"But this is New Canaan, not Manhattan!"
So say many of chef/restaurateur Prasad Chirnomula's customers, whining about the prices at his superb Indian restaurant in one of Connecticut's wealthiest communities, where the median family income is $230,000.
"I ask them, why?" says Chirnomula. "The price of food is the same, my labor costs are the same, and in New Canaan I'm paying as much or more for rent."
Actually, Chirnomula's prices are not high at all--the most expensive dish on the menu is $28--but it's not surprising to hear such comments about Indian restaurants anywhere, because American diners have come to think of them, as with so many other ethnic restaurants, as being cheap eateries and they know that Manhattan charges the highest prices for everything. This, despite the fact that so many higher-end Indian restaurants have moved far from the stereotypical curry houses of the past, whose gravies vary little and whose ingredients are not always of the highest quality.
Modern Indian restaurants in NYC like Junoon, Awadh, Utsav and Tamarind can compete in food, service and décor with the best of any stripe in Manhattan, and, as anyone who knows even a little about Queens can tell you, the Indian restaurants there cater very strongly to a demanding Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi customer base.
Chirnomula is well aware that his four Connecticut restaurants may not have the clientele that can distinguish among the myriad cuisines of India, but the chef, who is from Hyderabad in the south of the sub-continent, is committed to changing the preconceptions among Americans that an Indian menu is little more than tandoori, mulligatawny soup and thirty variations on curry. His New Canaan restaurant shares some of the favorite menu items at his two Thali vegetarian branches in New Haven and Stamford, drawing on well-established connections with Hudson Valley growers for his provender. But in its spaciousness and décor, and for Chirnomula's signature dishes like turmeric and spice marinated salmon (below) with a creamy dill sauce and beet chips ($28) and Belize king prawns with ginger cream, red quinoa and crisp okra ($28), the New Canaan location is his flagship.
India is located in a splendid 150-year-old building on Main Street that has been home to several other restaurants. Right now you may wish to dine al fresco in the pretty adjacent patio; inside there are three sections: a small dining room, a bar, and a larger rear dining room, all of them comfortable enough, except that the very low lighting plays against very dark colors of black and brown, accented with a rose-colored wall band.
The service staff is affable and the food comes out at a civilized pace.
The menu is segmented into vegetarian, signature items, tandoori breads, kababs, classic fare, and desserts, and our party chose a wide assortment, beginning with a basket of mini-breads to be spread with luscious condiments. The smoky naans, paratha, and onion kulcha breads were to follow (any three breads $12), essential to mop up the rich sauces. Chirnomula is a subtle master of spicing, revealing layers of flavor and heat (heat levels may be adjusted on request), and such delicacy is as evident in a dish of grilled vegetables tossed in fennel, fenugreek and nigella seed ($10) as it is in the plump potato-and-pea-stuffed samosa (above) pastry triangles ($6).
This approach to subtlety turns a dish of Konkan crab into a triumph, with a tangy coconut-lemon sauce and unusual gooseberry patties ($14), as it does with the marinated salmon dish, not one I've run across in any other Indian restaurant. The tandoori dishes come out of that fierce clay oven steaming, but not dried out or blackened with charring ($19-$24), while the always--and intentionally--spicy lamb vindaloo ($21) reveals an array of spices that otherwise might easily get lost in the heat.
I love savory lentil-based dals, and here makhni dal ($8 or $12) is slowly cooked with fresh ginger and turmeric to turn a lovely yellow-orange color, which also tints marvelously rich chicken tikka masala (right; $17). The only disappointing dish was shrimp in a classic spinach sag sauce ($19), which was too bitter and smothered the flavor of the crustacean.
There's good reason to order dessert at India, for, unlike so many other renderings elsewhere, the rose-water tinged ras malai, with tapioca pearls for texture, and the kulfi ice cream were just sweet enough to allow nuances of flavors to emerge.
India stocks a very long IPA-dominated beer list (with most bottles and cans $5-$9), which makes up for a very small wine list, and about a dozen special cocktails with names like Goan Spritz and Mumbai Rye.
From how Chirnomula described his hard work and his frantic workday, his ability to keep so many restaurants running in three different Connecticut towns is owed to consistency and constant attention, which doesn't leave much for his golf game or new house. So I hope he might slow down a little, content that his long-time concern for guests and hospitality and his innovative cuisine have been in the vanguard of changing people's minds bout Indian food and Indian restaurants.
INDIA
62 Main Street
New Canaan, CT
203-972-8332
indiaNewCanaan.com
Open daily for lunch and dinner.