NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 21:57:18 EDT Xref: pale-rider.INS.CWRU.Edu austin.food:3966 Do you know if they have a lunch buffet? I work near there and it would be a great place to sample for lunch. Tri Lee B. wrote: >Went there last night...I know I was recommending India Cuisine a few >weeks ago, but I must have been (figuratively) smoking crack. The Clay >Pit (on Guadelupe and I think 17th St., in the old Bertram's building) is >our new favorite Indian food restaurant. If our expectations -- if our fondest prayers and dreams are not realized, then we should all bear in mind that the greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall Nelson Mandela
Austin, TX
Review: The Clay Pit
Tri T. wrote: >Do you know if they have a lunch buffet? I work near there and it would be >a great place to sample for lunch. They do. Buffet is something like $6.50 or so, and if the buffet food is as good as the dinner food was, that's a spectacular bargain.
G'day Me too. We went last night. Service was very prompt and the owner/maitre'd/someone with authority sat us, was happy to find we were first-time customers and was basically very helpful throughout our meal. While reading the menu we had pappadums with three different dipping sauces (red spicy/sweet chutneyish/green spicy - sorry I don't know my indian food as well as I'd like to.) We started with crab cakes. Crab cakes made with curry spices and dipped in a cilantro-yogurt(?)-ish sauce made a pleasant and interesting change from the usual Maryland type of crab cakes. Our main meal was a salmon dish and a chicken/spinach curry. The salmon was crusted with spices and fried, served with fresh tomato, onions and cucumber. The spices tasted good, but the dish was a little too greasy and a little overcooked (crunchy coating) for me. The chicken/spinach curry was unimpeachable (Jason's words). The heat levels available were mild, medium, hot and desi (dezi ?). This last category was described to us as 3 times as hot as hot. So we went with hot for the salmon and desi for the chicken. Desi was hot but not as hot as it could have been (Jason can't have it too hot). The spinach was great not like baby food mush. It had chopped jalapeno throughout, I guess to contribute to the deziness. The chicken was mostly dark meat, but really tender and not the crappy dark meat with cartilage and other inedible bits that often lurk in inferior curries. Did I say this dish was good ? We had ordered garlic and basil naan (great and my students really appreciated me in the lab afterwards), raita and mango chutney. The last two were not actually on the menu but they brought them out without hesitation and didn't charge us for them. I had a sweet lassi that was just about the best I've ever had. It was the usual yogurt/lemon flavour but there seemed also to be some rose water in it maybe, and some ground up nuts, maybe pistachios by the colour, and a really good balance of sweet/tart. Mmm. They have many beers by the bottle, and rotating draft beers. Last night they had Live Oak, and I forget what else. The wine list is long. The bar is large. There seems to be lots of seating. I never went to Bertrams when it was open, but this place now has seating near the bar, the main area at the other end of the room from the bar, another room of seating behind the bar, and what looked like a private dining room with a long table in a little back room. Stairs going up and down lead I don't know where, but by the wine list I presume that means the cellar is still there ? The price is a little higher than, say, Sarovar. I think we spent about $40 for two. But well worth it. It's really close to me. The service was instant, the advice was well placed, the food was great. The menu is not enormous like many indian restaurants. I'd say, like Rajat did, that it's not traditional Indian. But there are plenty of recognizable dishes on the list, plus some with interesting twists. They have a Tandoor. They have a decent number of Vegetarian meals. Did I say it tasted good ? DrRuth -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ruth McKay as ci [email removed] Dept of Chem & Biochem imapofa http://vivace.cm.utexas.edu/ University of Texas ustrali Ph: (512) 471-5755 Austin TX 78712 a Fx: (512) 471-0985 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-