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News & ArtsTuesday, August 11, 2009
Chow Time To Go
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Like everybody else, I go to Maharaja Cuisine of India (Capitol Hill) for the cheap booze in the dark bar. That's it. But even if you're not eating there, seeing a rat running across the floor means only one thing: time to go to another bar. "No, tell me I did not see that," said Blak of Silent Lambs Project. He, myself, and Jace (also of SLP) were having drinks in the cave at the back of the restaurant. It was around 6 pm. "Yeah, it is what I saw," said Blak. "And it ain't even in a hurry." Jace and I turned saw the dirty little thing merrily trotting toward the kitchen. "It's time to go," said Jace. We settled our bill and walked across the street to the Rosebud to finish our drinking and talking. There is nothing worse than seeing a rat in a restaurant. Nothing. (Fuck what you saw on Ratatouille.) The Maharaja has got to get its shit together.
2
Ah, Maharaja. I once passed out in a booth there and was shaken to consciousness by a large black man in a superhero costume and face mask who apparently completed his good deed quota by ensuring that I was in fact still in good health and that those sitting around me were indeed my friends. In no other city does stuff like that happen to me.
3
I can't wait to hear everyone's story about this place, here is mine. The 'chef' came out and confronted me angrily one time after being served a blackened disc as a piece of naan bread. The bartender argued with him until he was shouting in the dining room. He insisted he would never burn anything but she insisted that it was indeed a completely black disc.
Eventually he stormed off and I ditched out before getting my money back. I figured he was going for a weapon.
Eventually he stormed off and I ditched out before getting my money back. I figured he was going for a weapon.
4
You know how people talk about New Orleans having the best food? Every restaurant in that city has rats. Where there is grease + food, there will be rats.
7
How is good Indian food so scarce within Seattle? There are some fabulous places in the north Eastside that beat anything I've had within the city limits.
10
i stopped going in the comet tavern for a month after i did battle with a squirrel going after my kfc...
11
@7, you should have lived here 25 years ago. There were like two places in the entire PNW. It wasn't until about a decade ago that options started appearing, some of them good. Malabar in the U District does South Indian OK. But yeah, far NE King County is "da bomb" as the kids say these days -- Mayuri on the Bothell-Everett Highway beats anything in Seattle. It's all Bangladeshi glop around here. Or south -- Punjabi Sweets in Kent, of all places, is fantastic (best vegetarian restaurant in WA state? Maybe.)
12
There's also an amazing Indian restaurant in Issaquah, of all places. It just opened up in that dreadful QFC shopping center off Gilman and serves strictly vegetarian fare. My father - whose favorite food group is Dead Animal - even approves.
13
Some of the best Indian (-style) food on the Hill is at Annapurna. Their house Himalayan specials are delicious, and they also have a full bar and an extensive wine list. Plus, their Nepalese Buddhist decor perfectly straddles the boundary between tacky and lovely. Worth a shot if you haven't been there.
14
Here's the King County health dept. inspection results.
http://www.decadeonline.com/insp.phtml?a…
Seems about the same as the other Indian restaurant I bussed tables at during college.
http://www.decadeonline.com/insp.phtml?a…
Seems about the same as the other Indian restaurant I bussed tables at during college.
15
"..the rat was not even in a hurry" haha
boy I'm not surprised. It used to be my favorite bar. I went for the reggae and dub and trippy music being played by 1 particular rad bartender at the time, who also made sure candles were lit all over the place, same girl was very nice, calm, well-tempered, beautiful. Loved the cheap wells and appetizers served till late at night
Once I took a date there, turned out to be a bad idea. Not the most gentlemanly thing I've done. She said "this is the scariest bar I've ever been to." I laughed, c'mon. Our booth at the time was torn, tagged.. it was very dark in there, which is something I personally like about bars I go to. The music wasn't that great. She thought some of the people coming in seemed sketchy. One guy who sat down across from us had a red sweatshirt with white handguns printed all over it. I have a huge problem with assholes who glorify guns as a stylish thing, don't even like to be in the same room with people like that. I decided, ok it's time to go. Overall I decided I didn't like the crowd as much as I first noticed when I started going there, and i could tell the place had been rotting and the owners didn't seem to give a shit.
boy I'm not surprised. It used to be my favorite bar. I went for the reggae and dub and trippy music being played by 1 particular rad bartender at the time, who also made sure candles were lit all over the place, same girl was very nice, calm, well-tempered, beautiful. Loved the cheap wells and appetizers served till late at night
Once I took a date there, turned out to be a bad idea. Not the most gentlemanly thing I've done. She said "this is the scariest bar I've ever been to." I laughed, c'mon. Our booth at the time was torn, tagged.. it was very dark in there, which is something I personally like about bars I go to. The music wasn't that great. She thought some of the people coming in seemed sketchy. One guy who sat down across from us had a red sweatshirt with white handguns printed all over it. I have a huge problem with assholes who glorify guns as a stylish thing, don't even like to be in the same room with people like that. I decided, ok it's time to go. Overall I decided I didn't like the crowd as much as I first noticed when I started going there, and i could tell the place had been rotting and the owners didn't seem to give a shit.
