Once the boyfriend came home from work last night we discovered there wasn't a thing to eat at home, which left us with two choices - a kamikaze run to the market, which neither us of was enthused about, or heading off into the great unknown in search of a restaurant. We opted for the second choice which was a dicey proposition; the last time we set off for dinner with no clear destination in mind we ended up an hour later at each other's throats and starving.
I think we ended up at Denny's, not speaking to each other.
This time however, we hit the jackpot. We quickly settled on a middling middle eastern restaurant we'd once tried. It wasn't great, but it was cheap. It was located in a strip mall off California Avenue and what we hadn't noticed before was this was the ethnic food motherlode. Located in the same mall were a Thai restaurant, a Vietnamese Pho spot and an Indian restaurant. I left it up to him to pick and he was almost giddy with the choices. He literally drove in a tight circle in the parking lot, round and round, trying to choose. We've been dying to find some flavor in this town and now we had our pick. You couldn't base your choice on popularity, since all were deserted. Normally that would set off huge warning bells, but this is Bako and we're talking "furriner" food, so we didn't read too much into the absence of customers.
Ultimately he chose the Indian restaurant. I was a bit leery based solely on the name - "Taj Mahal".
C'mon, really? That was the best they could come up with?
The staff seemed overjoyed by our arrival. We were the only people in a huge dining room. They waited on us hand and foot and we ordered a variety of items à la carte. We tried not to get our hopes up, having been burned a couple of times before. Like the Thai restaurant near our house, where "spicy" meant an extra dose of Mrs. Dash.
The food arrived and it was amazing. We love Indian food, but neither us claim to be experts. The food easily matched or exceeded what we'd experienced in LA. We were very happy campers. Although, for future reference, when these people say "spicy" they mean "spicy".
But the highlight for me wasn't so much the food, which was by all accounts excellent. It was the entertainment. Mounted on the wall directly opposite me was a flat screen TV featuring Indian satellite TV. And for the next hour we would be watching...
"Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega!"
Brought to you by "Ulana Ultro Bright!"
As near as I could tell it was basically "India's Got Talent", although the judges also had a gong, so there was a bit of the Chuck Barris craziness involved.
I was transfixed.
There were elements of 'American Idol" to it, with one of the judges doing his best Indian Simon Cowell impression. There was even a vapid Ryan Seacrest-ish host, proving that "bland" knows no borders. The contestants ranged from a Kashmiri dance troop to a woman who shot arrows over her shoulder. There were contortionists and as near as I could tell an Indian Rodney Dangerfield. He got no respect either and was gonged.
Almost as entertaining were the commercials, slick ads for naan and microwavable Samosas and Bollywood movies "coming this Eid". By far my favorite was for "K&K Insurance... serving all your gas station and convenience store needs!"
Our waiter informed us this was a nightly show, with each night's winners returning on Friday to crown the week's big winner.
I think I know were we'll be this Friday night.
