Ever since The Other Jane recommended it, Spice Avenue in North Jackson has been on my list of places I wanted to try. I don’t spend a whole lot of time in Jackson, and am very prone to default to the Mayflower for a small Greek salad and a piece of fish or softshell crab. But I did that yesterday, and so today for lunch we decided to check out the Indian food at Spice Avenue.
It was certainly the Indian best I’ve had in this region– I’ve not had Indian food this good in Memphis or anywhere in Mississippi. They make specialties of an wing appetizer called Wings of Heaven, and it fits the bill. We also had fish pakora. Vegetable pakora always struck me as being India’s answer to hush puppies, made with chickpea flour instead of cornmeal. Fish pakora gives you the whole fish/hushpuppy thing in one bite.
For entries, my wife had tandoori chicken, which really tasted of grilling, and I had goat biryani. Biryani is a celebratory rice dish, with raisins, deep fried shreds of onion, and saffron. The flavors were fresher and more complicated than is usual for restaurant biryanis, which often feel a bit past their prime. This was dead-on. I’m with Jane on this place.
Thank you for posting this. It is so important to keep this great place in business for as long as I’m around to eat the food! My latest find is La Guadalupe Tacqueria on Old Canton just past County Line. Great tacos loaded with fresh toppings. I understand Oxford has good Mexican food (and I found a great tacqueria in Tupelo) but Jackson has been lacking good Mexican food.
While you’re on the food subject … I had a seafood paella at Andy’s Steakhouse last night with a delicious saffron rice and a broth served with mussels, shrimp and chorizo. I’d recommend to anyone to stop by there before the special changes. However I will say this about Andy’s, their specials are the best thing on the menu.
OK, whoever you are, where is NMC and what did you do to him?
The number of posts in the past day is a record, an outlier if you will. Did NMC appoint a Director of Blog Relations, ala Steve Spurrier? Has NMC invited every Tom, Dick, and Harry (I know Harry and he would have no part of this) to blog in his name? Did Ben hijack the site, thus explaining his recent absence?
Curious minds want to know.
After letting WantedToBeALawyer and his inner demons through in the comment at 5:23, I realized it was WTBAL posting under another name.
Don’t do that, it confuses people.
There’s a lot of news there, and I haven’t even got to all of it WTBAL. There will be more, possibly tonight and certainly tomorrow.
I’ve posted from the Miss. Bar’s office, a starbucks, a Cabot Lodge, and this is coming in from the Golden Moon casino.
Mmmm, I’ll find an excuse to go to Jackson and visit Spice Avenue!
My bad, NMC. My original thinking was that I would sign it as WTBAL, but I forgot to do that. Even so, I thought WordPress would let it through with a valid e-mail address. Wrong again. I’m not seeing a pattern here, yet.
Humor is hard. Even moreso when you have to explain it. At that point all I can say is that “I was trying to be funny”.
But, your original put-down of me was classic. And has been referenced more than once since then. I attempted to respond with humor in a timely fashion One week is timely right? My other choice was “InnerDemonsRUs”.
PS – On the roulette table, make three bets of $3 per bet on the intersection of 4 numbers on every roll (it pays 9-1 or 11-1). When you win, leave the winning bet in place, and make 3 more bets in the same fashion on 3 different intersections. You will run in place all night, but the waitresses will feed you drinks. Or, on the craps table, play the pass line ($5). That is a 49% bet, which is the best odds in the house. If the point is a 4 or 10, make side bets on the 6 and 8. And, the waitresses will feed you drinks all night. Good Luck.
I haven’t been overly impressed with the small amount of Indian food that I’ve eaten (maybe better explained by my aversion to curry), but this food sounds delicious. Wish I went to Jackson more often, so I could try it.
I discovered a small taqueria in Oxford that I like (in the old Kroger building, down from Tuesday Morning); they don’t have a large selection, but I really enjoyed the steak and onion and the lamb taco with cilantro, and I particularly enjoyed the salsa on the side. It was different than I’m used to, but delicious. I’ve got to try one of the two or three “plates” there on another day, but I have to say that the tacos were made with what seemed to be freshly made tortillas, just heavenly.
I can personally attest to the aforementioned review of Spice Avenue. I was introduced to it about 6 months ago by a professional aquaintance and I have since introduced several of my more adventurous co-workers to it. Rave reviews all around. So far, the Goat Curry is my favorite, but I intend to try the Fish Pakora next time in.
Bluz, that taquaria you discovered in Oxford is the best Mexican restaurant food in town.