16
I was at a hole in the wall Indian place in Brooklyn last year. As I was eating, a rat came out of the kitchen doorway, sat there, washed, approached me, I stomped at it, it scurried away, then back towards me, stopped, washed again and then ran back into the kitchen - I guess after figuring I wasn't good for a hand out.
I have not returned.
I have not returned.
17
@11:
Ah man, I used to eat at the Mayuri on upper QA at least three times a month when it was around; best Indian food anywhere ever. I see the B-vue spot is still open, is the Bothell-Everett one owned by the same people?
Ah man, I used to eat at the Mayuri on upper QA at least three times a month when it was around; best Indian food anywhere ever. I see the B-vue spot is still open, is the Bothell-Everett one owned by the same people?
18
It's a great location and it is a waste that it is not being utilized for something much better. I went there when it was first opened and it WAS trying to be a restaurant, rather than now how it is selling itself as cheap strong drinks. It was crappy and weird. The mananger worked around the clock so he was always in a booth falling asleep when I would come in. That place is ghetto in the very worst sense of the word. Thanks for bring this up Charles.
19
India Bistro in Ballard is pretty good, I have no complaints.
As for you, Chaz, grow a fucking pair. It was just a rat. Pussy.
As for you, Chaz, grow a fucking pair. It was just a rat. Pussy.
20
MOGHUL PALACE in downtown Bellevue is the best, hands down. They closed their location on NE 10th street a little over a year ago, but just reopened in their new spot in the shopping center where Larry's Market used to be, off of NE 8th by the home Depot.
Seriously, whatever you may think of Bellevue, and I'm with you on that, GO. It is the crown jewel of Indian restaurants. And the owners!! Such nice people. GO.
Seriously, whatever you may think of Bellevue, and I'm with you on that, GO. It is the crown jewel of Indian restaurants. And the owners!! Such nice people. GO.
22
@16,
Were people feeding the rat? WTF?
My two qualifications for good Indian food: The tandoori must be served with grilled onions, not with the vile steamed vegetables popular at Indian restaurants in this town. The curries cannot be 99 percent sauce.
I'm still looking.
Were people feeding the rat? WTF?
My two qualifications for good Indian food: The tandoori must be served with grilled onions, not with the vile steamed vegetables popular at Indian restaurants in this town. The curries cannot be 99 percent sauce.
I'm still looking.
24
rat was probably slow because the of the poison eating a hole in its brain.
i had a rat in my coffeehouse in the 80s in a similar condition, wandering behind the bar while i tried not to let customers see - docile enough that i swept it into a paper bag & set it free on the street.
i had a rat in my coffeehouse in the 80s in a similar condition, wandering behind the bar while i tried not to let customers see - docile enough that i swept it into a paper bag & set it free on the street.
25
@22, this is why I never order curries in either Indian or Thai restaurants around here. Gee, 3 cubes of tofu in a lukewarm cup of milky red curry? No thanks. At home, however, I'll sprinkle curry powder on everything from cup o noodle to grilled chicken.
27
Thanks for this post, Charles. Hopefully it'll scare the normal folks out of my favorite bar in Seattle.
One point, though: I'm sure it was a mouse, not a rat.
And for those looking for good Indian food, the Maharaja has just that. Best butter chicken I've ever had.
Another good place: Laadla in South Lake Union, now with a badass bar in the back with VERY good deals on appetizers. In fact, I'll go there tonight.
28
That place is a total dive. The owner Lucky is an asshole and I think he is still in the slammer. The only reason to ever go in at all is the cheap happy hour.
29
once living in LA, my favorite drinking spot in chinatown - YEE MEE LOO'S, i saw rats, RATS, all over the kitchen. now, this was a place i drank at but never ate at. after the rattus viewing, i still drank there and continued never to eat there...get over it. rats run the world - ever been anywhere near mott street in NYC...when i lived there you can just sense them without even seeing 'em. geez chaz!
30
I lived across the street from it when it first opened. Of course I was excited to see an Indian restaurant open so close. Great was my dismay when I tried to eat there. Not only was the food weak, but the first time I tried it my rice came complete with a portion of the plastic package it came in! Pre-fab rice?! You'd think they'd be doing their best, trying to make a good impression in the first weeks they opened...
31
I worry about your relationship with the natural world (and the Sasquatch), Charles, but yeah, I draw the line at rats in a restaurant.
32
The place is just awful. Bland, lukewarm food. The owner stood at our table yakking, dominating our lunch for two. Years ago it was better, not the best by a long shot but decent. Now it's a waste of space and should close. The place doesn't deserve your support. I'm never going again. So what if its got cheap strong drinks. And the rat thing, just another reason to go someplace else.
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