Back to a favorite local restaurant

For many years, our favorite restaurant in the area had been Diwan, an Indian restaurant in a nearby town that matched just about any top Indian restaurant in Manhattan.  There was, in fact, at one time a Diwan run by the same family on East 45th St. between Lex and 3rd, prime mid-town business lunch territory.  There was also a popular take-out spot on a small street near the Stock Exchange downtown.

In the last couple of years we rarely ordered food from there for a variety of reasons, the primary one being that they are not that close and they don't have delivery.  Another almost inexplicable reason is that they are a bit more expensive than other restaurants that we also like, and also their portions are so large that even after two meals there is still much more left over that can be wasted, never a thing we like to do.  Too few mouths to feed I guess, as our grown children are rarely here and out of town guests are less frequent.

"Inexplicable" was said as last night's take-out food was exceptional.  We ordered Tandoori Salmon, Chicken Tikka Masala, Aloo Ghobi(potatoes and cauliflour in spicy sauce), and Chana Masala(spicy chick peas with a few potatoes).  Of course we ordered two house made Naan, rice was included, and they, as remembered when we opened the bag at home, had also included crispy chips with two sauces, a green one and a reddish one, whose names don't come to mind at the moment.  The green one has always been a favorite.

Everything was fine but the two vegetable dishes were the best.  Also, we had seemingly almost forgotten how tasty freshly cooked and spiced rice from a good Indian restaurant is.  As expected, we had more than enough food so Labor Day tomorrow is taken care of for another fine meal, good thing since this area truly shuts down during this holiday every year.  It was a surprise that K liked the naan so much as, except for half a piece of toast and jam in the morning, she has been on a starch strike recently, not really a good thing.  She ate half of a large naan with her dinner, and asked to have it for breakfast with her eggs as well, something that definitely was not forgotten this morning.

Bobby and Margaret, who have always owned and run the place, Bobby cooking and Margaret front of house, were once good local business friends.  During the internet stock craze Bobby pinned me down at every visit to talk about his ideas. According to Margaret that did not end well, but they seem to be doing well now, having pared down their restaurant holdings.  Their biggest money maker has always been Indian weddings and other celebrations.  They will cater these huge events where everyone related to everyone shows up, as their culture requires.

We did not interrupt their dinner hour work last night to talk.  Maybe next time we will.