Dahl and rice, with a dab of mint chutney, from International Grill in Students' Union Building at UVic.
I've been hearing good things about the dahl being served at the International Grill, a food court outlet in the University of Victoria Students' Union Building.
Finding myself on campus, I decided to make the dahl trek.
You go up to the Order Here sign, make your request, and hand over your cash. It costs $5, tax included, and you have the option of having it with white or brown rice, or with warm pita. After you pay, you shift left, to the dahl pot.
The dahl is described on the menu board as curried red lentils and yellow split peas. It's a thickish sauce -- more than a soup, sort of like a stew -- with little soft lumps of lentils and peas.
I received a generous portion of short-grain white rice covered with a thick layer of dahl, plus a dab of optional (but not extra cost) mint chutney.
At a wobbly, slightly sticky table for two, I tucked into my dahl and found that it lived up to its billing. It was delicious — pleasantly spicy and hearty.
I finished the entire portion and scraped my spoon around the bowl to round up the last bits, but stopped short of licking.
I noticed that many of my fellow diners were also having the dahl. I also noticed when I took my bowl to the dirty dishes tub that many of the dishes had once contained dahl. Obviously a popular item.
The dining experience here is not elegant, but it's entertaining -- great for people watching. Tables are tucked into spots all over the place, and you have people brushing by constantly. When I was there, it was quite busy. Between mouthfuls, people were chatting, staring at laptops and mobile devices and, gratifyingly, reading newspapers.
International Grill also offers stir fries, curries, burgers and sandwiches; most of those items are between $6 and $8.
For dessert, you can go to the nearby Health Food Bar for a fruit smoothie, made with sweetened yogurt. There's a long list of choices, including blueberry blast, passion fruit and strawberry twist. The smoothies are $4.75 each; there's a daily special smoothie for $4.25.
Dahl, chased by a smoothie. It was a good lunch.
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A restaurant called Roasted
Depending on what I'm cooking, I daydream about opening a restaurant.
For example, tonight I'm roasting potatoes and carrots, and wish that I also had parsnips to roast.
So, I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to open a restaurant called Roasted, which only serves things that are roasted. It would concentrate on vegetables, probably root vegetables.
A sister restaurant would be Steamed. There's also the always popular Boiled.
And the politically-incorrect Deep Fried.
Plus, for the high-minded and to challenge the tolerance of food inspectors: Sous Vide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide
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Bad-mouthing fruit juice
Fruit juice is getting a bad rap. When you consider the calories and the sugar, fruit juice is worse than soda pop, says one study. When fruit is juiced, the sugar is too concentrated and will make you fat, fat, fat, say people quoted in the Los Angeles Times article linked below. You should eat whole fruit instead. But, the quoted folks don't suggest alternative drinks. Soda pop is obviously bad, juice is bad, coffee fills you with nasty caffeine, gosh knows what's in tea, beer makes you drunk, so does wine. I guess we're restricted to water — but, to be environmentally correct, only tap water, not bottled water.
From latimes.com: It's time fruit juice loses its wholesome image, some experts say
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-juice8-2009nov08,0,1821402.story
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Reservations not accepted
Brasserie l'ecole explains why it is no longer accepting reservations. Basically, they want to avoid having empty tables caused by no-shows. They're offering "short-term" reservations. You drop by, you get an estimated time for when you'll be seated, you wander off for a spell.
http://www.lecole.ca/reservations.htm
Frank Bruni at the New York Times has written several items about restaurant reservations.
Reservations about Reservations
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Dining in Seattle
Nancy Leson at the Seattle Times has suggestions for good places to eat in Seattle. She has organized them into unconventional categories.
