Flavors
of India
 Flavors
of India
520 Army Post Road, 285-3555
11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. and 5 - 10
p.m.
Ethnic cuisines come to America
in search of a hyphen. In provincial
countries like China and Italy,
one can visit 15 different towns
within a few miles of each other
and find 15 very different recipes
for the same dish. Each town’s
cooks believe adamantly that the
neighboring towns’ cooks are desecrating
a sacred edict. After those dishes
pass into American culture though,
they seem to be made the same
way everywhere and often with
ingredients that are unknown in
the native land. By then, the
ethnic cuisine has been hyphenated,
as in Chinese-American or Italian-American.
And no one cares that sweet &
sour pork is as unknown in China
as spaghetti & meatballs in
Italy.
When an ethnic cuisine makes
hyphen status in America, it’s
hit the mainstream. Indian-American
cuisine just flowed into Des Moines
culture at Flavors of India. This
new restaurant is the largest
Indian café in town, the
first South Asian restaurant on
the South Side and the first to
set a daily buffet for both lunch
and dinner. It might also be the
first Indian restaurant anywhere
to advertise “Steak specials,
vegetarian, American food.” Holy
hyphenated cow, that’s ambitious.
I didn’t see steak on my menu,
but I did see mashed potatoes
and beef gravy on a buffet where
someone had misplaced a gravy
spoon in a tray of vegetarian
dhal. That’s not typical though
and there’s no reason why Brahmins
and vegans can’t eat here without
facing rebirth in a larval state.
Vegetarian dishes were the best
I tried. A fry dhal included yellow
split peas, ginger, garlic and
a creamy masala. Makhani dhal
was even better with a buttery
curry of tomatoes, cream, blank
lentils and red beans. Saag paneer
presented spinach and homemade
cheese in a version that was less
fatty than most. Bengan bharta
delivered cooked eggplant that
had been mashed into a light curry
of tomatoes and spices.
“Lamb/goat” was the predominant
meat on the menu. There’s something
refreshingly honest about that
lack of distinction. The fastest
growing segment of the livestock
market, goat is usually cheaper
than lamb in Iowa. Line chefs
have told me that it is sometimes
substituted without letting diners
know. In a saucy dish, I cannot
tell them apart. So, the lamb-goat
I had in a rogan ghosh worked
perfectly in this braised dish
of ginger-heavy curry, onions
and tomatoes.
Chicken tikka masala exemplified
mainstream accommodation. This
dish usually tastes like baked
chicken marinated in yogurt and
a tandoori curry that is heavy
with coriander and red chilies.
At Flavors of India, the dish
tasted like tomato-based spaghetti
sauce with a pinch of curry added.
This would make a perfect introductory
dish to Indian-American food for
anyone who likes boneless chicken
cacciatore. Even the tandoori
chicken was Americanized — the
pieces I tried were skinless,
dry and surely low in fat. Some
breads tasted Italian — American,
without any of the charcoal and
clay flavors that my favorite
naans have at India Star. These
buttery, doughy breads make another
good introductory item for first
timers, especially the ones stuffed
with nuts, cheese, raisins and
garlic.
My vegetarian biryani and Kashmiri
pillau were fine light dishes
but made me dream of the spicier,
more colorful versions at Namaste
and Tandoor respectively. I couldn’t
taste, nor see, the saffron that
the menu mentioned in the biryani.
Kir (sweet rice pudding), rasmalai
(sweet cheese patties), galab
jamun (fried cheese balls in syrup)
and kulfi (home made ice creams)
rounded out the dessert menu.
The restaurant had a full bar,
a smoking section and a large
room for private parties. Service
was multi-lingual.
Side dishes
Gateway Market Café raised
the bar on complimentary Happy
Hour hors d’oeuvres with pates,
rillettes and upscale cheeses
paired with $2 wines and microbrews.
… France followed Ireland’s unlikely
lead and banned smoking in cafés
and bars on the New Year. CV
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