My family loves the taqueria/tienda in the old Kroger location as well. It’s called Mundo Latina. The freshness of the food is spectacular.
If fish is your thing you have got to get to Walker’s in Fondren. I had a killer red snapper there last weekend. While in the area go try The Auditorium in the old Duling School in Fondren. Nathan Glenn, (The Auditorium) has a sweet potato crawfish cake that will knock your socks off!
I just finished google mapping the Marriott to Spice Avenue route to see if I would have time to go for lunch. I’m thinking not, but I REALLY hope I can get dinner before I come home.
Clerkette, the answer is “not” on lunch BUT you do have time to get to the Mayflower on West Capitol. Get a Greek salad with crabmeat. A small one if you’re eating something else, a large one otherwise. A half dozen broiled oysters is also worth considering, and any broiled fish or broiled softshell crab.
I think Spice Avenue is closed on Sundays. I had a large Mayflower Greek salad last week. Total heaven mostly because of the comeback dressing. I keep wondering why the owners of the Elite don’t send their employees to buy Mayflower comeback (I have never understood why the Elite is so popular). The Auditorium also has great comeback dressing as does Crechales. My favorite fish is the red snapper at Crechales.
Steve’s Deli in Capital Towers has a great workday lunch. The Senegalese Peanut soup (a recipe I gave to Steve after stealing it from the Daily Soup Cookbook) is very popular.
Gotta agree w/ the Walker’s…Had softshell crab and hamachi there last week…truth-in-blogging disclosure… my wife makes most of their cakes
I’ve ridden by Spice Avenue hundreds of times but never gave it a second glance. That building has hosted several suspect businesses so I just thought this was a fly by night that would shut down. Guess I need to get over there in the next couple of weeks. I have heard some good things about La Guadalupe Tacqueria as well.
i still haven’t gotten to go to Spice Ave, but have mainly heard good things and plan on eating dinner there one night soon. The other Indian place that I know of in Jackson, Rucci, ust down the street from Spice Ave, is damn good. Had the buffet lunch there the other day, and it was unbelievable. I could have eaten just the naan and been perfectly happy.
Jaxrelief, the filled or stuffed naan at Ruchi is especially good.
If Ruchi is any good, it has changed a lot in the last couple of years. The last time I ate there, everything was so bad (food and service) I concluded it had to be a money laundering operation masquerading as a restaurant.
I have never understood why the Elite is so popular
The rolls.
If Ruchi is any good, it has changed a lot in the last couple of years.
Its management seems to have changed a couple of times in as many years. I’m not a real fan of Indian food, but I do love the chicken tikka marsala, which manages to make chicken as artery-clogging as any beef you might eat.
I love chicken tikka masala too (had it once at Dawat in NYC where Madhur Jeffrey consults – my friends who professed to dislike Indian food became believers there) but at Spice Avenue, the butter chicken is the real winner.
Amen on the Mayflower. Stop by Kat’s and get a nice dry white wine to go with it — they’ll ice it down for you.
Tell them to open a branch on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
So far as I know there’s not an Indian Restaurant down here unless you count the one on Airline Hwy in Mobile.
We’ve got Vietnames, Thai, Japanese, Chinese,French,Italian,Cajun,but no Indian.
Can’t figure out why to save my life.
other jane, i agree. this was my first time there in years because of a previous bad experience. it has changed.
Ruchi a/k/a India Palace was the first Indian food I ever had. I loved it and I went all the time. Ruchi opened up on Ridgewood and it was good and we even had an Indian restaurant on the frontage road for a while and it was good. Meanwhile, India Palace became inedible and the service was nonexistent (I swear, I asked the lone waiter whether this was just a front for money laundering). Ruchi combined with India Palace and the place on the frontage road closed. All of a sudden, there was no edible Indian food in Jackson. The next out-of-town CLE I embarked on was in search of Indian food (hence Dawat). If the whole India Palace we-got-you-hooked-and-then-fucked-you-over experience has left me bitter towards the place, I hope you can understand. Spice Avenue is fantastic. I can’t imagine giving Ruchi/India Palace another chance.
When did you eat in Dawat, Jane? I ate there a couple of times in the late 80s and really loved it, and have wondered whether it was still as good
I ate there about six years ago. It was excellent. I was at a CLE on appellate practice and I was all about getting some Indian food and so I researched it. A couple of my friends walked with me to the restaurant and ended up eating there. They had never had Indian food before and one didn’t even like Chinese but they both loved it.
