SAFFRON INDIAN CUISINE

Back in October we promised a visit to Saffron Indian Cuisine.  Well, we finally made it. 

Saffron is located at 1500  Mill Street in Greensboro.  Actually Saffron is located right beside Taste of Thai, off Westover Terrace.  And just to be clear, Saffron serves food from India...not maize, turkey and buffalo.

The first thing you notice when you enter Saffron is the wonderful aroma.  Debbie insisted it was the smell of cumin and coriander.  Debbie was probably right (she usually is), but it seemed to be a more exotic aroma than something I can pronounce and can be found in my home kitchen.

Anyway, whatever the case, I recommend you take a deep breath when you enter Saffron and savor it for as long as you can hold it in.  Saffron was no doubt the nicest smelling restaurant we've tried.

Debbie studies Saffron's menu before deciding.

I planned ahead.  I printed out a copy of the menu from the internet and marked what I wanted.  The printout had no descriptions, but I read the descriptions on Saffron's web site.  You can see the menu here,  You won't be able to pronounce anything without some difficulty.  A lot of the dishes are missing photos.  I can't explain that, other than to say somebody doesn't much care about their web site.  Fortunately, their approach to the food is of higher caliber than their attention to digital detail.

Debbie managed to find an Indian wine on the list.  Sula Shiraz is made in India.  Apparently, they make at least one wine in India.  I was not impressed with the wine, but Debbie liked it much better than I.  I thought it had an odd aftertaste. 

Debbie takes a deep sniff of her wine. I guess she liked the way it smelled because she finished the glass with no complaints.

Chai Tea (unsweetened) was my beverage of choice.  It is Darjeeling tea with milk and spices.  I have to admit Chai is much better when it's sweet, but I was trying to be a little wiser than usual.  The tea flavor was much more pronounced in the unsweetened version.  It was very good.

Here is a shot of the entire spread.  You can see it was quite a layout.  We'll discuss it in more detail below.

This is a Tandoori assortment appetizer which Debbie and I shared. The menu describes it as two kinds of chicken and lamb.  I would swear one of the meats was salmon, but salmon is not listed in the assortment description and I can't imagine salmon would cook very well in a Tandoori.  The red sauce to the right is made with onions and something red.  The meats were good, but the sauce was excellent.

A Tandoori is a cylindrical shaped clay pot.  Coals are fired in the pot where the foods are cooked.

This is my entree.  It is Goat Korma (mild).  Yes, you read that right, it is goat.  The goat is served in a cashew and almond paste with fresh cream.  It was incredible.  I can still smell the goat gravy on my fingertips.  I say fingertips because I spent a lot of time with the pieces of goat held by my fingers.  The gravy I ate with a spoon and/or naan, but the goat had to be handled with my fingers to remove the numerous bones.

You'll have to decide for yourself if you think Goat Korma is worth the effort to pick out the bones.  I believe it is.  It was my first taste of goat.  I know you're thinking "ugh!", but don't knock it until you try it.

Per standard procedure, much of the goat gravy ended up on my shirt rather than going in my belly.

My only regret is I should have ordered the Goat Korma medium heat rather than mild.  A little more zip would have added to the fantastic dish.

This is the large collection of bones I pulled out of my Goat Korma.

This is my Goat Korma bowl.  I wiped it clean with Naan.  This should be a clue as to my feelings about Goat Korma.

Note my credit card receipt called the dish Goat Pasanda.  I'll let you google both terms to determine the difference.

Here's Debbie's entree.  It is Boti Kabab  which is lamb marinated with herbs and cooked in a Tandoori oven.  I believe it's the same lamb that was on the Tandoori assortment.  Debbie thought the lamb was tasty but a bit tough

Debbie ordered Raita, a yogurt with shredded cucumber and herbs,  She slathered the lamb with the Raita and put the concoction in Naan to make mini-sandwiches.

I believe this Basmati Rice was served as a side dish to my goat.  I think the idea was to add the rice to the goat gravy.  I tried adding a few spoons of the rice to my gravy, but it didn't help the dish.  The rice was tasty, but a distraction from the very groovy goat gravy.

This stuff is delicious.  It is Naan, an unleavened white flour bread cooked in a Tandoori oven.  The Naan is moderately toasted.  It is crispy, yet pliable.  Very good.  You must order Naan when you visit Saffron.

