Udupi Palace - Vegetarian South Asian Indian Cuisine Heaven!

Feeling like they have been a little too spendy lately to follow through on their restaurant week reservation at Rasika (don't worry, it was cancelled) , the Kleiner and the Kleinette visited their now standby (they've been a couple o' times pre-review) vegetarian South Asian restaurant in Takoma/Langley Park, the UDUPI PALACE! 

Udupi Palace, located at 1329 University Blvd East, Takoma Park, MD is really an absolutely delicious vegetarian Indian restaurant.  It is appointed as many Indian restaurants are, yellow walls, some indian art, tables and chairs.  It included a bakery full of indian desert delights like Burfee.  We love several things about it - first -  they serve Dosai (and Uthappam but we have yet to try those) and fabulous curries with large portions.  Dosai is an enormous Indian crepe with fillings liked curried potatoes, onions and chillis.  They are served with chutnets and yogurt sauces that allow you to customize your spice/cool levels as you prefer.  We also had Paneer Makhni which is like a Paneer Tikka Masala, but maybe more tomato-ey and creamy?  It had so much sauce that we used the suace on the Dosai and the rice.  We also ordered a side of Mango chutney which was chunky and fresh to cut some of the spice in the dishes. 

We love the Upupi Palace because the food is simply delicious and there is so much vegetarian variety - including Tofu Makhni, Chana Masala, Avail cocumnet based curry and even vegetable Jalfriezi!  Dosais include butter masala dosia, mysore dosai (potato, onion and hot chutney), and special rava masala dosia (wheat and lentil crepes with onion, chilies, and grilled with potatoes).  We can't wait to go back and try the Uthappam, or even a desert like Rasamalai (home made cottage cheese in a special confensed milk flavored with rose water and garnished with pistachio nuts) or carrot halwa.

Its a great alternative to DC's expensive, small portioned Indian restaurants and a fun chance to experience the lively Takoma Park/Langley Park border area full of shops and restaurants from all over the world [Panderias alongside Sari Palaces!). 

Do you have any favorite places in Langley Park?  or just outside the Northeastern limits of the city?

How Does the Modern Indepenent Video Rental Outlet Survive?

"Are we going the way of the dodo, Dante?"

The Kleiner is a self-proclaimed film geek; not satisfied with merely really, really liking movies, he went so far as to acquire his bachelor's degree in the subject. That he actually has a job, in this economy, seventeen months out of graduation, is a minor miracle of whose provenance he'd rather defer discussion. What he would like to talk about is movies and television and the whole culture that surrounds it, so while the Kleinette does double, nay, triple, nay, billiontuple duty discussing our culinary proclivities and her endless explorations of the District's myriad nooks and crannies, it falls to me to offer this blog's Kulturkritik; so, you know, feel free to skip all my posts. Consider yourself disclaimed.

Anyway, rather than muse in length on Mad Men (the first seventeen episodes of which the Kleinette and I have watch in just the past week) or Skins (a favorite of the Kleinette, Anglophile that she is, on which I have some thoughts) or some of the recent films I've seen, I'd like to start by jumping off the Kleinette's latest post and talk about one of our latest sights seen: Takoma Park's Video Americain.

Takoma Park - Magic Hippie Land on the Border - Continued

Still interested in exploring the world of Takoma Park, and now finally tired of cooking, the Kleiner and the Kleinette headed back up to Takoma Park tonight to have dinner at Mark’s Kitchen, a cool sort of asian-american diner that mixes deli sandwiches, ginger ice cream sundaes with bulgogi platters and stuffed acorn squashes.  As we both are very vegetarian friendly/or are vegetarians this was a perfect choice.  Marks Kitchen looks like a diner, white tables, aluminium pull out chairs and no booths.  I’ve had the Vegetable Curry with Brown Rice, which is really tasty and not too spicy, and feels extremely healthy.  I’ve also had bento boxes with various vegetables and seaweed that were delicious as well.  I like the variety of a bento and the healthiness of simply prepared veggies.  Tonight, I had Spinach Tofu Pancakes served with a soy-raspberry sauce, string beans, roasted sweet potato, salad and brown rice.  I really liked this dish, it felt healthy and the tastes were savory and rich.  Clocking in at about $9.50, it was a very perfect price.   The Kleiner had a huge veggie club sandwich that even included fake bacon.  Served with real, hand cut French fries and cole slaw this was a also a great option for a vegetarian often relegated to a veggie burger, grilled portabello, or hummus wrap.  I love Mark’s Kitchen, and will probably be back. 

