SPICE AND SENSIBILITY
Tanzore serves Indian delicacies with a California soul
By Richard Foss
I first went to Tanzore not to eat their food, but somebody else’s. A cookbook author was having a reception there, and they prepared her specialties alongside their own. The celebrity chef’s traditional delicacies were excellent, as expected, but the restaurant’s own offerings caught my attention. Indian spices were used with a Californian sense of how to enhance natural flavors, and a return visit was obviously warranted.
A friend and I stopped in at the sleek, elegant space a week later, and were offered a choice of the lounge-like main room or the more intimate and quiet patio. We were one vegetarian and one omnivore, and to make things easy we asked for tasting menus. Chef Gautam Chaudry came out to ask our preferences, then went back to the kitchen to work on surprises.
The first courses were salads, an immediate statement that the usual rules don’t apply, because Indians don’t use raw vegetables this way. Spices from South Asia had been used intriguingly – the Romaine and olive salad had musky, peppery overtones thanks to a carom seed dressing. Carom, also known as ajwain, is usually part of a spice mélange in Indian cooking, and bringing that flavor to the forefront in a salad was doubly novel. My scallop salad with vodka-citrus vinaigrette, hearts of palm, and avocado was less boldly flavored but still exotic.
The next courses, a samosa with asparagus-spinach rolls, and a mixed tandoori grill, had the form of South Asian food, but the flavor emphasis was different. The pea and potato samosa had simple, concentrated vegetable essences with just a whisper of spice, leaving the focus on flavors that are usually submerged. The two pieces of chicken tikka had different spicings – pink peppercorn and cheddar cheese on one, “green herbs” on the other. The pepper and cheddar was pure California grilling exuberance, the green herb tikka more traditional, and both were delicious. Chef Chaudry dropped by to see what we thought of our meals so far and explained his philosophy of cooking – to use Indian methods to explore the flavor of California produce rather than to create a fusion cuisine as such. Everything is deliberately less spicy than usual so that natural flavors shine, though you can ask for hot versions if you prefer it that way. Chaudry follows Ayurvedic traditions that regard all food as medicine, but favors cooking vegetables to the modern ideal that preserves flavor and vitamins; it’s a synthesis of ideas about health and flavor from opposite sides of the globe.
This was most apparent in the seared tuna over avocado raita, the standout dish of the meal. The fish had been dusted with toasted coriander, seared rare, and placed over a yogurt-avocado mix with bits of crisp lentil wafers. This dish had star power – raita is usually used as a cool accompaniment to hot dishes, but it was magnificent with the mildly tangy fish. My companion enjoyed a deceptively simple bowl of spiced potatoes topped with tamarind chutney and yogurt, the tartness of the fruit and slightly astringent yogurt perfect with the buttery vegetable.
Her mushroom curry was the star of the next course thanks to the mix of morels, chanterelles, and enoki rather than the bland button mushrooms you’d find in India, where they’re a mere vehicle for spicy, complex curries. The version here shows that the more intense flavors of wild and exotic mushrooms can be a full partner in the flavor of the dish. My seafood curry was less of a revelation – sea bass, prawns, mussels, and scallops in a mild coconut milk and spice gravy, very good but not surprising.
We had requested wine pairings from the very good by-the-glass list, and most were excellent complements. Albariño seems to be the skeleton key with Asian food – I’ve had it with Vietnamese and Chinese dinners, and it proved to work just as well with Indian, while Brassfield’s Serenity blend was a hit with the tuna. We were offered the choice of a Pinot Noir or another white with our main courses, and unless I have red meat, I’ll stay with the white – the Pinot wasn’t quite as good a match with the curry flavors.
The glass of Moscato that preceded the chocolate cardamom cake was a perfect match, though, and the cake was terrific. Tanzore has its own pastry chef, and he’s an artist – chocolate richness with hints of pepper and spice, topped with fruit, have never tasted so good.
The bill for the tasting menu was a very fair $105 each, for a restaurant that may be creating the Indian cuisine of the future.?
Tanzore, 50 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 652-3838. Open Tues.-Sun. for lunch and dinner, Sunday champagne brunch. Valet or self parking, full bar.
Published: 06/18/2008
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
