at the Unique Thrift Store, which is the size of a small city from the looks of the building. It's right after you exit 36 on to Sheridan...if you've been through there, you've surely seen it. It's surprisingly organized but needs more dressing rooms! 2 is not enough. You've got the room guys, stick another stall somewhere. I passed up a couple things that weren't quite "thrifty" enough for me but I'd go back again. There was a mountain...like, an actual small mountain, in the back of things that hadn't even gotten out of the bags yet. I'd bet you're sure to find new stuff any day you go.
Lo and behold, the restaurant I was on a search for was right in the same parking lot as the thrift store.

I give you...Yak & Yeti, serving up tasty food from India & Nepal.
I went to the Westminster location; there is also a location in old town Arvada, which may or may not be haunted!
I was meeting my pal Sister Alice, who was coming in from Kansas for the evening and soon moving even farther away so we took this chance to get together and be silly. Which is what we usually do.
I'm the Indian food fanatic usually but I know not everyone is so when she suggested we try this place I said YES PLEASE!
It is so amazing. Some of the best food I've had ever, let alone Indian food. (Most of the food you can get at restaurants here isn't quite the "home style" stuff I had when I was actually in India so I'm not comparing it to that.)

There's some vegi korma there, vegi pakora, vegi samosa, chicken tikka, saffron rice, and whatever those noodles are called. Along with that I got some raita and dal. And naan, of course.

They have a lunch and dinner buffet daily. Everything was hot, fresh, and perfect. They have white, saffron, and brown rice all in giant steamers.There were a few things I'd never even heard of before.
Alice and I both tried the Chai Milk Stout, it was also amazing. I like milk stout because it's got that creamy element to it, and it's dark, but this had the spices of heavenly chai in it as well. It's bites at your tongue a bit. It's also served in awesome mugs which I very much wanted to stick in my purse.
They have several beers to choose from that are made right at their other location.

The staff was all very nice. I would recommend this place to ANYONE and wouldn't find it at all silly to drive all the way to Westminster to eat there again. It helps that the buffet price is very reasonable. I also want to see if I can buy one of their mugs. They have a little shopping nook with t-shirts and stuff.
The only thing not really to my liking was the kheer (rice pudding.) It definitely wasn't what I'm used to. It was almost more oatmeal texture than milky. I like mine in between...not too soupy but not as thick as this was. I'm not sure if it's regional or just personal preference of the chef. So I'll pass on that next time and double up on gulab jamun and banana pakora! Yummmm

After stuffing ourselves to the breaking point we went down Sheridan a little ways to the Elvis Cinema. (Just off 64th & Sheridan, on the NE corner in a strip mall.)
As their website says, it's the best movie value in town, and they are so right.
$7 for 2 movie tickets. Honest. Had I not been so full I could hardly move, I would have bought a small popcorn for $2. I just love the place. It's a perfect combination of tacky and retro. It's like my paradise. We went to see Mirror, Mirror. It was cute, clever, and amusing. Not winning any Oscars, but perfect for our evening.

7 West Breakfast Buffet

I'm a big fan of the most lovely of food invetions, the breakfast buffet.
Mi amiga Debita and I decided to try out the Sunday breakfast buffet at 7 West on Main St.
Generally a pizza joint or rooftop hang out, Sunday is breakfast day, from 9am-1pm.
(I'd actually never even tried their pizza until the day before when I was treated to it by the LDDA for Clean Up, Green Up. Not bad, not mind blowing. Yummy cheese pizza, kinda in the realm of Papa John's I think.)
Debita and I aren't generally the early birds getting the worms, so our breakfast didn't take place until about 11:30. Seems that everyone else had already had breakfast or isn't aware of the breakfast options at the pizza place. Either seems likely; I wouldn't have ever thought of heading there for breakfast if I didn't discover it on accident.
A few more tables were seated as it got to be more lunching time but when we got there we were only one of two tables seated that I saw. So if you want a quiet breakfast, this is for you.
The buffet is not as extensive as the trough-like options at Coutry Buffet, but it included: scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, biscuits & gravy, waffles & syrup, and fruit. In addition to that they will make you a fresh green chile breakfast burrito or omelette, included with the price of the buffet.
My cantalopue needed to mature a bit more, my gravy was good (not grandma good, but good enough), biscuits were a little dried out, eggs, bacon, and sausage were all acceptable. My omelette was quite good, excellent sausage. Debita's breakfast burrito looked pretty fantastic.

Debita's review:
Coffee was a better grade, but whoever made it that morning went a little heavy handed on adding the grounds to the basket. Coffee shouldn't be thick.

The biscuits were dry, the choices were average, but the burrito was pretty good. I'd give it an "eh." Probably needed to knock two bucks off the price. It wasn't a $9 meal. Atmosphere was quiet (as in hardly anyone was there)- nice for a Sunday brunch.

 

 

I'm with her on the price; I think it could include coffee, juice, or other beverage with the buffet, but if you get the burrito you're getting a little better brunch for your money. It's decent sized. But I also will give them the benefit of the doubt and try it again earlier in the day when things might be a little more fresh.

Gold stars to the waiter and his trainee on being very friendly!

I'm definitely going to give the pizza lunch buffet a try some day!
If you'd like to check out their menu, visit their website here:
http://www.7westpizza.com/