Naan & Beyond

I love this hole in the wall Indian lunch joint, but often forget about it. Usually because I tend to live on yogurt, fruit and granola bars from home 4 days of the week and only buy on Friday. When I do buy on Friday, I usually rotate between salads from Breadline, Marvelous Market, Just Fresh or Au Bon Pain (boycotted Cosi long ago for its dysfunctional service) depending on how far and in which direction I feel like strolling. Now today's only Thursday, but since I won't be here tomorrow I felt justified to buy lunch and my taste buds screamed out for Chicken Tikka atop Caesar salad with a side of Mango Chutney dipping sauce for the chicken - Naan & Beyond it was! I used to always get the Naan wrapped Chicken Tikka sandwich w/o mayo, but find it a great challenge to eat by hand and Naan isn't the easiest thing to cut through with a plastic knife, so I now combine my generous chunks of chicken deliciousness with somewhat overdressed and slightly wilted romaine. Mmmm...I still have the taste of it in my mouth. If you're down around L street b/t 17th and Connecticut check it out. It helps to not be intimidated by the surly servers - I actually find their demeanor rather humorous - the descriptor "Naan Nazi" is not far off, but I actually liken them more to the players in the old John Belushi Billy Goat's Tavern CheeburgerCheeburgerCheeburger skit on SNL. Just replace the CheeburgerCheeburger bit with shouts of CHICKENTIK! down the line.



My other fave for reasonably priced ethnic variety at lunchtime is the Couscous Cafe on 20th street near the corner of M (http://www.couscouscatering.com/CouscousCafe.htm). They do an amazing B'stilla (with chicken, not pigeon - sorry any Moroccan foodie purists!) and the sampler of ratatouille, grape leaves, hummus, Baba Ghanouj... is fresh and light. I've never managed to try their falafel b/c it sells out before 1:00. I'd definitely consider their catering for entertaining. And while I'm on this topic, I can't forget a nod to the granddaddy of them all: Moby Dick's House of Kebab.



So I'm definitely looking forward to some good eats in NYC tomorrow night. Massi asked me what kind of cuisine I'm in the mood for, but as long as it's not family-friendly Mexican at an early bird hour, I'm game. The only thing making up for having to be on a 6:50a.m. shuttle with my boss tomorrow morning for a full day of meetings is that I get to treat it as a comped visit to Massi and stay over the night. Cesar even suggested I stay over Saturday too to offer me a break, but I have to at least get back to get a start on Harry Potter w/in 24 hours of its (non leaked) release. Will report on how Leila and Cesar fare on their own Monday. I'm expecting to come home to multiple Happy Meal boxes in the trash. Cupcake city here I come!