I haven’t been to D.C. in a while but next time I go, I’ll be heading to Rasika. http://www.rasikarestaurant.com/ And then, of course, to the 18th Street Lounge to hang out at the HQ of Thievery Corporation.
You should get some Ethiopian while in DC, Jane.
There’s a really good Indian place in Nashville. I ate there a lot in the 80s and 90s, but haven’t been in about 5 years. It’s called Shalimar, and at least at the time I was eating there more regularly, was comparable to Spice Avenue (and better than any Indian place in Memphis).
the other Jane You mentioned this early in the post. “and I found a great tacqueria in Tupelo” Can you tell me the name of this place? Would love to try it.
There was an Indian/fusian place in Memphis that got great reviews (incl. the NYT) about 15 years ago but I assume it’s gone.
Every time I went to D.C., EVERYONE would be talking about Ethiopian food but I always equated Ethiopia with starvation. You know, Ann Cashion, from Jackson, is well known for the restaurants she’s started in D.C. She sold Cashion’s Eat Place but still has Johnny’s Half Shell. Both are always well-reviewed.
Here’s what I posted in Chowhound about the tacqueria in Tupelo. That was the first time I had really great Mexican food of any kind. Talk about eye-opening!
First visit to Tupelo and located the best Mexican food. It is, literally, a hole in the wall. That is, a window in the side of a gas station (the Speedy Gonzales E-Z- Stop) at 1725 North Gloster Street. It serves tacos, burritos and quesadillas. Some days they have tamales as well. Today I got lucky and got some chicken tamales. They were heaven. The tacos come loaded with fresh onions and cilantro with limes and red and green salsa on the side. The phone number (of the convenience store connected to the window) is 662-620-2821.
the other Jane Thanks! Sounds like lunch today :)
You are welcome. I try to be the Jane Stern of my limited circle.
The Indian/fusion place in Memphis was very critically acclaimed in Memphis and got some attention outside Memphis, too. I ate in there several times and was only so-so about it. I’m drawing a blank on the name. The chef there died a few years back, and the restaurant did not survive.
While there’s only middling Indian in Memphis, there is a quite good Ethiopian place.
I googled it and came up with this – Restaurant Raji. But I could have sworn it had a simpler, non-Indian name. I read about it in the NYT and sent Gary Silberman that way when he was headed for Memphis. He gave it a rave but I don’t know that it was Restaurant Raji and not something else.
It was Restaurant Raji. It’s name was the first name of the chef-owner, who got sick and sold it to a new owner who did not keep it going.
It became a big deal at the time that Asian-fusion was a big deal a little more than ten years ago– Wolfgang Puck had just opened Chinois, etc. What I thought was that it blanded-out Indian cooking with an overlay of lots of “continental” cooking. In other words, it attempted to fuse Indian with a boring and Americanized take on French cooking. In doing so it made Indian cooking very easy-to-take for audiences not quite ready for the real thing. It was also quite expensive, priced just below Chez Phillipe at the Peabody and about where La Tourelle was at the time in Memphis, putting it near the top of Memphis restaurants price-wise, which meant that I would expect a fair amount. It was very beloved of the Commercial Appeal restaurant reviewer.
I’m sure I ate there three times (giving it two “second chances”) and possibly a fourth, because of the acclaim and the fact that it was doing something I would think would be inherently interesting. But my take was that it was no big thrill. I’ve little doubt my meal Saturday at Spice Avenue was a bit better than any I had at Rajii, and at a significantly lower price. Although, if I had paid top-dollar for the food at Spice Avenue, I’d probably have been more critical.
My sons and I adore the Ethiopian place! It’s so hard to find, but it’s worth the hunt (the place it’s in looks like an office building).
http://www.ethiopianrestaurant.com/tennessee/abyssinia.html
It’s even more fun eating on the traditional side, but some folks might not like the seating arrangements. We always order different things so that we can sample it all – and it’s easier to do that considering the way they serve you there (everything ladled out on the bread tablecloth).
Just thinking about that place is making me hungry, even though it hasn’t been that long since lunch.
I need some restaurant advice. I need to take a steak and potatoes kinda person out to eat on his birthday, and I since I don’t usually go to that sort of place, I’m not sure who’s good in the Oxford area. Any suggestions? Anyone?
In Oxford, I’d go to Snack Bar:
The steak and potato person can have steak frite– steak and great french fries.
For everyone else, there’s great house-made sausage, raw first rate oysters, trout amandine, a bunch of great sides, etc. etc. etc.