Debbie described this dish as "I don't know what it is, but it is delicious!"  This is the dessert.  It's Gulab Jaman.  It's milk and cheese balls, fried in butter and soaked in honey syrup.  Why is it that things that taste so good are so bad for you?

Elephants are a "big" thing in India  This one was about two feet tall.  He stood on a shelf above our table.  The restaurant was decorated in a lot of elephant art.

Debbie rated Saffron as a 7.  I gave it an 8.37.  That averages out to somewhere between 7 and 8.37.  Believe it or not, I took two courses in statistics in college and taught mathematics to adults in a former life.

Debbie's rating was lower than expected probably because she thought her lamb was tough.  My rating was high because of the goat gravy.

The tab for dinner for two with tip was about $82.00.  I had a $30.00 coupon to apply to the bill. 

I also had an intuition that there was going to be problem with the coupon.  Sure enough the waiter came back to our table and told me the coupon expired yesterday (Jan. 27) and could not be accepted.  I knew perfectly well the coupon was good.  I took it and read the expiration date as February 27th, not January 27th as the waiter and his assistant seemed to think.  The expiration date was spelled out as "February 27, 2017", not a numerical date such as "1/27/2017". I showed the waiter the February date, he apologized, and processed the coupon.  Somehow two Saffron waiters had misread the expiration date.

Note Saffron is operated by Indians who don't speak or read English any better than Donald Trump.

Our next visit is planned for Leblon Brazilian Steakhouse.

Click images to enlarge.

BONEFISH GRILL

I know it's been many weeks since you've heard from us.  Sometimes life gets in the way and we put off things to do other things.  Eating out has been one of the things we've put off.  And I know we promised to visit SAFFRON Indian next, but that's changed.  We're still going to SAFFRON soon, but tonight we're at BONEFISH GRILL at 2100 Koury Blvd in Greensboro.  BONEFISH is located next to FOUR SEASONS mall.

If you've never been to BONEFISH, let me tell you it's a fish restaurant.  You can order a steak, but I'm betting very few people order anything other than seafood. 

When I say BONEFISH is a fish restaurant, I don't mean it's akin to LIBBY HILL or MAYFLOWER.  It's a couple of notches above a Reidsville fish camp.  Of course the prices are above a LIBBY HILL or MAYFLOWER and I'm happy to report the quality of the food is also above LIBBY HILL or MAYFLOWER standards.

Food blogger Ricardo Montoban was the real reason we went to BONEFISH.  Ricardo was celebrating his birthday and he had a gift card to BONEFISH.  A gift card made BONEFISH an easy dinner selection.

The first indication of quality was the water service.  It was pure Greensboro tap water served in a quart milk jug.  I love that Greensboro tap water.  And putting it in a milk jug was awesome!  I managed to polish off the entire bottle by the end of the meal.

Served with the water was a loaf of bread with an olive oil and herb dip.  Debbie identified the herbs as oregano, thyme and something else.  I believe there was some garlic in there along with a tiny bit of Parmesan.  Whatever it was, it was damn good.  I could have asked the waiter, but I forgot.  Sorry, I guess I was a little "high" on the Greensboro water.

Debbie enjoyed a glass of Rodney Strong Merlot.  I know - a red wine with fish?  But, it was the appropriate selection for Debbie's dinner. 

Believe it or not, this is Debbie's appetizer.  It could have been Debbie's dinner.  It's Thai Coconut Shrimp.  The six large shrimp were coated with sweet Thai chile sauce.  Debbie thought the shrimp were spicy hot.  She shared one with me.  I thought they were perfect.  She also gave me the leftover tails.  I'm like some sort of shark, I will eat things other people reject.  Shrimp tails fried crispy, like these were, are delicious.

This is my appetizer - Maryland Crab Cakes with remoulade sauce.  The cakes were all crab.  If there was any filler, I couldn't taste it.  The remoulade was a bit spicy.  It was a nice combination, but Debbie's shrimp made me jealous of what she ordered.  That seems to happen a lot, but it's a necessary drawback when your intent is to enjoy the dinner and review the food.

