I love Indian food. It’s flavors range from sweet to spicy and it is equally good whether you prefer vegetarian dishes or meat. Recently we’ve had a bit of bad luck in our area, however, as our favorite nearby Indian restaurant closed over a year ago, followed recently by Saffron in Brookfield. Sure, Maharaja on the east side is among the best in Milwaukee, but that’s a bit of a drive from our side of town. After expressing my frustration on Facebook at the discovery of Saffron’s closure, I got a couple recommendations for Tandoor, which is actually closer to us than Saffron was.

When you first walk in to Tandoor, you might be a little nervous as it kind of has a hole-in-the-wall feel to it, because, well, it kind of is. Rest assured, however, you’ll still get a tasty meal. They have a large menu with lots of options, with plenty of appetizers, a great selection of different types of Indian breads, and a huge list of entrées with chicken, lamb, seafood, and vegetarian dishes. We decided to start off with an order of samosas, which were on par with the samosas I’ve had elsewhere and are a great start to any Indian meal. For dinner we got the always-classic chicken tikka masala, an order of lamb shahi korma, and their peshwari naan bread. Although we ordered everything medium, both the masala and korma were on the spicy side which is always fine by me, but if you have a weak stomach for spice, I’d suggest ordering your food mild. Both dishes were good, however the lamb shahi korma was spicier and less savory than we’re accustomed to. That said, our standard for lamb shahi korma has unfortunately been set unreasonably high by India Palace in Roseville, MN. The peshwari naan bread was unlike any naan bread I’ve had previously and was filled with nuts, raisins, and coconut. It tasted terrific and was great for scooping up any extra sauce from our plates. To wash everything down, we each ordered a mango lassi which, if you’ve never had one, is a traditional yogurt-based mango drink that will instantly cut through any spice lingering in your mouth and tastes great. Having eaten way more than I probably should have, we skipped desert and went home happy, full, and with leftovers.

Although Tandoor is certainly not the best Indian food I’ve eaten, nor would I consider it the best in Milwaukee, it still serves good food, the service was fast and courteous, and I will certainly be eating there again. They even offer take-out, which I’m sure I will be taking advantage of sometime soon.

Here’s the info:

Coa is the newest restaurant to open up at the Bayshore Town Center in Glendale. Filling in the long-vacant property previously occupied by Cameron’s Steakhouse, Coa markets itself as offering true-to-taste Mexican street food. Not ever actually having eaten true Mexican street food I can’t say for sure what that means, but the wide variety of appealing tacos and entrés made making a final dinner selection tough. As soon as you sit down, they’ll bring you some sort of extra salty Frito-Lay flavored chip with two types of dip, neither of which in any way resembled the traditional salsa that you expect from most Mexican restaurants, but both of which were spicy and at least decent, but not great. Unable to really decide what I wanted to eat, I decided to get their three taco meal, which offers the most variety on their menu. First you choose whether you prefer white corn tortillas, flour tortillas, or lettuce wraps. From there, you can choose any three of their wide variety of tacos. The three I chose, carne asada, baby back ribs, and chicken, were all terrific and I would definitely eat again. Also included with the tacos was an option of white or Mexican rice as well as black, refried, or their own “coa” beans. I opted for the Mexican rice with refried beans. Normally I enjoy that combination of sides for a Mexican dish, but the both were rather bland and unimpressive. Aside from that, the meal tasted good, was very filling, and the service was not always fast, but at least friendly. It won’t necessarily be my first choice of restaurants when eating at Bayshore, but I’m sure I will end up there again and, assuming the service and some of the food improves once they get more established, I would recommend it to family and friends.

Here’s the info:

Café Manna is self-described as “one of the first 100% vegetarian restaurants in Southeastern Wisconsin”. Located on Brookfield Road just south of Capitol, this relatively new restaurant can easily go unnoticed from the street, but is worth the trip. In the interest of full disclosure, it should be known that I am not one to go crazy over vegetarian or vegan cuisine and prefer my dinners to involve some sort of meat. That said, it is something that I knew my wife would enjoy so I figured I’d give it a shot.

My first impression when we walked in was extremely positive. We were warmly greeted by the employees and immediately seated. Although Café Manna is in a very small space, they have it arranged very well and it in no way feels cramped as many small restaurants do. We were promptly brought out a small plate of pita chips and their homemade cashew coconut hummus, which was an incredibly tasty change of pace from the standard bread and frozen unspreadable butter that you get at most restaurants. Coming from someone who normally balks at the idea of a vegetarian entree, their menu had a plethora of choices that appealed to me, with many marked as gluten-free, raw, and/or vegan. I eventually settled on their Peace Bowl with Curried Cashew Crunch and Jessie chose the Falafel Platter. Our meals came out to us quickly and were presented beautifully on the plate. As good as it may have looked, it tasted even better. Many people are afraid of curry because of its spicy reputation, but they were very even-handed with it and it had the perfect amount of spice versus flavor. My only complain with the meal was that the pyramids of rice could have been a little larger, to soak up the extra sauce. To drink with dinner, I had a kettle of Coconut Chai hot tea from Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, which complimented the meal perfectly. Although neither of us felt like having desert after the meal, they had some very tempting options, including Banana Fig Pudding and Ginger Macadamia Nut Carrot Cake, which topped my list of what I’d like to try next time.

