Fun With Carbs

I’m so happy I could cry. We just received word that one of our favorite restaurants of all time, Pintu’s, has reopened after a May fire.

Sometimes a restaurant just feels like home to you, and we’ve been lucky enough to find that in
Sarabjit “Pintu” Chawla’s phenomenal West Springfield eatery. Beside the cuisine, which is easily the most exquisitely prepared Indian food we’ve ever sampled, the hospitality is top-notch. Not a visit passes without a hug and kiss from the owner himself and friendly service from our favorite waitress, who commits our favorite drinks and dishes to memory – even when we change it up seasonally.

And it’s just in time. Since the fire, we’ve tried to sate our cravings at Indian restaurants from New Haven to Portland, Maine – with varying – yet mostly disappointing – results.

You’d better believe we’ll be there for dinner tonight.

Crostini trio: filet and asiago, shrimp and cannelloni, tomato mozzarella basil

Although I love Restaurant Week promotions, sometimes eateries don’t live up to expectations.

Last year, a group of friends and I made RW reservations at one of Northampton’s most vaunted restaurants, only to receive some of the worst food and service I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime. (We ordered a half-dozen oysters as an add-on, and received five weak, watery specimens – and one empty shell. Our server rolled his eyes as he took back the plate. It all went downhill from there.)

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Zen's Pyramid Roll

Restaurant Week promotions are foodie paradise.  Multicourse meals for less than the cost of an entree? Sign me up, several times over.

Northampton held its annual event this past week, and when the menus came out, everything looked incredible. Several of the restaurants stepped up their game, incorporating high-end ingredients like lobster and good cuts of steak with lots of variety, like appetizer and dessert samplers. Remember, all three-course meals cost a mere $20.10.

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Confession: 2010 is shaping up to be Year of the Pho. I’m having this crazy passionate love affair with Vietnamese food, and I cannot seem to get enough. (Though you’ll notice that I’ve retired “Pho Shizzle” as a tagline. At least for now.)

I’ve seen Yelp haters describe western Massachusetts and north-central Connecticut as culturally bereft. Well…okay. But as ethnic cuisines become more mainstream, even suburban Longmeadow boasts two notable sushi restaurants. And up in Springfield, you can find three Vietnamese eateries within a three-block radius.

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The ultimate German beer paddle

Because nothing says “Happy Birthday” like schnitzel, wurst and big-ass mugs of beer, we took Kat out for an early 29th celebration this past weekend at Munich Haus in Chicopee.

German food lovers in greater Springfield are blessed, having three such restaurants nearby: Student Prince in the city, Hofbrauhaus to the west.

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