Cafe of India, Tenleytown, Washington, DC

One recent morning I was having coffee with the Morning Starbucks Colloquium and someone mentioned the Cafe of India at 4909 Wisconsin in Tenleytown, right next to Le Chat Noir. Adrian and Naomi Tschoegl mentioned that they’d driven by often but never gone there. Then the rest of us reported the same experience, and we all decided with our usual decisiveness that someone should go sometime and report back.

Duty called rather sooner than I expected. It turned out that we were to watch Ella and Lily that very night while Liza and Michael were at a charity event. Through the Rube Goldberg confusion of events that mark so much of my life, I wound up without a supper plan. Inspired, I turned to Cafe of India. I called and ordered Lamb and Potato Vindaloo ($20) and naan ($3), and went to pick it up while Ella and Lily were preparing for bed. I returned in time to read bedtime stories about Newt to Lily and listen while Ella read Junie B. Jones to me. At last I made it back down to start my dinner.

These were not ideal dining circumstances for trying the food. It already was at the counter when I arrived to pick it up, and it sat around during bedtime stories and God Blesses. I suppose I could have warmed it up, but I was beyond ready to eat. Instead, I unpacked it and set it on the table — naan, rice, and vindaloo.

The rice contained some caraway seed, a nice touch. You can see one off to the side below, after I’d plated a portion of the rice and vindaloo.

Th vindaloo was delicious. The dish’s most notable characteristic, of course, is the heat, and heat was there aplenty. It also had plenty of that layered flavor and subtlety that so marks Indian cuisine. The lamb came in largish chunks tender enough to be cut with a fork, and the potatoes had not been overcooked. This is a fine dish.

The naan had cooled off, but still had a good flavor, and still s effective at its key role when served with vindaloo, stanching the flow of fire in one’s mouth. (Liquids just spread it around. Starches tame the heat.).

The naan retained a good flavor, and proved effective at sopping up every bit of the vindaloo.

I’m glad my co-caffeineists had mentioned the Cafe of India, and that I had a chance to get there so soon. I’m sure I’ll return soon, and I happily recommend it to you. Let me know how you like it.

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