This Taste of India excels at vegetarian dishes. Too many restaurants treat vegetarian dishes as the stepchildren of the menu. Here, the vegetarian dishes are among the best we sample. The Malai Kofta are buoyant, feathery balls of minced vegetables. Perfectly cooked and delicately shaped, these dumplings sit half-submerged in a cream sauce. Though mild, the sauce is subtly flavored by the deft use of spices. The sauce's appealingly velvety texture is a nice foil to the nubbly vegetable balls. I'm wowed by the saag paneer. This classic dish of stewed spinach strewn with tiles of homemade farmer's cheese is excellent. The flavor is bright, as is the color, and you come away with a sense the dish was just made and not kept sitting in a steam tray. I love the creaminess of the spinach and the firm bite of the tofu-like cheese.
Desserts are uneven. The gulab jamun or fried cheese balls are some of the best ever. Feathery-light, delicately textured, these balls arrive warm and impregnated with sweet syrup. Contrast this to the grayish rice pudding known as kheer. It looks like gruel. The ras malai are snowy white patties of cheese that have a texture and a bracing quality similar to feta cheese. A sweet cream sauce softens and soothes the dessert. The pistachio ice cream is disappointingly watery.
Service at Taste of India is friendly to the point of being playful. That's nice. What's equally important is having some professional snap behind the smile. The pace of the kitchen and dining room is wobbly on a weeknight. On a busy Saturday, forget it.
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