[WonderWomanUSA]

I've just read a review of the MGR restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, where they serve South Indian food. And last Saturday, a dozen of us had lunch at Saravanna Bhavan, a South Indian restaurant in Northern California.

Here's the review of MGR: http://www.accessatl...tnid=din101007e

How do these places compare to food in India?

I like the Southern food I've had here in the US, but the North Indian food in this area is all Punjabi -- nothing terribly interesting... except for one restaurant in Berkeley called Ajanta, where they have been making "fusion" meals for many years.

What is there good to eat where you are?

[Somerset]

WonderWomanUSA, on Oct 10 2007, 04:14 PM, said:

I've just read a review of the MGR restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, where they serve South Indian food. And last Saturday, a dozen of us had lunch at Saravanna Bhavan, a South Indian restaurant in Northern California.

Here's the review of MGR: http://www.accessatl...tnid=din101007e

How do these places compare to food in India?

I like the Southern food I've had here in the US, but the North Indian food in this area is all Punjabi -- nothing terribly interesting... except for one restaurant in Berkeley called Ajanta, where they have been making "fusion" meals for many years.

What is there good to eat where you are?

MGR Atlanta is famous even where I live, which is five hours drive away. Indian restaurants in smaller towns can be a bit spotty because of the difficulty in attracting and retaining cooks. There is frequently no guarantee that what is good this week will be good next, simply because the cook left suddenly.

Good South Indian food is hard to find in smaller towns. The local restaurant is pretty good with tandoori dishes, but their sambhar tasted like rasam. They have since dropped the few south Indian dishes (idli, sambhar-rasam, dosae) and stick with northern cuisine.

Edited by Somerset, 10 October 2007 - 09:58 PM.

[Hyderabadi]

Had never heard of MGR! I knew SB had closed down, and they have a Chettinadu place in the same area http://www.accessatl...activity=101357 . The only time we tried it, it wasn't all that great.

My favorites in ATL:

Hyderabad House
Certified Authentic Hyderabadi Cuisine    
Don't miss the Biryani, Mirchi Ka Salan, Baghara Baingan and Haleem (I prefer to order ahead to get it freshly made)
Don't do the buffet.

Zyka
The owners are from Hyderabad (where else   ), and the food, especially the Mutton Masala and Tandoori Roti, reminds me of the food from 'Irani Hotels' in Hyderabad.
Chicken 65 is good too and Biryani OK.

Other than being biased towards Hyderabadi food, I've tried several other 'Indian' restaurants in ATL and they  are below mediocre IMHO / to my taste .... the most disgusting fact is that most of them use a stock house masala and everything from chicken masala to aloo curry tastes about the same  

Worse still, some of them even use the boxed store bought 'Shaan' 'MDH' 'Everest' masalas to make this stock I don't have anything against the masalas themselves, I use them at home, but why would I want to go to a restaurant to eat the same stuff? Sometimes worse than what I make at home?    

Edited by Hyderabadi, 11 October 2007 - 12:14 AM.

[Hyderabadi]

Last week when I was in SF Bay Area, my cousin took us here:

http://www.amber-ind...anaRow/home.htm

The food and ambiance was great - on the expensive side though.

[WonderWomanUSA]

I've heard about Amber; didn't realize it was so expensive.

There's a South Indian place very close to my home, but the prices ... http://dosasf.com/

Nope, I haven't tried it yet!

This was very good a couple of years ago: http://www.ajantares....com/index.html

[Somerset]

Have you been to Gaylord's in Ghiradelli Square, SF?  I was there several years ago, and thought it was fantastic.

[Hyderabadi]

Would any SF member please review?

http://www.dumbiryani.us/index.html


Thank you!

[kavindra]

WonderWomanUSA, on Oct 10 2007, 04:14 PM, said:

What is there good to eat where you are?

In Cincinnati, we have several North Indian and one authentic southern Indian vegetarian restaurants. Most of the North Indian restaurants seem to be following the same formula. One exception is a place called Cumin - has a nice (rare for an Indian restaurant by my experience) if pretentious (common for higher priced Indian restaurants) ambiance and good enough food but quite overpriced. Our favorite is the southern Indian place called Udipi café. The ambiance is nothing to write home about and the neighborhood could be better, but the food is quite good and reasonably priced.

Having spent a fair amount of time in Orange County and being familiar with most of the better known Indian restaurants, I personally found a small, family operated Punjabi restaurant called Bukhara to be excellent and unpretentious. The food was definitely the highlight though, not the location etc. (just off 405).

[WonderWomanUSA]

Hyderabadi, on Oct 28 2007, 07:16 AM, said:

Would any SF member please review?

http://www.dumbiryani.us/index.html
Thank you!

Okay, I've just written to some friends to see if they want to meet me there to check it out.

BTW, did your cousin take you out for Afghan food while you were here? Where did you go and how did you like it?

[WonderWomanUSA]

Somerset, on Oct 11 2007, 04:50 AM, said:

Have you been to Gaylord's in Ghiradelli Square, SF?  I was there several years ago, and thought it was fantastic.

Gaylord's has been gone from Ghirardelli Square for some time, and I'm not sure if I ever ate at that place. There's still a Gaylord's in Embarcadero Center, and it smells very good when riding the escalator past that floor ... but I'm never there with anyone who can afford pricey Indian food.

Maharani still gets good reviews; it's on the corner of Post and Polk Streets. Alas, it's years since I've eaten there ... but the guy from Mumbai who first took me there is supposed to visit this winter, so maybe we can try it again.

[Hyderabadi]

WonderWomanUSA, on Oct 28 2007, 09:15 PM, said:

Okay, I've just written to some friends to see if they want to meet me there to check it out.

BTW, did your cousin take you out for Afghan food while you were here? Where did you go and how did you like it?

