Nilgiris Indian Sizzler

There are three Indian lunch buffets in Frederick that I am aware of:  Clay Oven, Bombay Grill and Nilgiris.  I now have a new Indian Lunch buffet favorite.  Its the curiously named Nilgiris Indian Sizzler.  ( Nilgiris I understand- its a mountain range in southern India, but Indian Sizzler?  Is it supposed to be the Indian equivalent of the Sizzler Steakhouse?  Thank goodness its not!)  Honestly don’t worry about it because the food is excellent.  It is located at 5732 Buckeystown Pike in Frederick- that’s the same shopping center where the Common Market is.  When we arrived for lunch   it was almost full but we managed to snag a table.   The place was nicely decorated and had a decent ambiance for a restaurant in a shopping center.  My only negative was the big flat screen TV blaring Bollywood videos over the bar.  Too loud, distracting and unnecessary.  On the plus side they had nice place settings with really nice plates/bowls.  Sevice was fine:- water glasses refilled promtly and empty plates cleared.

Food:  We decided to take advantage of the lunch buffet.  They had a small, sad, salad bar (the weakest part of the whole buffet by far) a nice selection of condiments all of which were good except the pickled lemon, which was so sour and astringent I can’t see what would be complimented by putting that on it.  Next they had two kinds of rice which were followed by six vegetarian dishes.  After that was the chicken rice and three other meat dishes.  I tried to sample as much as possible, but it was too much food.  Everything I tried was uniformly good.  The highlights that stick out in my mind were the alu gobi( which was quite spicy), the vegetable korma and a mushroom mutter curry.  I also thought the goat curry, which was in a brown sauce, was very tender and nicely spiced.  Its not everyday you see goat on the menu.  All in all the dishes were a nice mixture of spicy and not so spicy.  The Naan was brought to your table and was hot and delicious.  It was neat that you could see the cook through a window making it in the tandoori oven.  Dessert was gulab jamun (deep fried cheese balls soaked in syrup) which were a really good way to end the meal.

Booze:  They had Budweiser, Miller Lite and Sam Adams on draft.  Their wine list had random selection of about a dozen each of reds and whites.  Other than Gewurztraminer I’ve never had much success in pairing wine with Indian food.  They did have a Gewurz on the list but I opted for a Taj Mahal beer.  This is a crisp Indian lager that goes well.  They sell it for $8 a bottle, but it is a 22 ounce bottle so its worth splitting with a friend.

The meal was a great value.  After we were done I asked my friend how much he though the buffet would be.  (He had no idea).  He estimated $12-14.  He was really surprised when I told him that it was only $8.95.  In my opinion this represents an excellent value for the quantity and quality of food.  I’ll be back.

Downtown Restaurants coming (Volt) and going (Venutis)

Coming: There’s a new restaurant preparing to open in downtown Frederick called Volt after the Chef/Owner Bryan Voltaggio.  From their website:

Award-winning chef, Bryan Voltaggio recently left his duties as executive chef of Charlie Palmer Steak in Washington, DC to prepare for the opening of  VOLT, a restaurant and lounge located in downtown Frederick, MD. Voltaggio, with business partner, Hilda Staples will oversee the renovation and restoration of a Victorian brownstone mansion at 228 N. Market Street where the restaurant is set to open in June

That is one of the most interesting buildings in downtown Frederick.  It has a really cool walled garden.  I wonder if they will have an outside terrace area?  There is a lot of buzz surrounding this and it is definitely high on my list of places to review.  He has an interesting blog here.

Going:  Venutis is going, going, gone.  Saw someone scraping parts of the sign off the building the other day.  Can’t say I am surprised.  It was really good many years ago when it opened, but it has been circling the drain for quite some time, although honestly I haven’t been in there 18-24 months.  Word is an Irish pub is opening there.  A second location  by people who already run one in Baltimore. Here is their website.    Some of the appetizers listed are sushi, salsa and samosas!?!  Sounds about as Irish as sobriety. However, their location in Baltimore was named “Best Irish Pub” by Baltimore magazine in the August 2007 issue.  Three Irish pubs in Frederick?  We’ll see.  

