India Palace Dishes Up Complete Perfection

By Anne Hillerman
For the Journal

India Palace  (3½ stars)

WHERE: 227 Don Gaspar, 986-5859

FOOD: East Indian cuisine including tandoor oven selections and many vegetarian choices

ATMOSPHERE: Serene and upscale but unpretentious; patio dining available

PRICES: $10-$18 per entree

SERVICE: Exemplary

HOURS: Open daily; lunch buffet 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner 5 to 10 p.m.

For a true show-stopper of a restaurant, good food is only part of the production. Without the atmosphere and service to complement the cuisine, a meal is just a meal. The combination of quality on all three fronts sets India Palace apart from and above most of its competition.

Since food is the central reason someone goes to a restaurant, I'll start with that.

India Palace offers a fine buffet for lunch ($7.95) and an extensive menu for dinner with vegetarian, chicken, lamb, beef and seafood selections. Many entrees come with sauces that can be customized to your taste: mild, medium, hot or beyond. India Palace offers meat cooked in the charcoal-fired clay tandoor oven and combination dinners that offer an interesting sampling of entrees, soup, bread and rice.

For fortification as we studied the menu our son had his favorite, the mango lassi, a yogurt/fruit drink that reminds me of a bright orange smoothie. We adults tried Avery India Pale Ale. It reminded me of Fat Tire beer, except for the map of India on the label. The waiter brought us a complimentary basket of papadums, crisp, cracker-like bread with two sauces: a sweet tamarind and a beautiful, green minty yogurt.

For appetizers, we tried the paneer pakoras, cheese stuffed with mint and spices, and the vegetable pakoras, a delicious pastry filled with peas, potatoes and other vegetables. These looked like little pyramids, golden brown. Since an order is two, the waiter asked if we would like an order and a half so we each could try them. His forethought impressed us.

Don't overlook the wonderful bread. The menu offers 10 choices, but we gravitate to the naan, a flatbread served warm that we order with the extra savor of garlic. Other breads include some stuffed with minced lamb, raisins and nuts.

The most dedicated carnivore in our group ordered the "Non-vegetarian" special. It included three standby sauces of Indian cuisine: a tikka sauce marked by garlic and ginger served over the chicken, a sagwala sauce with a rich spinach base for the prawns and a lamb curry far superior to any crafted with the curry powder found in most American kitchens. Since each entree comes in its own dish, it's easy to share.

The combination dinner included choice of bread and a cup of lentil or chicken soup. We picked the chicken vegetable. It was light and savory. With good bread, a bowl of this would be a great meal in itself.

Although this combination was expensive ($25.95), we found it a good value and an excellent introduction to some of the richness of East Indian cuisine. (For an even better introduction, however, try the lunch buffet!) For a second entree we ordered the Lamb Sagwal ($12.95). It's a credit to Indian ingenuity that the same flavorful spinach sauce that matched the prawns works so well with the heartier taste of the lamb.

My personal favorite was our third entree, Fish Masala ($13.95), sea bass prepared in a tomato sauce flavored with coriander and a bouquet of other seasonings. They cooked the fish in the superhot tandoor oven that sealed in the juices perfectly. I'm a decent cook, but I can't imagine coming close to re-creating this amazing dish at home.

Speaking of tandoori, I love the lamb and chicken cooked this way as well. The chicken, included on the lunch buffet, has a wonderful, slightly smoked flavor and is amazingly moist. It's also skinless. If you can resist second helpings, it could be healthy! And the lamb, which we've had on other occasions, is succulent — some of the best in Santa Fe.

To balance the meal, we had Peas Pallao ($2.95), saffron rice with green peas perched atop, and the mixed vegetables — cauliflower, carrots and green beans predominate — in a tomato sauce ($7.95). Everything pleased us.

The waiter brought our food on trays and carefully served us, arranging the rice in a row in the middle of the plate and the entrees beside it. Not only was it beautiful, the rice acted as a dike to keep the sagwala from merging with the curry.

Of course we were too full for dessert — we took home enough for lunch for two the next day — but we had to try the Mango Malwa, a mango ice cream sundae with roasted almonds. It's worth saving room for.

India Palace's serving staff, neatly dressed in black pants and white shirts, treat you like honored guests. I've eaten at India Palace probably a dozen times, and each experience has been marked by graciousness. Water glasses are refilled with no prompting. The waiter fields questions about the menu effortlessly and returns regularly to make sure all is well. Many Santa Fe restaurants could learn from the gracious, professional attitude toward service reflected here.

The calming ambiance of the place itself adds to your dining enjoyments.

The pinkish tones used throughout are both festive and soothing.

Attractive place settings, candles and a short vase of fresh flowers adorn each table. Indian music plays in the background.

Our dinner for three was about $92 with tax.

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