WW

Sadly, you know, I was tjhere for such a short time!

However, we did go to:

Dana Bazar - for Chaat

http://www.insiderpa...om/b/3710360956

[WonderWomanUSA]

I think we'll be going to the Hyderabadi place on the 4th or the 11th; will let you know. Does your cousin go there? Or does he mostly eat at home?

[Hyderabadi]

Not sure if he's been there. I saw an ad for this restaurant on a Telugu website.

[Somerset]

WonderWomanUSA, on Oct 29 2007, 01:18 AM, said:

Gaylord's has been gone from Ghirardelli Square for some time, and I'm not sure if I ever ate at that place.

I guess that shows how long ago I was in SFO.  Hope the Embarcadero Gaylord's is as good as the other one.

[WonderWomanUSA]

Hyderabadi, on Oct 29 2007, 03:45 AM, said:

Not sure if he's been there. I saw an ad for this restaurant on a Telugu website.

It's a long way from San Francisco, but we went on Friday night. I took BART and Kaushk and Susi met me at the BART station. We put the restaurant address into the GPS, and it took us to an area where there was a big mall on each side of Fremont Boulevard ... didn't see a sign, so we phoned them. It's near Office Max, they said.

And there we found an elegant neon sign against a brick front; it looked like a nightclub! Going inside, however, it was PINK plastic with mango-colored walls, and none of the visible staff members looked more than 22 years old! It was just about 7pm and the place was empty, except for people picking up carryout -- big bags of carryout!

We ordered two mutton birianis. If I'd known that Kaushik & Susi wanted the same thing, I'd have ordered something else, just to try their other dishes. We asked for "medium hot"

A couple more diners came in, more carryout left the building, and then our order arrived. Biriani and raita and sherva (gravy, they translated), nan for Susi) and roti for me.

It was very hot! I had to have a Diet Coke to cool things down. But it tasted good all the way home -- and I have leftovers for tonight's dinner.

Edited by WonderWomanUSA, 04 November 2007 - 11:25 PM.

[Hyderabadi]

WWUSA, thanks for reviewing Hyderabad Biryani House! Especially with all the travel involved!

As a return favor, I'll visit and review MGR Palace for you.
It's about an hour from where we are, but since we can do some grocery shopping in the area, it should workout.


Andhra food is generally hot. With many Andhra folks living in the Bay Area, I was thinking it had to be pretty authentic. The carryouts must say something about the authenticity, beer and biryani Friday nights!

The interior decor does'nt sound good.

Looking forward to the pictures.

[WonderWomanUSA]

Ah, the pictures... I seem to be having a problem figuring out how to upload them here. I am not getting a "manage attachments" window here. <sigh>

I will look forward to the review of MGR .. ya never know when I will go to Atlanta. Unfortunately, the person I know there is not interested in food; like her auntie (who is one of my best friends) she can't tell good from bad. Curious family.

Edited by WonderWomanUSA, 06 November 2007 - 12:20 PM.

[Hyderabadi]

WonderWomanUSA, on Nov 6 2007, 01:48 AM, said:

I will look forward to the review of MGR .. ya never know when I will go to Atlanta.

We started out wanting to go to MGR today... but the kids (blame it on them) started craving real protien as the minutes in the car dragged on....

So, we went to Madras Chettinaadu instead.

If you are ever in Atlanta do not, rpt do not go there, for reasons:

• Same price for buffet, but waaay scaled down from a month ago, no Biryani, no fish curry,no rasam...
  
• Generic 'Indian' food.
  
• Mutton curry tastes like dessert
  
• The lonely Sambar they had tastes like boiled toor dal
  
• Food, no way chettinadu nor any thing remotely South Indian
  
• Looks like they want to close down the place, fast, and are looking for an excuse
  
• Take my word for it

I did express my concerns to the management, don't think it will make a difference.

If I go to a chinese restaurant, I am not looking forward to McD.





WWUSA, I'm saving MGR Palace for my cousin's visit ( from SFO ).  

Edited by Hyderabadi, 12 November 2007 - 10:07 AM.

[Hyderabadi]

WonderWomanUSA, on Nov 6 2007, 01:48 AM, said:

I will look forward to the review of MGR .. ya never know when I will go to Atlanta. ............................... Curious family.

Hyderabadi, on Nov 11 2007, 11:32 PM, said:

WWUSA, I'm saving MGR Palace for my cousin's visit ( from SFO ).

We made it to MGR Palace after a trip to Downtown Atlanta. Honestly I was doing myself a favor. Honest! The dosas I think were the best I've eaten anywhere, including India.

For starters, we ordered a round of Vada and a Veg. Cutlet. Terrific. The Vada - just as I like it and have been dreaming of... encrusted with coarse ground whole pepper, green chillies and coconut with a killer Sambar plus two little 'katoris' of a dal chutney and a coconut one. I was so engrossed with the Vadas that I did not taste the Cutlets.

I ordered a MGR Palace Special Rava Dosa and went to heaven for a while. THE best Rava Dosa I've had in a while. Even the 'aloo' stuffing was flavorful. Indian restaurants usually mess-up on this.

What I found refreshing was that the Chef - Ram Nanjunda was helping personally, delivering the dosas to tables. I always trust a chef who has the confidence to show his face in the 'open' restaurant, and go back in the kitchen looking confident.

I took the opportunity to thank him..

WWUSA, thanks for posting about this restaurant.

Now, the 'Curious Family' needs to get to MGR Palace and taste Chef Ram's dosas.

Do let me know if they need any help, better still, why dont you make a trip here?

[thesniper]

I lived in Los Angeles for 10 years and the best Indian restaurant I found there was called "Paru's", was southern Indian cuisine: http://www.parusrestaurant.com/