I have to mention that I was tempted by both the cosy Roscoe's Neopolitan Pizza place that has fabulous reviews online and the Middle Eastern Cuisine and Market restaurant also located on Carroll Avenue.

After dinner, we made our way over to Video Americain, a video/film/dvd/movie rental shop that looked like it could have belonged equally as much in Takoma Park as it would in Somerville, MA or Brooklyn, NY. Its offerings are organized by country/genre/and sometimes even by director.  It has a sofa and a television mid-store for any sampling you might want to do.  I was woo'd by the 90s indie-emo flicks, the Israeli films, the British TV series and all the African movies...  I'll let the Kleiner take over reviewing it as he is the filmie and I the companion on these sorts of jaunts....

Takoma Park - Magic Hippie Land on the State Line?

Reporting by The Kleinette

I found myself on Sunday afternoon with a few hours to kill between teaching ice skating lessons out in Rockville, Maryland and my girly activity of the groupon discounted facial in Takoma Park.  I had purchased a 'groupon' a month ago for a $25 facial at the Still Point spa in Takoma Park.   Groupons coupons that are sold through the Groupon website for extremely discounted goods and services, often at places that you actually do want to go.  Many of the groupons tend to be for restaurants. Between the Kleiner and the Kleinette, we hold groupons for Policy, Napolean Cafe, ACKC, and L'Enfant Cafe.  Example: $15 for $35 worth of food and drink at L'Enfant Cafe in Adams Morgan. 

Since I was very early for the facial, as I am known to do, I stopped by a local coffee shop that I think is probably pretty new to Takoma Park called The Savory Cafe.  I love, love, love independent coffee shops because often they play nice music, have a community atmosphere, and more often than not serve really nice espresso drinks that I don't make at home.  I am still searching for one that can match the greatness of the College Perk, now gone from College Park, Maryland.  The Perk certainly can be credited with the reasonably high quality coursework I produced as an undergrad at Maryland, I spent all my free time studying there on their comfy community couches listening to their well chosen music.  The Savory Cafe was filled with laptop users, group meetings, and people having a bite to eat. They served food ranging from typical coffee shop wraps to asian noodles and dumpings.  I had a cafe-au-lait and an oatmeal cookie. They have live music on Friday nights, and I'd definitely like to stop in one night after getting dinner at Mark's Kitchen (to be reviewed later). It was a very different scene from the Big Bear Cafe, which is the place to go if you want to listen to obscure hipster indie rock and drink exceptionally good coffee with the hipster population of Eckington while reading a paper or editing something on your computer.

The Still Point is a pretty little spa located on the Maryland side of Takoma Park.  Interestingly, along with their spa treatments they also offer yoga classes in a serene looking studio that has windows onto the woods.  The 'Groupon' Facial was an extremely express facial, very minor extractions, no massage, so I don't know that a review from me of that will nesecarrily offer the best review of what the Still Point has to offer.  The treatment was okay, the technician chatted to me the whole time about her experiences online dating which did not make it particularly relaxing, but interesting and funny.  I probably would not go back to the Still Point as their express facial is $80 and their regular facials are $150 which is so above and beyond my budget for girly rituals that I wouldn't really even consider it.  I personally prefer to get treatments at the Aveda Institute in DC.  They are about $35-40 and done by students who generally seem to know very well what they are doing :)  [word of warning - hair color / spa treatments = excellent at Aveda, cuts, eh..... at your own risk]