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?

Haydees - Means Hell in Greek and Delicious in English

The Kleiner and the Kleinette very often prefer to create concoctions of random goodness at home for dinner on weeknights, but, after working forever one night and meeting at the Columbia Heights metro stop, the two were exhausted and very interested in having someone else do the cooking.  Where else to go on a random week night but Haydees?

Haydees, located at 3102 Mt. Pleasant St is a comfortable and welcoming restaurant with what Americans consider to be pretty standard Latin American food - tacos, fajitas, seafood, enchiladas, burritos, taquitos, plantains, quesadillas and nachos.  The restaurant itself is dark with lots of different pictures on the wall, always with either some kind of American or latin Pop music playing, a television with sports, and the nice feeling of dimmed lamps and little colored lights.  There is a bar with seating and a bunch of booths - upstairs and downstairs. It has a great community feel, all the different types of people that live in Mt. Pleasant can be found noshing and drinking margaritas there at any given time.  Pitchers of margarita make it a popular place for birthday parties.

Meals at Haydees start with a big bowl of fresh chips and very spicy salsa.  We have sampled the plaintains and beans (many times), veggie fajitas, veggie enchiladas, cheese taquitos, and quesadillas and find them to be homey and tasty.  Happy hour essentially goes all night with $3 imports and $4 margaritas (!). Prices are all extremely reasonable, ranging from $3 -10 (appetizers) and $8-16 main dishes.  Everything seems to have a vegetarian version which makes this a great spot for vegetarians desiring more variety than a veggie burger!

All and all, thumbs up Haydees for being a community destination with consistently yummy, homey food and a quirky decor~!
-The Kleinette

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....