 
 

Bisol Jeio Prosecco- walk on by.

In my continuing quest to try every prosecco ever produced I popped a bottle of this over the weekend.  I bought it for no other reason than I have never had it before, and candidly the person in the wine store tried to steer me towards another bottle.  The producer’s take: it is a 100% prosecco bottling which is, according to their website, is comprised of a selection from their 16 best vineyards.  I’d hate to see their 16 worst.  My take:  walk on by.  It had the typical apple and pear flavors that are common to prosecco, but on the whole I found it rather thin and watery.  At $14.00 a bottle there are other, better proseccos, out there for the same amount or less.

Fred

Rating 83

Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc 2007 Marlborough

Had a bottle of this with our Mother’s Day feast.  Very pale gold, almost no color.  Had a nose of grapefruit and citrus, without a lot of grass or any of the cat pee that is often present in New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a little fuller bodied that the usual NZ Sauvignion Blanc as well.  Lots of grapefruit on the palate, as well as gooseberry and green olives.  Very, very dry with a finish of honeyed minerals.  This wine just highlighted to me the magic and complexity that enraptures my inner wine geek: this wouldn’t be anywhere near my first choice for a sitting on the deck, sipping wine with friends bottle, but it was absolutely terrific with food.  The acids complemented the dishes and made the flavors burst.  In this case 1+1=4!   I’d give this a solid 90.  At 18.99 this wasn’t a smack you in the head value, but I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it again.  I think this would be wonderful with shellfish or a citrusy grilled shrimp.

I bought this on the recommendation of the people at the Frederick Wine House.   Good call on their part. 

Rating: 90

UPDATE:  for those of you who emailed: Mother’s Day Menu was (Mom’s a vegetarian):

Pan seared tofu with basil-mint marinade

Brown Basmati rice risotto w/ local greens

Shaved apple, fennel and radish salad in vinaigrette

Mocha-cinnamon bonets for dessert.

Great Wine Resource

Hey check this out.  Not Frederick specific (again), but it’s a great tasting card developed by a person named Alder Yarrow who runs a San Francisco-oriented wine blog called Vinography.  It’s really handy for those times when you can’t put a word on the taste you are experiencing.  You can print it out and keep it at home for easy reference.

More on the Frederick Wine House

Since my February 14th post on the new wine store in town I have been back there several times.  They continue to grow in a positive way:  their selection has expanded and they have a good, solid selection of wines at all price points.  They now have  more higher end wines for those special occasions than they had before.

Every time I go in there I am without fail impressed by the friendliness, knowledge and their sheer love of wine which comes shining through.  Spend any time in there and see the way they know a lot of the people that come in and you can see how hard they work to foster a sense of community.   Their abundance of free tastings certainly can’t hurt in that department either! Last time I was in there I was looking for some wines to serve with the Mother’s Day meal I was planning.  I told the clerk (sales associate, owner, whatever?) what I was looking for and she had a lot of helpful suggestions.  She was even able to point out which Chardonnays were unoaked (a request that I wouldn’t usually dream of making in most stores around here and the one store I asked in [cough- Spirit Shop-cough] drew a blank stare).  She was honest as well, out of the 7 or 8 specific wines I asked about she admitted she hadn’t tasted one so she couldn’t comment on it.

I also saw they have a grand opening celebration set for May 17th from noon until 5.  Again, here is the link to their site.  I think this is a local business well worth supporting and I think its going to be my go-to wine store in the area. 

Isabella’s Wine Dinners

Interesting article in today’s Frederick News Post about wine dinners at Isabellas.  Anyone ever been?  I might have to go especially as the next one is with Italian wine.

