NWA Has Indian Food?!?

When did this happen? The last time I saw Indian food here was at a hotel in Bentonville, and it wasn't that good. Well, apparently a place named India Corner has been around for about 2 years now and serves Punjabi style food. It's located in Rogers, approximately the northwest corner of S. 8th Street and Poplar. If you're coming from the interstate, take exist 85 (Walnut St.) and then turn right when you get to S. 8th.

The restaurant is a little building in the U section of a rundown motel called The Traveler's Lodge. I think it was originally a Mexican restaurant. It has booths and tables, and was playing country music when we were there. They're closed on Mondays. They have a decent-sized menu and take-out, but we went for the buffet. We were also the only non-Indians in there, which I consider a good sign.

The buffet is small but good. And when I say small, I mean small even by Indian buffet standards. This isn't a 100 item Chinese buffet! There was rice, nan, some kind of bean dish, some kind of chicken dish, some dish I really couldn't recognize, saag, and rice pudding. I think it was $11, but it was worth it! When the server saw us eating nan he brought out a freshly cooked plate of it. The chicken was probably a vindaloo. It was pretty good, although it was a bit spicy (for those of you from the Mid-West, I believe that translates as Oh My God This Is Hot).

The saag was incredible! Saag is a spinach dish, and we're used to saag paneer (the spinach-cheese version) which is creamier. This one didn't have any cheese but the flavor was amazing! It was much spinachier [is this a word?] than we're used to. Next time Frank is getting the lamb saag. The last dish was the bean dish, for you vegetarians out there. It was kidney beans, with onions and stuff, in a soupy mixture. It was also really really good! The beans were whole, but almost melted in your mouth they were so creamy. This dish had very little heat but lots of flavor.

In general, all of these dishes had an underlying sweet tone to them. What I call "normal" Indian food doesn't have that, so I guess I've never really eaten Punjabi before. It was good though. It's not a sugary sweetness, just a sweet undertone, like from carrots or sweet potatoes. I would give this place 4 out of 5 stars. The food is great, the ambiance is generic. The glasses were a bit scratched up and water-stained, which may bother some people. It's sort of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in some ways. But we plan on going back soon!

Chatham Chilidogs

Okay, so my current travels aren't abroad, they're in Louisiana. And the best chilidog I've had in a loooong time is at J&H in Chatham. Their dogs are those nasty looking red hot dogs. I like mine with chili and mustard and onions. And they are absolutely delicious! I'm not sure if they're really that good or if it's partly nostalgia, but I don't care!

J&H started as a small stand, but now they have a bigger place. There's still a walk-up window, but there's also a sit-down area inside, and some plastic tables outside. And, of course, their sweet tea is excellent!

Lauren Lives!

Hello everyone. I just wanted to give y'all a short update of the past year. It's been a wacky year with peaks of ultimate awesomeness and troughs of total drek. I'm not posting this to get sympathy, I just wanted to let everyone know what's been going on. I've been fairly incommunicado for the past year and I keep getting these "hello, are you still there" e-mails.

Let's see. Last summer started great! I spent two months in Oman, hence this blog. A week before I returned, one of my friends in grad school committed suicide. Of course, since I barely had Internet access, I had no idea of what had happened to him. I started studying for comps, but then kind of collapsed from exhaustion and stress. I went straight from Master's to Ph.D. and I think I was burnt out too. I managed to make my November research trip to the JFK Library in Boston - I love scallops and chowda! But shortly after my return I got even sicker. Then over Thanksgiving my great-aunt died. That may not sound like much but she and my grandfather (her brother) were very close, so she was almost like a 3rd grandmother in some respects. I saw family over the holidays and in the New Year I started feeling a little bit better. Then I got the wonderful birthday present of my father going into the hospital. We drove down immediately and the first day I saw him was literally on my birthday. But Frank got the wonderful birthday present of a job! My dad was in ICU for 6 weeks and then he died in June of necrotic pancreatitis. We still don't know how he got it - he wasn't a drinker. I've been staying with my mom off and on. And then in July we traded in my poor 11-year-old truck, via Cash For Clunkers, for a Scion xB.

So that's been my tumultuous year. Here's hoping this school year is much better!