Rede Drop Zone- Introducing Parotta-side dish as Mexican

If you want to get heartburn, this is the place to go.  The food is complete garbage.  The Chef and owner have never eaten Mexican food in their life.  First and foremost, there was no beans or cheese in any dish. 

I can list about 20 things that are wrong at this place.  But will restrict it to just a few.  Even the roadside dog will refuse consume this garbage.

I have lived for 20 years in California and visited Mexico multiple times. I also have Mexican friends and eaten at their homes.  So, I can consider myself as an expert.

The only thing right about this place is that they home-deliver and the driver carries a credit card machine.


What is wrong:
1. All dishes (be it Enchilada/burrito/etc) have the same filling- a mixture of long thin onions slices, crushed beans, carrots, bell peppers and lots of fire spices.  It was more like a side dish for Parotta! In authentic Mexican or even Oxacan food, first onions are cut into small pieces and not strips; jalapeno's are used for garnishing and not chili powder; and carrots are never used.  You need to beans for any and all filings.
2. The burrito showed up as a fried wonton with stuffing.  The only saving grace was that it was a corn chapatti.  My impression was they were trying a hard shell taco and failed miserably.
3. The food was so spicy that it was just not eatable.
4. The guacamole had no tomatoes and no onions.  Moreover it was not clear whether the dish even contained any avocados. The sour cream was really a hardened yogurt.
6. There was no cheese in any of the dishes.  So it cannot even be branded American Mexican.


All-in-all, my impression of Cascade restaurant chain is down the toilet.  They highlight the link to Cascade very prominently in all their literature.  I would definitely not go there ever again, even after my heartburn is over.


I talked to the Manager.  He said he that the Chef is from Taj and the manager has no clue what Mexican food is.  he was not even sure whether Burrito was Mexican or Italian!!

$8 Million for the Wedding banquet- How can spend so much?

Indian Weddings are the union of two families and it is considered for ever.  As it is conducted only once in each lifetime, the planning starts at the birth of the daughter. Typically the bride's side is responsible for all the wedding expenses and arrangements.  On this topic I had a very interesting discussion with the nephew of a very good friend of mine.

This nephew had recently attended the wedding of his sister and was explaining the arrangements.  The family runs a large catering company in their hometown.  The wedding arrangement including the banquet cost over Rs 2 crores ($400K).  By far, it is not the most expensive wedding.  In the recent past, there have been talks of wedding expense exceeding Rs 40 crores ($8 Million).

I wanted to understand how a parent could spend so much money.  Apparently it is quite easy.  Let us take the wedding that this nephew attended of his sister's.  There were 280 dishes, of which 30 were sweets.  210 of them were absolutely perfect and the reminder had some very minor, distinguishable flaws.  The banquet had a large number of themes- South Indian, Marwadi Jain, Chaat, Italian etc.  The new approach is to go with parlours as opposed to stalls.  The parlour gives the attendee a full and rich experience.  They are decorated in the styles and colors of the said theme (Gujurati, Rajastani, Tamil etc), the servers were dressed in traditional attire, and the cooks are imported from the respective regions.  The paanwallah guides you through the making process and then placed the paan directly in your mouth, so that you hands do not get dirty.

On to the decorations.  A net was laid out like a dome over the entire outdoor lawn area.  The net had candles and in the night only the candles were visible.  There were toy helicopters flying over that continuously sprayed perfumes over the lawn area.  There were parachutes with an arrangement of candles that floated over the reception for over 4 hours.  Of course there were the standard floral arrangement, large LCD screens with virtual banquet themes and big tasteful cutouts.  Along the way to the marriage hall, six large roadside billboards simply said "ABC Family Welcomes You".  As with IPL matches, there were a healthy load of cheerleaders dressed in Kingfisher costumes to welcome the guests.

The barat came on three elephants that were fully decorated.  The bridge came in a palanquin with a Rajasthani entourage and a leading announcers with traditional horns.  The wedding invitation was gold lined with a fine rosewood box containing exotic dry fruits from around the world. During the reception, an exclusive area reserved for VVIP and close family members had a full featured bar and private comfort area.

Lastly the sangeet was performed by Bollywood stars with dancers shipped from Bombay. Of course a wedding is never complete without a Bachelor/Bachelorette night.  In this case, it was called a Youngster night.

