Guest guest Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 http://www.sacbee.com/117/story/1566814.html Adventures with vegetables, via India Rich flavors and variety at Udupi Cafe satisfy even the pickiest palate Published: Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009 | Page 12EXPLORE Overall: 3 stars A destination for the devoted vegetarian and the adventurous diner in a bare-bones environment. Service: 3 stars Low-key and friendly; the servers are clearly proud of the food and the mission. Ambience: 2 stars The décor needs work, the strip mall is a strip mall, but the real ambience is the lively mix of people and cultures eating inside. Food: 3 stars Entirely vegetarian and very vegan, the cooking is exciting, the food is alive with flavor – healthy, too. Omnivores won't miss the meat. Value: 4 stars The highest rating. Good food, friendly service and generous portions. Udupi is a deal. When I was a little boy, I ate vegetables because I had to. Without any supporting science, my dad often claimed that vegetables, especially the ones that looked funny, would put hair on my chest. I was 7. That was not the look I was after. The three vegetables we had most often with dinner were carrots, corn and peas, all canned and bland. Peas were gross, so I swallowed them whole. One night, my well-meaning mother, with this creative bent I had yet to appreciate, decided to actually mix the carrots and the peas. I was horrified, thrown out of sync by this inspired plating of food that I would rather do without. You're a mother, not an artiste, I must have thought. You don't muddle up a chew vegetable with a swallow vegetable. That little boy of long ago is still in me, but he is a mere spectator now when it comes to the good food from our good earth. During recent visits to Udupi Café in Rancho Cordova, I entered a kind of tasting nirvana when I sampled a dish, smiled broadly and asked the server, "That is excellent. What is it?" With 80 items on the menu, that smile and that question emerged time and again. What I wouldn't pay for moments of adventure like that. At this place, you don't have to pay a lot. Four of us dined for $60, ate like royalty and carted home enough leftovers to last us through the week. This might be a good time to mention: Udupi Café is entirely vegetarian, and an incredible 58 of the dishes are vegan – no animal products of any kind, including butter and eggs. To eat vegan here is to do so without sacrificing taste or satiety. Udupi Café opened 18 months ago in a nondescript strip mall on Sunrise Boulevard, the culmination of 31-year-old co-owner Srinivasan Rang's dream to serve the kind of food he and his family enjoyed back home in southern India. He and many of his countrymen have always been vegetarian, inspired by their Hindu faith. Many Hindus believe that what they eat governs their consciousness and that avoiding meat allows them to live in harmony with all of Earth's creatures. The cafe is named for a pilgrimage town in southern India. The clientele at Udupi Café, according to Rang, is made up of 50 percent natives of India and the other half a mix of everything else. That's the ambience. This is a place that is hardly fancy, romantic or hip.Wine and beer? No. If there is a décor, I would sum it up this way: paint on walls, lights in ceiling. You visit for the food, not to collect decorating ideas. This isn't the "eat your veggies because they're good for you" kind of fare. Taste is the priority, good health simply a consequence. "We use a lot of herbs and spices in our cooking. It's not like boring vegetarian," Rang told me when I contacted him by phone. There are lots of good reasons to be a vegetarian. It's better for your waistline, kinder to the planet and the animals on it. The newest argument – and perhaps the most novel – is that the methane gas given off by cows used for our food (dairy and beef) is 23 times more powerful than the carbon dioxide from our cars. To sum up: the more meat we eat, the more cows, ahem, you know, and the sooner we become agents of our own smoggy – and smelly – demise. My dad never used that one on me. There's one big reason not to be a vegetarian: meat. Meat is awesome. Meat inspires. Meat in moderation can be healthy. Meat is power. The aroma of bacon frying in the morning, the smell of smoke from a grill covered with steaks or hot dogs, stirs something in us that is powerful, innate and ancient. But more of us are demanding better treatment for animals on the farm. As a meat eater and an animal lover, I am sometimes dismayed by my own inclinations, especially when I hear of the practices at factory farms. The treatment of animals on many farms is 100 years behind our sensibilities, which