Here's my entree.  It's pecan Parmesan encrusted Rainbow Trout.  I wish I could tell you it was fabulous, but I can't.  It was good, but not great.  The white chunks are artichoke hearts and the green sprinkle is basil with lemon butter.  It sounds good, but it could have been better.  I guess I was expecting more flavor in the fish.

The green in the bowl is sauteed spinach.  I hate green food, but I've been trying some healthier items in my old age.  In the bowl above the spinach is coleslaw.  Both the spinach and coleslaw were good.  They had distinctive flavors.  Actually the two side dishes were better than the somewhat flavorless trout.

This is Debbie's entree.  That small piece of fish in front is an Ahi Tuna Steak.  Debbie liked it, but I thought it was a bit too cold.

Debbie explained the coolness was due to the tuna being served medium rare.  Tuna steak should be served medium rare.  I bet if we could see inside the tuna, it would be red.  I should had her slice it for the camera.

The red sauce in the small bowl behind the tuna is an Asian sauce which Debbie did not order.  She ordered a grilled lemon to accompany the tuna.  It took a few minutes to nail down a waiter and get the grilled lemon.  I put her Asian sauce on my trout to kick it up a bit.  It helped.

Debbie also ordered the sauteed spinach along with garlic whipped potatoes.  I got to taste her potatoes.  They were very good.  I wanted them too, but decided to stick with the healthier spinach and coleslaw.

Debbie won't agree, but I thought this was the best part of the BONEFISH meal.  It's a Macadamia Nut Brownie with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream.  I ordered it and Debbie told the waiter she was "too full to eat anything else."  Fortunately, the waiter didn't pay any attention and brought two spoons so we could share the dessert.  Debbie helped me eat it.  She avoided the ice cream and the raspberry sauce.  She does not like ice cream or raspberries.

I later noticed on the BONEFISH menu that the brownie is flourless.  I'm not sure what it's made from...maybe chocolate and magic.  Hell, if I had known that. I would have ordered another one!  Just kidding.  The brownie was delicious, but I felt like hurling after the meal.

I was amazed my blood sugar was normal when I checked it after we got home.  Maybe it was the mint leaf that was served on top of the whipped cream on top of the brownie.  I ate half of the leaf.  I told you I am a shark at meal time.

I am showing you this empty table in order to remind you to call for a reservation before dining at BONEFISH.  Seriously.  We had to wait about 15-20 minutes for a table when we arrived at 6 PM on a Saturday evening.  We didn't have a reservation.

A few minutes after the picture was clicked the table was filled with at least 14 people.  Everyone from a breast feeding baby (no kidding, the kid was on mom's nipple) to a grandpa came in and were seated soon after us.  

Another table of maybe 10 people, who arrived when we did, weren't seated for more than 20 minutes after we got a table.  I remember that group well because a black man wearing a cowboy hat seemed to be the Master of Ceremonies for the group.  You don't see a lot of black men wearing cowboy hats in upscale seafood restaurants.

This was our BONEFISH server.  His name was Travis.  I asked Travis why the BONEFISH menu had prices with only one decimal place and no dollar sings. An item costing $12.70 was printed as 12.7.  This is the standard question I ask all waiters in restaurants with such pricing.  The question always embarrasses Debbie, but I ask it anyway.

Apparently, Travis had been asked the question before. He quickly answered it is because of "market styling".  Dropping the zero seems "cooler" and the $ sign attracts attention to the high prices. Upscale restaurants don't want to attract attention to the prices.

Thank you for your honesty, Travis.

Debbie and I rated BONEFISH a 7 on a 1-10 scale.

Dinner for two cost about $100 with tip.

Here is the morning-after breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, French toast, coffee, and a  Mimosa (OJ with Presecco champagne).  It's nice being treated like royalty one day of the year.

Note: We hit a deer on the way home.  It was a big doe.  It struck the driver side panel from the rear wheel and halfway across the front door. We didn't stop.  There was nothing we could have done if we had stopped.  I'm guessing the deer was bruised and went on its merry way across Witty Road.  This was our sixth car-deer strike over the years.  We live in a very dangerous stretch of Rockingham County.  There doesn't appear to be any damage to our Equinox SUV, other than a smear in the mud that frequently coats the outside of our car. 

We later learned the damage total was $1200. Happy birthday to me.

Click images to enlarge.