Desserts in Chennai (Madras) India

Fruit Shop on Greams Road. (Sweet without a strong sugary flavor. Excellent. Average per person- Rs 35-75/ $0.8 to 1.6)

Standalone Desserts Entrees are really hard to find in Chennai.  Most of them are glorified ice cream shops with loud music and, even louder paint patterns. The few good one's are simple affairs, without any decor, and carry traditional south Indian treats like badushahs, jilabi, or Bengali Sweets, like srikandh and rasmalai.

One of the first dessert-only places that showed up in Chennai (Madras) India is the Fruit Shop on Greams Road.  Not only is the name extremely attractive and captures your imagination, so too is the decor.  After dinner at my parent's place and leaving my daughter with the grandparents, we sneaked over to the one in Besant Nagar. I have always passed by it but never ventured in.

This place is in an un-modified home built in the late 70's.  When you walk it, you get the feeling of warmth and openness.  The color are simple.  There are bold messages about the health benefits of fruits and nuts. The menu size is probably the only negative at this place. There are over a 100 items.  Many of them have exotic names that mean absolutely nothing.  For example, there is one called Jughead.  Most of them say exactly what they are, like banana milk shake.

I ordered the Chikku milk shake and my wife got the Falooda.  First off the bat.  The Falooda had a great collection of fruits.  They looked and tasted really fresh.  It is impossible to find mangoes in the city and they had an abundance in the drink.  The noodles were soft in the Falooda.  Towards the bottom, it got a little too sweet. On the Chikku side, you could taste the chikku in the milk shake.  There was no extra sugar added or any syrups.  So, the mouth felt really refreshed and fluffy.

All-in-all, it was a great hangout and a great feel-good dessert.  I would highly recommend a visit.  The place has a Website: http://www.fruitshopongreamsroad.in/.

Ambiance without the Ambiance at Lunch

Babal da Punjabi Dabha (Very flavourful and tasty khaana (food) Average per person is Rs. 200/$4)  

Chennai is not known for anything beyond South Indian foods.  There are so many varieties of South Indian food that it can really keep you occupied for years trying them all.  Once in a while, you want to venture out to something else.  One such meal is Punjabi khaana. Babal da Punjabi Dabha is right across the road from KJ Hospital. Most North Indian places in Chennai are expensive and have a huge amount of cream/sugar added to the dishes.  Dabha Express is probably an exception but that is for another day!!  North Indian places are also very pretentious.  Anytime a friend recommends a nice quiet place, I am always game to try it.

This time it was my dear buddy Manesh Sehgal.  I was talking to him about some business ideas that I had.  He gave me a good and quick rundown on the entire retail industry.  My MBA did not teach me these things and I paid over $60K for the coveted piece of paper from a top-ten school!!

Back to food.  This place has absolutely no ambiance.  They have soft music, white tablecloth, low lighting and a few photos on the walls.  The ambiance is really about who you are with and the type of conversation.  In this case, Manesh was it.  Manesh has been a food connoisseur since our days together at DB (Don Bosco). Snacks would be the puff at the Cafeteria and paratha kurma lunch at Atlantic Hotel.  In between, there would be the munching of the fluffy and flaky samosa at the Travancore Egg Mart. Back to the Dabha, the fact that he knew the place and knew what to order was great.

We started off with Fish Tikka.  The fish was firm and soft, the flavors were embedded.  It looked like a perfectly cut slice of fish! There was nothing dripping from it. If you wanted more flavor, onions, chillis and a green chutney were provided on the side. Manesh had his with the spicy chutney and mine was more American!  To prevent any taste degradation, we decided no juices, lassi or soft drinks.  Next we got the palak paneer and butter chicken. The paneer pieces were big and the chicken had butter, but no visible cream.  They were a little spicy but not overdone.  There were no bones in either the fish or the chicken.

The best part of the meal were the naans.  There were fresh, right from the tandoori, and just melted in my mouth.  One of the best naans I have ever tasted outside of a home.  We had the plain, letcha and garlic naan.  The garlic naan was the best of the lot.  After we finished the gravy, we ordered a butter naan.  It was awesome to just eat the naan.

The waiters were always handy and brought the food/water very quickly.  They did not object that we were a party of 2 and had taken a table for six.  I would definitely go back with my family.  Ambiance would then be my daughter talking!!!!