Robin Garr's LOUISVILLE Restaurant Reviews

84	Annapurna's Veggie Place 9904 Linn Station Road (502) 412-5579

Ever since I first discovered Indian food, I've been enthralled by the elusive, aromatic flavors that infuse the many cuisines that make up this vast culture's intriguing fare. As diverse as all of European cookery and even more complex, Indian food is well worth discovering if you haven't found it already.

Under the influence of Buddhism and significant elements of the ancient Hindu religion, vegetarianism is an important part of Indian culture ... and Indian vegetarian dishes can be mighty appealing even to carnivores and omnivores, featuring dishes so flavorful that you don't even notice they're meatless unless you're paying very close attention.

I recommend Annapurna's Veggie Place for a delightful education. This new spot in Plainview adds an exciting new dimension for interesting dining in a suburban landscape better known for fast-food and franchised eateries.

Named after one of the most beautiful peaks in the Himalayas, Annapurna's is already apparently enjoying substantial support from the city's Indian community (it seems to have become an unofficial community center for our growing Telugu immigrant community from South India).

Located in the same short shopping block with Brick Oven Pizza and Joe's OK Bayou, Annapurna's clean, bright storefront quarters feature off-white walls, tasteful framed prints and a section tiled in white, red and green. Undraped tables are wood with a shiny protective coating. They're set with shiny aluminum cups with attractive flatware and paper napkins tucked in. Attractive wooden chairs are finished in mahogany and moss green colors that let the natural woodgrain show through. Nothing about the place really says "India" except the menu, but that virtually shouts the name of this aromatic, spicy cuisine.

It's an impressive menu, by the way, locally produced but slick and professional looking, the work of a skilled hand at desktop publishing. It's an extensive bill of fare, featuring dishes the friendly host described as "vegetarian home cooking from all over India."

In addition to a generous lunch buffet ($7.99, served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily) the bill of fare features about 40 dishes, all entirely vegetarian (not vegan, as yogurt and other dairy products are used), many of them unusual and exotic items that have not been available in Louisville until now. A dozen appetizers range from $2.49 (for somosas, the rough equivalent of Western fritters) to $3.49 (for somosa chat, somosas with a chickpea and onion gravy and crispy "sev" noodles).

About 15 entree specials are in the affordable range, from $3.49 (for pav bhaji, a mix of curried potatoes and onions, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant and tomatoes) to $5.49 (for vegetable biryani rice or Goan curry with pulao (veggies with a spicy coconut sauce over rice). Listed separately, six South Indian entrees are $2.99 (for idly wada, both rice and lentil dumplings with sambar, spicy lentil soup) to $5.99 (for masala dosa, a South Indian favorite, curried potatoes rolled in an oversize lentil-flour crepe). Multi-course thali special dinners are $6.49 or $7.49. A wide variety of Indian breads, sweets and pastries is also available, some by the pound for takeout.

We ordered from the menu on our first visit, and both entree choices rang our chimes.

Chole puri, a meatless chickpea curry traditionally served with puri bread, was just about as good as the version we used to enjoy at the Jackson Diner, an oddly named but outstanding South Indian restaurant in a heavily Indian section of the Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens, New York. It came with three fat and good-looking hot-air balloons of sizzling puri bread, pale-tan and puffy, so hot it was hard to tear off chunks to scoop up the curry, but so good that it was even more difficult to resist. The chole was just right, tender chickpeas swimming in a spicy tomato-based sauce with plenty of chopped onions, green peppers and garlic and that tasty blend of savory and hot spices that make Indian fare so interesting - hot enough to make you sweat, but not painfully fiery, at least for my tastes.

Masala dosa ($5.99), a traditional South Indian brunch dish, consisted of an oversize crepe: a thin, crispy pancake (usually made of lentil flour) the size of a large plate, folded in thirds over a spicy mix of curry-scented home-fried potatoes and onions flavored with fresh cilantro and an exotic blend of aromatic spices and seeds. It was served with the traditional accompaniments, a shallow dish of creamy pale-green chutney, full of chopped coconut and a warming heat that sneaks up and grabs you by the back of the throat; and a bowl of vegetarian sambar, a thick soup of yellow lentils with ginger and garlic and bits of potato, which you can eat alongside, pour on top or use for dipping.

On another trip, we indulged in the $7.99 buffet, which includes an all-you-can-eat choice of main courses and rice plus two appetizers, Indian bread and a small dessert served from the kitchen, and bottled water included in the price.

As it turns out, there's a certain procedure involved: You're encouraged to sit still and wait for the appetizers before indulging in the entrees. Fair enough. The apps came out one at a time, and both were interesting if decidedly "ethnic." Bhel was something like an Indian version of trail mix, small bowls of crispy "mixed cereals, noodles and dry rice shells" that resembled thin Rice Krispies, tossed with a few reddish chickpea-like beans and a hot-sweet sauce with a throat-tingling spice. Dahiwada was similarly hard to describe, even with the menu's assistance. Two golf-ball-size dumplings described as "wet crushed urad dal and rice hush puppies, deep-fried," were soft, tender and white, served on a plate swirled with a Jackson Pollock painting of tangy brown (tamarind?) and thick, sweet white (yogurt).

Then it's off to the buffet, where you can ladle aromatic white basmati rice and a half-dozen assorted vegetable dishes onto a large, rectangular shiny metal plate with a half-dozen pockets surrounding a large central circle. Dishes weren't described by name, and are almost all on the hot-and-spicy side. Crunchy fried somosa fritters were savory and yellow with turmeric and curry. A curried okra dish and a spicy mix of eggplant and potatoes in a thick vegetable puree had me going back for more. Long-cooked cauliflower gained authority from a peppery bright-red spice. A mix of flat green beans, yellow corn kernels, tomato and green pepper was tasty enough, although in an odd cultural convergence it wouldn't have been out of place as a vegetable dish at the Colonnade Cafeteria.

A choice of hot Indian breads (Puris, parathas and roti were available, but not the familar naan, oddly enough). We got the impression that we could choose only one for the table, and selected roti, a thin whole-wheat flatbread that falls somewhere between a pita and a tortilla. The dessert of the day was Gulab Jamun, a fried ball of light, eggy dough somewhat reminiscent of a "doughnut hole" but lighter, drenched with a sweet, golden sugar syrup.

We drank lassi with both meals. This Indian dairy drink, blended from whole-milk yogurt, spices and sometimes sugar and fruit, makes a soothing accompaniment with spicy food. We chose the salty style both times with mixed results. The first time they were perfect, thick and rich, with an aromatic dash of ground cumin sprinkled on the top. On another visit, however, the cumin was missing, the drink seemed more sour and tangy, and it contained mysterious bits that looked suspiciously like a broken-up crust that might have formed on yogurt left too long in the fridge. It was the only serious glitch in two otherwise first-rate meals, but offputting enough to be worth a mention.

Annapurna's staff is very friendly and helpful, eager to talk about the food, but things can get a little disorganized when the restaurant is full. On one visit, an a la carte lunch for two, with an extra yogurt lassi, came to $17.45, with the change from a $20 as tip. Another day, lunch buffet for two plus lassis totaled $21.18, and we left the change from $25. $

(July 2003)