I will definitely be eating here again and, unless you are adamantly opposed to vegetarian cuisine, I’d highly suggest it to anyone who asks.

Here’s the info:

Last night I had the opportunity to eat at Crazy Water in Milwaukee to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday. I had never heard of it, but the few people I talked to that had been there liked it. When you first walk in, you’ll immediately notice that it is a very small place, almost a quarter of which is taken up by the bar, but has terrific atmosphere. I’m unclear how the name originated, as the water we got when we sat down seemed to be perfectly normal tap water, but I’m sure the owner has a good story behind it. We started off with their cheese platter, which includes a variety of cheese, hummus, and other spreads to put over a few different types of crackers and breads. This was a great start to the meal and plenty of the other appetizers looked equally as appealing. For the main course, I had the tenderloin steak. Although satisfying and cooked exactly how I had requested, it certainly wasn’t one of the best steaks I’ve had. Topping it off, my wife and I shared the triple-layer mousse which was fantastic and filling. I would certainly eat there again and would recommend it to anyone looking for a new place to try, but it won’t be at the top of my list.

Here’s the info:

As the most recent addition to One Mayfair Place on the corner of Mayfair Road and Center Street in Wauwatosa, WI, the Flat Top Grill has already become a top choice when my wife and I are going out for a nice dinner, or have nothing in the house for a weekend breakfast. This chain is apparently already well established in Illinois, but this is only their second location to open up in Wisconsin and the first in the metro-Milwaukee area.

Their format is essentially the “Mongolian grill” create-your-own style of restaurant. While we’ve got plenty of those in and around Milwaukee, the Flat Top Grill kicks it up a notch. I can safely say that as long as Flat Top stays in Milwaukee, I will not be visiting any of the others. If you haven’t eaten at this type of restaurant before, you go up and fill a bowl with your choice veggies, meat, noodles, rice, and sauces. You then bring it up to a grill and they stir-fry it all together for you. In this aspect, Flat Top is the same as any other. Where they excel, however, is the variety of choices (It’ll be years before I’ve tried all of the sauces that tempt me), the freshness of everything offered, and most of all the last stop: the grill. Once you’ve got everything together, you go up to the grill and you have to decide which colored sticks to put in your meal to change it up. The one mandatory stick is the blue one for roti prata bread. I don’t know what exactly it is, but it’s super tasty and accompanies whatever you get perfectly. Other choices including having your creation turned in to a mu-shu wrap, a lettuce wrap, adding eggs, and plenty more. Once you’re done, you pass it over and go have a seat. There’s no waiting while it cooks, they’ll just bring it out to you when it’s ready.

If you’ve read this far your mouth is probably already salivating and you’re ready to hop in the car and go try it out. I have not, however, even touched on the breakfast yet. If you’re familiar with the area, you already know that One Mayfair Place was built on the rubble of Heineman’s (RIP). Breakfast took a big hit the day they closed their doors for the last time and I’ve since been hoping a good breakfast place would go back in. One finally did. Take the aforementioned lunch and dinner format that Flat Top uses and convert it over to breakfast foods and you have an awesome Saturday or Sunday breakfast or brunch. Just like with lunch or dinner, there’s all sorts of tasty things to toss in a bowl, then you take your creation and turn it in to pancakes, an omelette, scrambled eggs, or french toast. If that isn’t enough, you can also get bacon, turkey sausage, hash browns, oatmeal, fresh fruit, and more that I can’t think of off-hand. Yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds.

If any of the above food sounds even remotely good to you, you’ll like the Flat Top Grill. Regardless of what type of food you like you’ll be able to create something that will leave you highly satisfied and eager to go back up for a second bowl – if you’ve still got room.

Here’s the info:

FYI: Urbanspoon rocks!

Wasabi Sushi & Sake Lounge is the newest restaurant to open its doors in Brookfield, Wisconsin. I’ve driven by it several times while they were still getting everything ready, and had been hoping that we would get a good Sushi restaurant near us. This past tuesday, they finally opened up. We’ve eaten at a few different Sushi places of varying qualities and first impressions are always important if it’s a place I plan to go back to.

When you first walk in the doors at Wasabi, you will immediately notice the atmosphere perfectly fits the cuisine. It is very simply designed, but also very elegant and makes a great use of the space that they have. It is the type of atmosphere where you can feel comfortable in casual clothes, but fit in just as well in a suit and tie. Jessie and I were immediately seated in a very comfortable well-lit booth. The menu was very reasonably priced and we decided to start off with some Miso soup, which was among the best Miso soup I’ve had. After looking over the menu, we decided on calamari and vegetable tempura, a Philadelphia roll, and a Las Vegas roll. Shortly thereafter, we received all three dishes. I was immediately impressed by not only how tasty it looked, but also the effort put in to the presentation. It was as much art as it was food. Not only did it look incredibly appetizing, but it tasted just as good as it looked. After a fantastic dinner, we split some Green Tea ice cream that was a great finish to the meal.

If you like Japanese food or are interested in trying something new, I highly recommend Wasabi. It’s on Bluemound Road in Brookfield, WI just east of Moorland on the south side of the road.

Here’s the address and website: