1 West 3rd street
I'm so excited about this place Leela Lounge - I had never heard of it before my friend dragged me in last night, weary and hungry. You see, we had made plans longgg ago (read: 2 days) to have dinner and see the movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (I know this isn't a movie blog but seriously one of the most gut wrenching and beautiful movies I've ever seen), and I promptly forgot all about our plans, was all dolled up ready to go to my company holiday party when my friend called to say she was headed my way to pick me up for dinner. WHOOPS, so being the good friend I am, I ditched the company party, threw on some jeans and ran to meet her at the subway. This is a frequent occurrence in my life, being slightly schizophrenic, forgetful and spacey; I've been known to book plans for the same night at the same time one right after the other (I'm not actually that popular but that sounded good). So let's get crackin' with this restaurant experience!! Oh and what an experience it was!
Sara (one of my bestest friends since sixth grade - although our friendship was pretty one-sided, her being a mute until 10th grade), and I walked into Leela's because, quite frankly, it was the only GD restaurant we could find within a 5 block radius of the Anjelika. What the hell? Maybe we walked in the wrong direction from the subway but the area seemed completely desolate until...low and behold! We spotted Leela Lounge. Which didn't actually look all that fantastic from the outside but I sure am glad we took a chance and, upon seeing the restaurant down a sidestreet, did that slow, side-step, cautious walk, knowing full well that once we had walked a block in that direction, our lazy asses certainly weren't going to backtrack. I immediately shrieked when I saw the dozens of articles in the window of the restaurant, surely this was a good sign, no?! And then...I saw it...the glowing Zagats rating, get ready for this! It had been rated a Zagats 26!! Sara continued to berate me for my excitement while I muttered like rainman "26, wow 26, that's really good...that's rare, yes very rare...zagats 26."
Now full of hope, but also lacking a lot of time, as our movie was to start in..oh 20 minutes (whoops!!), we ordered quickly: For starters we split something called Corn Palak Kabobs - and you'll even get the description, courtesy of menupages: Fresh hand made Spinach and corn tikkis flavored w/ green onions and garam masala. Served w/ ginger sesame seed chutney. Look, there below, there it is!!
A little blurry, I know but I only had one shot to get a picture of each dish, as the table next to us made me feel self conscious about the flash emenating from my huge Zach Morris camera from 1999. These things were absolutely divine. Sara agreed. The intense flavor contrasted sharply with their outer "dull-looking balls" appearance. Just goes to show you, looks aren't everything (when it comes to food I mean! ha! As if personality counts for anything!). The chutney was also smooth and tangy, the perfect sassy accent to the comfort of the kabobs.
For our main course, I ordered Lukhnawee Ghosht nawabi delicacy: "succulent lamb slow cooked with fresh ground spices and medley of greens". This is one of those cases where the food itself actually is BETTER than the amazing description on the menu. Succulent lamb? Check! Fresh ground spices? Check! And then there was an added bonus of some sort of delightful and flavorful bean dip on the side. Sara, being a vegetarian (don't worry I've already made fun of her enough for this so don't feel the need...although if you want to go right ahead), ordered "Spinach & Cottage Cheese Koftas infused with ginger, fresh spices, cashews & raisins served in a delicious plum tomato sauce". I'm not going to lie, I don't know what a kofta is, but these koftas were awesome - balls with a nice crispy outside and a subtle cheesey inside. The sauce itself tasted like a high class tomato sauce. Just the right mix of sweet and savory goodness, topped off by that amazing bean dip that I got too. Look here's a picture of both our meals:
And here's one of Sara enjoying her Kofta (see how her eyes are closed in pleasure?):
And here's one of me enjoying my succulent slow-cooked lamb:
Alas, we did not have time for dessert as we were already 10 minutes late for the movie but this just gives me a reason to go back again, which I will...maybe tonight!
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