Vegetable Vindaloo At The Tandoor Grill

Vegetable vindaloo from Tandoor Grill

India is a big enough cuisine that you could fill a county with different options and dishes.

The Tandoor Grill on Johns Hopkins Road is a casual alternative to the run of terrific Indian restaurants like House of India and Royal Taj.   This is counter service in the shopping center next to La Palapa Too, and it's a slightly different -- different dishes, different spices, a few inspirations like the garam masala chicken wings.

There is the slightly crazy: the chile naan.  Several of my friends have celebrated themselves by eating Indian bread stuffed with tiny, green hot peppers.

But there are other dishes that are just talented and unusual.  I took out vegetable vindaloo on my last visit.  A rich curry over tender vegetables.  Seriously spicy, but really right -- heat that light up my mouth, but encouraged me to eat more.  I'm a sucker for healthy food with big flavor.  It means that you can eat a lot.  I grabbed the vindaloo before meeting for a movie.  I ate so much that I didn't even want candy at the show!

Sambar, Idli, And Deep-Fried, Old Bay Wings -- Comfort Food Just Like Grandma Used To Make

Sometimes, you just need to trust your instincts.

I drove all the way to Rte 40 in a cold-induced fog last night in search of dinner.  I had food in the house, but I'd been trapped inside for two days -- one without phone, Internet or television.  (A Verizon tech apparently unplugged us yesterday because he or she found us plugged into the wrong port in the company's hub.  Thanks Verizon!)

But somewhere around St. Johns Road, I decided that I couldn't face eating alone in a bright restaurant.

That's how I ended up at a cafe table outside Kloby's Smokehouse's takeout counter.  Warm night.  Weird fog.  And a weird pairing of food that just felt right: lentil soup with rice dumplings and chicken wings.

That's health food on Johns Hopkins Road: Sambar and idli from Tandoor Grill and "dirty and old" wings from Kloby's.  A slightly spicy soup.  Some mild steamed rice dumplings.  The crunchy chicken wings.  At the time, I passed on the chili naan as too much for my stomach, but now I wonder if that heat would have killed off my viruses.

Tandoor Grill Brings A Different Indian -- And Offers Up The Chili Naan If You Dare

Vegetable vindaloo and the chili naan

There are few more troublesome dishes than half-hearted Indian food.  It's a cuisine of spices, and a chef worried whether you will like hot-pepper spiciness can deaden a meal by cutting back on all flavor across the board.

Tandoor Grill delivers the flavor.  In fact, it delivers a different flavor than the spices of other Indian restaurants around.  With that, it creates a nice lunch and takeout option on Johns Hopkins Road just west of Rte 29.  It also creates a bit of a holy grail for people who crave heat, although we'll pursue that later.

Tandoor Grill replaced a sandwich joint aimed at the Applied Physics Lab crowd, and they have maintained the casual seating area, a sandwich menu, and an array of coffee drinks.  But I have only eaten the Indian food (and the garam masala chicken wings).  The short menu runs through a bunch of kebabs and other meats cooked in the tandoor oven through two dozen curries, both meat and veg.

Mrs. HowChow and I split on the curries.  I think they're delicious -- often ordering a mixed vegetable dish like vegetable saag or vegetable vindaloo to keep my takeout on the healthy side of a splurge.  Mrs. HowChow just prefers House of India or Royal Taj.  She enjoyed the chicken korma and chicken tikka but she just prefers H of I.

I think it's a question of familiarity.  H of I is a comfort food, and, after a busy day, it's just what the doctor ordered.  But a billion people cook Indian or Pakistani food every night.  I think Tandoor Grill's curries just have their own flavors.  They're certainly full-flavored.  A dish like vegetables saag comes with tender vegetables in a spinach sauced spiced beautifully.  Not hot pepper spice.  It's that mix of spices that fill your mouth and make Indian food stand out.  Like Bon Fresco, this is counter service that has the appetite to serve restaurant food.  And I'm not alone.  My friend Josh pretty much waxes poetic about Tandoor Grill.

Chili naan

Why do I love Tandoor?  a) Because the couple who run it are about the nicest people you will find. After three times there they knew me and started throwing in extra sides etc.  b) The samosas are awesome. they pull off a light feeling to deep fat fried dumplings which is incredibly tough to do. 

c) They offer an array of Indian dishes that are simply hard to come by.  I worked near Heritage India in DC, and we would frequent the buffet where there was always a seperate line made up of Indian people dining on some sort of "off menu" filled with Indian street food.  Tandoor has those dishes.  d) To further the Heritage comparison, quite simply Tandoor's food is better. 

Finally e) Chili Naan.  As a lover of spicy food, this is simply my "are-you-a-man-or-a-mouse" spicy food. There are pretend spicy foods, real spicy foods, and spicy foods that drives sweat from a lover of habanero peppers like myself.   Chilli naan is the rare restaurant made spicy food where they have not dialed down the spice for Anglo pallets.

Ah, yes.  The chili naan.  It's a $4 extra on the Tandoor Grill menu.  A naan literally baked with dozens of hot peppers in the bread.  Josh says he has felt the spice the next day.  I ate my chili naan with the spicy vegetables vindaloo.  I drank water, and I pulled a yogurt from the fridge to cool down my mouth.  But I thought it was a complete success.  Spicy and exciting with enough bread to give it heft and a crunchy bite.  It's a dish, not a gag, and it's certainly something new to me.

If you go to Tandoor Grill, check out the weekend specials.  I haven't had them there, but I love gol gappe -- semolina puffs that you crack and stuff with chick peas, potatoes and a minty, sour sauce.

Tandoor Grill 
7500 Montpelier Road 
Laurel, MD 20723 
301-362-4222 

Near: Tandoor Grill is in the shopping center with Kloby's Smokehouse, La Palapa Too, Facci and a bunch of other restaurants. It is on Johns Hopkins Road just west of Rte 29. The post office calls that area Laurel. In the only political statement on the HowChow blog, we keep pointing out that's not Laurel.

Garam Masala Wings At Tandoor Grill

The folks at Tandoor Grill have converted a sandwich shop into a nice Indian restaurant / takeout, but they have kept much of old menu -- with some spiced up improvements.

The shop on Johns Hopkins Road near Rte 29 sells coffee, salads and sandwiches -- presumably to the APL crowd at lunch -- but it has pushed its own fusion taste into the chicken wings.

Garam masala chicken wings come six or eight to an order.  They're meaty with a mild spice and a real flavor of lemon.  Last Friday was "Girls Night Out" around here, so I ended up a friend's house where three of watched their kids and held a "Boys Wing Contest."

The Tandoor Grill wings held their own with my local favorite Kloby's Smokehouse.  They're equally delicious and interesting with the Indian spices standing up to Kloby's smoke and sauces.  It's definitely worth a head-to-head if you're buying some wings to take back to the office or home.  I suggest "gram masala" versus "dirty and old."  You'll have to have Kloby's explain that to you.

The Indian food at Tandoor Grill has actually been quite good.  I need to go again to get myself an inspired post.

Tandoor Grill

7500 Montpelier Road

Laurel, MD 20723

301-362-4222

Near: Tandoor Grill is in the shopping center with Kloby's Smokehouse, La Palapa Too, Facci and a bunch of other restaurants.  It is on Johns Hopkins Road just west of Rte 29.  The post office calls that area Laurel.  In the only political statement on the HowChow blog, we keep pointing out that's not Laurel.