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Red India Bistro Gets its Grove On
By Michael Anderson and Anthony Lowenberg, Slumdog Law Reviewers
In case you didn’t get the memo, or if you did but couldn’t read it because it was written in Hindi, Indian is hot! You don’t have to be a Slumdog Millionaire to know that. So, in our never ending quest to be several weeks behind on the trends, we decided it was finally time to make the trip all the way to Addison (the Bangalore of Big D) to check out Red India Bistro, which we’ll call the “hot” new Indian place in town because it’s got “Red” in the name and we’re very susceptible to marketing tactics.
Ol’ Red, as we don’t call her, is the latest incarnation of the Indo-Chinese fusion craze that swept the world in 500 A.D, then again in 1236 A.D., and then again around 2001 A.D., in which traditional and new-wave Indian dishes and Indo-Chinese dishes are cooked Chinese-style in a wok. The owners of Red India Bistro are credited by some for kicking off the Indian/Indo-Chinese craze in this area with their Masala and Masala Wok franchises. Masala Wok is essentially a more casual concept than Red India (counter service, loud music, cheek-by-jowl seating). Red India Bistro appears to have a similar menu and atmosphere, but it turns into a lounge bar at night. The d?cor is sleek and modern interspersed with detailed wood designs, and the color red dominates the landscape (who’d of thunk it?). The vibe is somewhere between Pei Wei and Club Bliss Ultra Wish Lounge (or whatever the kids call the disco dance clubs they’re going to these days… get off our lawns!). All this is to say, Red India may not be Chris-Chris-free, but you can still feel like a $30,000 millionaire for $13.
For our lunch, we started off with an order of two vegetable samosas ($3). It was tough to tell if they were house-made, but based on the fork marks on the dough folds, we believe so. Mass-produced samosas, while often tasty and more than sufficient, lack the telltale fork marks of food made with pyar (that’s “love” in Hindi; Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!). The fried dough was flakey, although not as crisply fried as we like it, and the potato and pea filling had an understated spiciness (that’s fancy talk for they were a little bland). Maybe the mass produced samosas aren’t so bad after all. Our other starter was the winner - the Chicken Tikka Kabob Rolls ($3). The rolls are a clever twist on typical chicken tikka masala. Tandoori chicken is rolled into crispy naan (flatbread baked in a tandoor oven) with coriander and melted cheese, cut into inch-long sections, and served with tikka masala sauce on the side. Not at all traditional, but dang tasty.
For entrees, we tried the Chicken 65 ($9). Before you ask why it’s called Chicken 65, know this, the origin of the name contains a deep dark secret that will scar your mortal soul and could possibly bring about the end of days. Or not. Also, no one really knows for sure. The chicken in a typical Chicken 65 dish is usually bright red, owing to either lots of chilis, or food coloring, or maybe both. No matter, it was spicy without being overwhelmingly so, a nice reprieve from the aforementioned typical Chicken 65 recipes, which are all about the heat. The complimentary side order of naan was too crusty and tasted disappointingly like matzo (rent out Red India for your next Seder!), but the accompanying basmati rice was quite flavorful for an often overlooked side.
We also had the Blazing Hakka Noodles with paneer ($9) from the Indo-Chinese part of the menu. The noodles definitely lived up to their name. They were cartoon-steam-coming-out-of-your-ears hot, but fortunately our attentive waitress kept our mango ice tea consistently refilled to help keep us cool. The grilled paneer (or soft Indian cheese) and the shredded vegetables mixed in with the noodles also toned down the heat of the noodles. Overall, the dish made for a zesty and very filling (if a little greasy) lunchtime meal.
Red India Bistro is a hip concept with food that packs a punch. On our red-based action movie five gavel scale, where five gavels is the jingoistic awesomeness of Red Dawn and one gavel is the complete and utter lameness of Red Sonja, we give Red India Bistro three and a half gavels, or Red Heat, starring Jim Belushi and the current governor of California as a Moscow police detective. They’re the original Odd Couple!
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