Thought some here might be interested in a very reasonably priced India restaurant in San Francisco. Though one would not call the food amazing, but I liked it because it reminded me of the Punjabi dhabas (perhaps the closest Americanish translation would be 'truck-stop') I frequented as student in India. The restaurant is called Shalimar and I think there are four branches - 3 in the city and one in Fremont. The city locations that I have visited are in the Tenderloin district (Taylor & Jones, I think), and the other on Polk (somewhere near California Ave. - near that big glass walled seafood place :) ). For folks visiting the region, one of their braches is in the East Bay in Fremont (- perhaps a cliche!) The menu is quite sparse. I would recommend the Chicken Kofta and Nihari. Unsolicited, one of the people working in the place recommended that I inquire about the quality of the beef before ordering it - sometimes it is not tender enough because of the produce itself or perhaps it did not go through a long enough marination process that day). Another class of item that has been consistently satisfactory is the palak (spinach) dishes. Though it is somewhat coarse, it is quite tasty and easy going in - but really warms you up. Cheers
San Francisco, CA