The Frugal Gourmand

Culinary globetrotting, part one

Sabri Nehari sits on the 2500 block of Devon Avenue, surrounded by Indian restaurants, and from the street it certainly looks just like any of its neighbors. A cursory look at the menu reveals familiar Indian favorites - pakora, samosas, naan bread, biryani dishes, chicken tikka. And then a word catches your eye, and then the same word, and the same word again, and you realize that the menu is full of reasons why this isn't a typical Indian restaurant - why, in fact, it isn't an Indian restaurant at all.

The word? "Beef."

Sabri Nehari is a Pakistani restaurant, and despite many similarities to Indian cuisine, Pakistani food does have its differences, not least the one enabled by its hailing from a nation that is 97% Muslim. (81% of Indians - and plainly all but 100% of their restaurant-owner expatriates - are Hindus, to whom, of course, the cow is sacred and not to appear on the menu.) Certainly this is not the only difference; in fact, neither Alma nor I ordered a beef dish.

I opted for Frontier Chicken, a dish said to owe some of its culinary heritage to the Afghan traditions (Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan apparently gives the dish its name), while Alma ordered Lahori Chicken, which comes in the style of Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city (on its eastern side, near the Indian border). While the ancillary items - naan, chutney, samosas - were all recognizable, both dishes differed from what you might find in an Indian restaurant, certainly not a bad thing given our attempt at having a culinary adventure. The Frontier Chicken was almost stew-like, a mélange of chicken, onions, peppers, and other vegetables, topped off with cilantro. I like cilantro all right but frequently find it to overwhelm dishes in which it features prominently; in this case, however, it was a fine compliment to the subtle spiciness of the chicken. The Lahori Chicken was similar to chicken pakora with a bit of added cumin kick to it; it was tasty, if perhaps not as "different" as we might have been able to achieve. The generous portions of samosas and naan were a welcome addition to the meal.

I might like to try Pakistani food again to give a shot to a few other things; the restaurant is named after its signature beef dish, which suggests good things given the place's popularity (an online search turns up reviews discussing the "hour-long waits" at the eatery's old location, which was ravaged by fire in late 2006), and I didn't even peek at the dessert menu, so full were we after the main course. At less than $30 pre-tip for two entrees, an appetizer, bread and rice, it's hard to argue with the prices either.

posted by Flax @ 1:08 PM