UPDATE:  I found the menu:

May 19, 2008

Isabella’s Presents
Five Course Wine Dinner
Featuring The Wines of Antinori of Italy
with
“Pineapple” Schmitz from Ste Michelle Wine Estates
May 19, Monday, 2008 7:30 P.M.
44 North Market Street, Frederick, MD

Pesto Torta di Formaggio
Pesto Cheesecake with Marinated White Bean and Shrimp Salad
Antinori Orvieto Camporgrande, 06

Caprese Fresca Insalata
Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Salad with Basil and Extra Virgin Oil Olive
Antinori Bramito del Cervo Chardonnay, 06

Ravioli Aragosta
Homemade Pasta Pillows Filled with Lobster and Cheese Tossed with a Creamy Tomato Sauce
Villa Antinori Toscana Red, 03

Ripieno di Vitello
Tender White Veal Stuffed with Mushrooms Walnuts & Prosciutto Simmered in a Rosemary Demi Glaze
Antinori Peppoli Chianti Classico , 03

Zaboglione
Sweet Marsla Wine Custard with Fresh Strawberries
Tormaresca Bucco di Lupo, 03
 

Alas, looks like a no go as Mrs. Fred is dangerously allergic to shrimp and lobster.

Living Well

I came across this article published a year ago in the UK paper the Guardian.  Being an unabashed Anglophile it caught my eye.  I know this has absolutely nothing to do with Food or Frederick, but hey- it’s my blog and it cracked me up.  I also thought it was interesting considering the study that came out last week about women, alcohol and breast cancer.  (Save your comments please, I am well aware of the difference between empirical and anecdotal evidence)  Finally I am jealous of anyone who can have two glasses everyday of rosé champagne with dinner. Here are some excerpts:

 

It has been four years since last orders were called on her life but the Queen Mother remains an inspiration to us - a nation, as we are now known to the rest of Europe, of binge drinkers. In a new book, Behind Palace Doors, by her equerry, Major Colin Burgess, the Queen Mother is revealed to have put away an amount of alcohol that would put the lager-swillers of Ibiza Uncovered to shame.

She would start her drinking day at noon with her favourite tipple, gin and Dubonnet: two parts Dubonnet - a pink vermouth - to one part gin. “Rarely went a day without having at least one of these and getting the mix right was crucial,” writes Burgess. Because getting the mix of this potent drink - which, strangely, has never caught on - wrong would be disgusting.

 

Lunch with red wine followed, finished off with port. If you found yourself lunching with the Queen Mum, don’t think you would ever have got away with drinking only tap water. “How can you not have wine with your meal?” she would ask incredulously.

 

Her sense of duty to her blood alcohol level never foundered. At 6pm every day, according to Burgess, she would ask, “Colin, are we at the magic hour?” “I would then rather flamboyantly look at my watch, raise an eyebrow and say to her, ‘Yes, ma’am, I think it’s just about time,’ before popping off to mix her a martini.”

 

At dinner, she would down two glasses of Veuve Cliquot pink champagne, leaving her staff to finish the bottle (never let it be said that she was a selfish drinker).

 

A conservative estimate puts the number of alcohol units she drank at 70 a week (the recommended limit for a woman is 14) but she’s the one who lived until the age of 101, so take that, teetotallers.

 

No fewer than 11 alcohol manufacturers and wine merchants were awarded her royal warrant, with her distinctive coat of arms bearing a pair of cocktail swizzles and a paper umbrella.

Bombay Grill redux

Went back to the Bombay Grill for lunch again.  The food was great.  Much better than my January impressions.  Has a really nice saag paneer as one of the dishes.  Only two complaints:  they bring the naan to your table like they used to do (instead of having it on the buffet as they have been doing recently) but despite our requests, they didn’t bring it fast enough for my prodigious naan appetite.  Secondly,  I  was so darn stuffed after I left there that I was useless for the rest of the afternoon.  Bombay Grill will remain in the regular lunch rotation.  It’s about $10 for the lunch buffet so while its not a screaming value, its not a bad deal either.

Dutch Process Cocoa

I have several recipes I have been wanting to try and make.  They all call for Dutch process (or processed) cocoa.  Anyone know where I can find some.  So far I have tried MOM’s, The Common Market, Giant, Weis and Safeway.  Its kind of getting to be an obsession.  Thanks

UPDATE:  5/7/80: I found some in the Giant on Rt. 40. I had been looking in the baking section, and it was in the section with the drinking chocolate. D’oh! Perhaps its not as hard to find as I thought.