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:

For those of you who don’t teach at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) or, as is the case with myself, aren’t married to someone who teaches there, then you are likely unaware of the crippling requirement that MPS imposes on its staff and the damage that it does to its students. If you are employed by MPS, you must live within the city of Milwaukee. Not Milwaukee County, mind you, but the city itself. There are, of course, a handful of nice areas to live in, but to restrict where someone is or is not allowed to live simply because you are their employer is unjust.

The reasons behind the requirement, when it was instituted in the late 70’s, seemed at the time to make sense. If teachers live in the communities that they teach in, they will send their kids to schools in the city and will therefore better relate to the schools, helping the community as a whole. After 30 years, however, one can easily see that teachers tend to live on the outskirts of the city in a few select neighborhoods, often not anywhere near the school at which they teach and many teachers send their kids to private schools, not community schools.

The socioeconomic failure of the residency requirement might not be enough to justify its repeal, but the drastic limiting of the job pool is. At any given time, there are 500+ vacant teaching positions throughout the district. Without opening up applications to teachers who already own homes outside the city and don’t want to sell or who are otherwise unwilling to move in to the city, there is simply no way to fill the open positions. There are certainly tons of excellent teachers throughout the district, but for the schools to tell themselves that they don’t frequently end up hiring bad-eggs simply because they need to fill positions that they have too few applicants for is a lie and, most important of all, is unfair to the students. For every low-quality teacher that the city is forced to hire out of desperation there are plenty of teachers currently working – or unemployed – in the surrounding areas who would jump at the chance to get the job if it didn’t mean selling their home and moving to the city. If the purpose of the residency requirement is to benefit the students to build a better future for the city, then which is more important: Hiring anyone who applies because there are too few applicants or having an abundance of applicants, even if they might have to commute, and being picky with who you choose to teach the city’s youth.

There are two ways in which Milwaukee’s teacher residency requirement can be repealed:

• Legislatively, the state senate and assembly can pass a bill which would make it illegal. This has been unsuccessful many times before, but is nonetheless being tried again this year with Assembly Bill 89 and Senate Bill 54. I encourage you to contact your representatives and tell them to support those bills.
• The teachers’ union also has the power to undo the requirement through collective bargaining. Both the MTEA and WEAC support a repeal of the requirement, but it falls below things like salary and benefits when it comes to contract negotiations and ends up being tossed in the pot as a bargaining chip.

Regardless of which how it is done away with, the residency requirement is antiquated and needs to be repealed.

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: