Indian Food Battle: Anis

Welcome to Indian food month! That’s right, once a month we’re comparing two local restaurants for a battle to find out whose cuisine reigns supreme. We’ll take you on a tour of Thai, a battle of the bakeries and a windup of wine bars. At the end of each month, you’ll get a pro/con roundup after which one of the two restaurants will be declared our winner.

We’re starting Indian month with Anis, which has taken over the old Bombay Grill’s location.


I really wanted to like Anis, but they didn’t make it easy.

The lunch buffet had a nice selection of very poorly stocked items. The best part of Indian food is the delectable spiced gravies. At Anis, as often as not that was all you were going to get. The Kofta Curry was literally a vat of beautiful creamy sauce with no solids, no matter how much you scraped the bottom. The Palak Paneer was a thick, creamy green with narry a cheese cube to be found.

Perhaps, I thought, I arrived just after a rush. I picked up some Biryani, butter chicken and chicken korma then waited for someone to restock the sauces. Eventually, someone added a scant dozen dumplings to the Kofta Curry. I leapt up to get one before they all disappeared.

When I got back to my seat, the dumpling was ice cold. Presumably,  if I let it simmer longer it would've warmed to the temperature of the sauce, but honestly, the rest of the dumplings were gone before I sat back down.

Here's where I'm going to sound schizophrenic. Despite being ice cold, that was one darn good dumpling. I can’t emphasize this enough. It was borderline addictively good.

The Kofta dumplings in gravy taste like an Indian auntie reinterperted the best parts of Thanksgiving in one bite. You get the rich, creamy brown gravy over a bite of what tastes like deep fried cornbread dressing (actually semolina) with bits of carrot, all spiced up with some coriander and cumin. It’s divine. If you're the kind of person who eats turkey and dressing year round, you have to give these a try. I recommend coming in and order them at dinner,though, because getting one at lunch is a challenge, to say the least.

I kept an eye out for the next time they brought more. Maybe if I drowned it in sauce and put a little serving bowl on top it would warm through enough I wouldn’t feel like I was eating a spicy ice cube.

The Biryani suffered from the opposite problem where it was nicely spiced with Garam Masala and a pleasant hint of heat, but it had been left to sit out so long the rice was dry and slightly crunchy.

Considering I showed up at noon on a Friday, this was a real surprise.The restaurant had a decent lunch time crowd, so I honestly don’t understand why the buffet was in such shambles, with the popular dishes left unstocked and the unpopular ones left to dry out.

I did get to enjoy some of the deliciously, heart cloggingly rich butter chicken, dark red with tandoori spices and, unlike the rest of the buffet, moderately stocked with a few strands of meat.

If you prefer your Indian food with Americanized cuts of all white meat, this isn't the place for you. The chicken korma still had bones and connective tissue. People who love cooking with whole cuts of meat know simmering with the bones in adds a lot of extra flavor. (How do you think chicken broth is made?)  However, for people raised on boneless skinless chicken breasts, the first few exposures to alternative cuts can be offputting.

I really want to give this place a better review  because in all honesty the sauces I tried were very well done. Unfortunately, the rest of the execution was sub par. I faced crunchy rice, empty steam trays, and a server who refused to refill my drink because he said they expected more people in soon and wanted my table.

I therefore give Anis a C+. (The amazing Kofta Curry earned the plus.)

When I give a less than flattering rating I am always genuinely happy to revisit in a few months to see if a restaurant has improved.