explains why more people are supporting sustainable farms that treat their livestock with dignity. At Udupi Café, your tortured conscience gets the night off. I won't go through the entire menu here, but I'll focus on three excellent dishes and offer two words of advice. The chili pakora ($3.99) was a wonderful appetizer – battered and deep-fried peppers with a little kick of heat, rendered more complex when eaten with the milder flavors of the chutney. Loved it. One of my fellow diners became transfixed by another appetizer, sambar vada ($4.25) – dense doughnuts plunged in a soupy broth known as rasam. Playful, exotic and filling. And this is where the advice comes in. Those were practically meals in themselves. When you proceed to order full entrees, that "Whoa, big guy" look on the server's face might prompt you to pause and ask, "Will this be too much food?" It was, but I soldiered on. The South India thali was a feast for $12.99 – a large platter of food containing a bowl of rice and 10 smaller cups of different dishes. I got through seven, often wondering what I was eating and loving the surprises. My favorite meal came on my second visit when I ordered the vegetable vindaloo ($9.50), the meatless version of my longtime Indian favorite, chicken vindaloo. It's a complex, fiery dish whose origins are actually Portuguese. The list of spices is dizzying – cumin, coriander, cinnamon, ginger and so on. Second piece of advice: Keep your eye on the guy with the pitcher of ice water. He's your friend. There is no wine list here, no alcohol of any kind. This is not what we might call fine dining. But it's good eating in more ways than one. Vegetarians will be happy to discover this little treasure, hidden as it is amid the bustle and blur that is suburbia at 50 mph. And unless you're an omnivore who can't fathom a meal without meat, you won't miss it here. If your vegetarian friends drag you here, you may well drag them back. Even the little boy in me who sorted and fussed and picked his way through too many childhood meals would applaud Udupi Café for its inspired menu and never complain that meat, wonderful meat, is nowhere to be found. Call The Bee's Blair Anthony Robertson at (916) 321-1099. COMMENTS: BlairRobertson wrote on 01/26/2009 00:38:39 AM: John, I'm sorry, I thought I answered your comment, but it didn't show up. Health concerns notwithstanding, one would think butter (or ghee) missing from a dish would diminish the flavor. All I know is that two of my favorite dishes from my visits to Udupi, chicken vindaloo and a tomato-based eggplant curry, were both very good. I never noticed they were vegan (no butter or any other animal products) until I got home and reviewd my notes. You appear to be quite familiar with Indian food. I encourage you to visit and decide for yourself. Recommend (0) Report abuse BlairRobertson wrote on 01/26/2009 00:31:16 AM: Bonron13, your emotional engagement in my work is much appreciated. Though I often fantasize that my readers are all sophisticated, charming, reasonable, discerning and well-mannered, I'm more than happy to have you -- and your 8 angry comments so far -- along for the ride, too Recommend (1) Report abuse johnbecker wrote on 01/25/2009 08:22:30 PM: pakoras, panner & tandori oh my. Question for Blair a lot of Indian food use Ghee for a flavor base for that rich taste. Did the food seem lacking in that area? It does sounds great. I might make a Mecca to Rancho Cordova for a tasting. Recommend (1) Report abuse wbremer3000 wrote on 01/25/2009 03:23:50 PM: You just had to interject your meat driven comments into the review. Why not take the wonderful food at face value instead of finding a way promote your own diet bias? Meat does not move and is not powerful. It's the last refuge of those who can't or won't cook. This restaurant has been an inspiration to my wife and me, coming from the bay area and looking for great veggie food. Udupi Caf� is it in many ways and does not have to be compared to any other cuisine. Recommend (5) Report abuse bonron13 wrote on 01/25/2009 03:19:47 PM: A pattern is emerging, this critic's reviews are more about him than about the eats. His view of peas as a youngster, his view of vegetarianism, his view of animals, his view of meat. Blah,blah,blah, who cares. He comes across like a smug prig! Recommend (5) Report abuse dilip wrote on 01/25/2009 02:03:43 PM: I fully agree with the 4 stars. I have never been disappointed in my half a dozen trips over buffet or dinner ...except when i found it closed on Mondays (during thanksgiving through new year's they had changed the day off temporarily to Tuesdays off) Recommend (1) Peter vv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.