Week Five- Indian Flame

After picking Ali Baba, both Brendan and Joe were reluctant to let me choose another mystery ethnic dinner.  I found myself doubting my restaurant picking abilities and had anxiety over my task for days.  My indecision eventually led to me calling my father Friday over my lunch break while waiting in line at Dave’s Cosmic Subs.  I needed his guidance and his suggestions.  Like a good father he thought about it an emailed me some very good ideas.  However, I ended up not needing him at all.  I was able to find a gem of a restaurant on my very own, well with the assistance of Yelp.

                

We had a full car on Friday: Brendan, Joe, Danielle and Alexis.  After picking up everyone I took a left onto Cedar from Lee Road. “I know where I we are going!” instantly exclaimed Joe.  I glanced in my rear view mirror and saw his eyes light up; he was convinced that we were going to The Mad Greek a restaurant located farther down the road.  Everyone got excited for a delicious Greek dinner.  However, confusion hit once I made a right onto Coventry.  Then I received guesses of Rock Bottom (a new Thai place in Coventry village) and Panini’s which is really just an American bar/grille with and Italian name.  I made a left on to Mayfield in the direction of little Italy.  “Yes! We are going to Mama Santa’s” came from the back.  No Mama Santa’s that night as I sped down Mayfield Hill past Little Italy and made a right onto Euclid.  Once we hit Euclid and everyone confidently deduced Mi Pueblo, which is a popular Mexican joint on the East side.  After several minutes of holding in my mystery I was bursting at the seams, I finally informed everyone that curry was on the menu that night.  We were eating at Indian Flame.

The outside of Indian Flame is very unspectacular: small storefront with a ketchup and mustard colored awning on a gentrifying Cleveland street.  However, the inside is very cheery with light canary yellow walls, large vibrant paintings and hardwood floors.  The restaurant only holds about thirty people.  Luckily for us, it was Case Western‘s (the nearby university) spring break so it was pretty empty.  I had not had much Indian food in the past several months, so I was very excited for the meal.  Everyone else seemed enthusiastic to break from the usual Eastern European mystery routine. 

The menu was extensive.  It was organized by appetizers, lamb, chicken,  goat, tandoori, biryani, seafood and vegetarian dishes.  I had read on Yelp that they made a delicious goat curry.  I have never had goat and wanted to try something different so I selected the goat karahi.  I also ordered the paneer tikka as an appetizer to share.  Brendan ordered lamb karahi, Alexis ordered a paneer curry, Danielle ordered a seafood rice dish and Joe ordered tikki masala and a Samosa appetizer.  The server also asked us for our respective “spice” preferences ranging from one (mild) to five (extremely spicy).

The paneer tikka and the samosa appetizers arrived first.  The paneer tikka was served on a sizzling hot iron skillet, which Brendan unwisely touched. Paneer is a soft, mild and delicious white cheese.  I have usually eaten it in the form of saag paneer, which is a spinach and cheese dish.  This dish was sautéed with onions, peppers and spices.  Sautéing caused the cheese to firm up and gave more of a bite to it.  We all found it delicious next to the caramelized vegetables.   The samosas were also superb.  They were smothered with chickpeas, curry sauce and a drizzle of yogurt to offset the heat.  These appetizers were a great introduction to the rest of the meal. 

The mains arrived and we were excited to dig in.  First off the presentation was lovely.  The dishes were served in adorable little copper bowls which had little feet at the bottom.  I enjoyed my goat; it reminded me of lamb and had just the right amount of flavorful spice (three).   My only complaint was that there were a lot of large bones, which made me sad because there was less meat for me to scoop up with my garlic naan bread.  We were very communal with our meal; everyone had the opportunity to taste each dish at the table.  Apart from my own dish, I particularly liked the tikki masala.  The sauce had a deeper hue and a bolder flavor than the typical mild and creamy tikki masala that I am used to. 

  

Danielle and especially Brendan had a hard time coping with the heat. Throughout the meal Brendan sweated profusely and was constantly requiring refills on water. Of course I got photographic evidence of this.  On the other end of the spectrum we had Alexis who was a champ with her spice level five dish.  After dinner we walked next door for a couple of drinks at the Euclid Tavern.  I received high fives all around and Joe even declared it “the best mystery ethnic dinner yet.”  Beat that.

Check out the Indian Flame website.  Please note the $8.99 lunch buffet and do take advantage of this wonderful gastronomic opportunity. http://www.indianflamerestaurant.com/