Dinner and a Movie
Tworei'ieu’s to help you choose yourfull evening ofentertainment
Scott Harnett V.memki
Diners enjoy the Indian cuisine at Taste of India, located on 25th Avenue and Hilyard Street. The restaurant opened over Thanksgiving.
Dinner! Taste of India offers much
By Jack Clifford
Oregon Daily Emerald
If your taste buds ache fur a change
after too many nights of ramen
noodles, let Taste of India sat
isfy the craving. Open just four
months, the eatery boasts authen
tic Indian fare at prices that are far
from exotic.
Owner Pal winder Singh moved
to Eugene from Ashland in late
October and opened Taste of India
on Thanksgiving weekend. His fa
ther owns a similar restaurant in
the southern Oregon town, and
patrons visiting from this area en
couraged the Singhs to launch a
new venture.
There’s a lot to appreciate. First
and foremost, Taste of India adds
to Eugene’s international offer
ings; competition among the vari
ous imported flavors should give
us delicious cuisine.
On its own, however, Taste of
India pleases the palate. Singh em
ploys two main chefs and one sec
ond-chef, all with more than 10
years of culinary experience in In
dia.
For the meat crowd, customers
can choose between chicken,
lamb, prawns and shrimp, each
cooked either tandoori-style or
with curry seasoning. Tandoori,
for the novice, is a style of cook
ing, not a spice. Clay ovens are
Taste of India
25th Avenue and Hilyard Street
Cuisine: Indian
Hours: Monday through Saturday
dinner 5-10 p.m., lunch buffet 11
a.m. to 3 p.m.: Sunday buffet
dinner 5-10 p.m.
Food: *****
Atmosphere: **★* *
Service: *****
Prices: *****
used to roast the marinated meats,
creating a unique zing. The curry
dishes, with their jalapeno pepper
base, can be ordered mild, medi
um, hot or spicy. If you’re trying
Indian food for the first time, mild
or medium is recommended.
Vegetarians aren’t left out of the
mix at Taste of India. Saffron sea
soning punches up the biriyani
rice dishes, and vegetable dishes
come with a curry flavor. Dhum
aloo, potatoes cooked in a spicy,
onion gravy, is a not-to-be-missed
specialty.
Since the menu offers so many
choices a la carte, an easy way to
experience the full range of meals
is to order one of the three "feast”
combinations. The Chef and Taste
of India specials are heavy on the
chicken and lamb, although they
are balanced with sides of rice and
mattar paneer, green peas mixed
with homemade cottage cheese.
The Pure Vegetarian Thali offers a
savory medley, including spinach,
garbanzo bean and vegetable
samosa — patties stuffed with
spiced potatoes, peas and fresh co
riander — among other selections.
In addition to the main courses,
appetizer lovers can fill up on
lentil soup, vegetable fritters and
one of 14 styles of fresh baked
-breads. Desserts include kheer,
kulfi, gulab jamun or, for the less
adventuresome, mango ice cream.
Dinner prices start at $5.95 for
some of the vegetable dishes and
run all the way to $12.95 for tan
doori prawns and the mixed grill,
a tandoori assortment. The feasts
are $13.95 for the vegetarian,
$14.95 for the Taste of India and
$15.95 for the Chef Special.
If those prices bust your budget,
don’t despair. Taste of India offers a
daily lunch buffet for $6.50, a bill
University graduate student Bryan
Smith gladly paid earlier this week.
“I’m mostly a vegetarian, and
there’re a lot of vegetarian dishes
offered," says Smith, a creative
writing major on break from class.
"It’s a good mix, because you don’t
have to stay with their spicier
food, you can go with the milder
choices.”
MOVid Yes, ‘EDtv’ differs from ‘Truman’
By Jack Clifford
Oregon Daily Emerald
Pip artist Andy Warhol once mused
that everyone will have at
least 15 minutes of fame.
The new flick “EDtv” shows
what might happen if you don’t
say "pass” when your turn comes
around.
Matthew McConaughey plays
Ed in this sly look — thanks to
subtle inferences from scriptwrit
ers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo
Mandel — at human behavior and
cultural degradation. In addition,
director Ron Howard takes our so
ciety’s talk-show mentality and
gives it a pretty good work-over.
He takes jabs at our seemingly
endless obsession with fame and
at people wanting to join the larg
er-than-life world.
Some critics charge that the idea
behind “EDtv” is just a rip-off of
last year’s big hit “The Truman
Show,” starring Jim Carrey. If
those critics have now seen the
former film, they’ll see how it dif
fers from the latter flick.
Director Ron Howard
Starring: Matthew McConaughey
Score: ★★★★★
The more recent offering is not
about some hapless boob who is
unknowingly duped into becom
ing a national celebrity, a la Tru
man. Instead, Ed is a hapless boob
who wittingly allows his mug to
grace the screen. McConaughey
does a fine job in the lead spot, us
ing just enough Southern charm to
come across as likable.
Ed is a simple man recruited to
perform what at first is a simple
task. He’s asked to go about his dai
ly routine, except he must let three
or four guys with cameras record
his every move, all of which is
shown live to a cable audience.
Several performances besides
McConaughey’s make “EDtv” a
hit. Jenna Elfman, from TV’s Dhar
ma & Greg, makes a solid transi
tion to the big screen as Ed's ro
mantic interest. His sexual attrac
tion, however, is to Elizabeth Hur
ley, and the model-turned-actress
shines as a self-serving vixen.
Woody Harrelson is hilarious as
Ed's brother, Ray, while Martin lan
dau, Dennis Hopper and Sally Kirk
land all contribute solid screen time.
But the real star here is the
script, or actually the underlying
sociological theme. Our culture
has moved from an era of revering
icons to a time when we toss out
last week's idols with this week’s
trash, and “EDtv” captures per
fectly this shallowness. In one
short clip, DeGeneres' character
sums up this phenomenon by
defining Ed’s success: “It's like
he’s a Beatle. Well, maybe a Spice
Girl. Kind of a Beanie Baby, 1
guess. Okay, so he’s Menudo.”
A few bits don’t work, and the
ending is too trite and clean. But
director Howard knows how to
make a viewer-friendly movie,
and once again, he has accom
plished his objective.
'Low Fat
'Low Calories
'Broum Rice Available
11219 Alder St.
^ Across the Street from Sacred Heart Hospto
Your choice of
50*
Off All Dishes
Over $4.25*
or a
FREE DRINK
with coupon
•excluding sptxial menu
1 Expires Ajnil 16, 1999
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A TRIUMPH!
-Mike Clark, USA TODAY
“Entertaining
and elegant!
Boorman is working
in top form.”
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THE NEW YORK TIMES,
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„ 7 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS
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AND BEST PICTURE!
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A
1485 E. 19th Street
342-4025
High Street
Brewery & Cafe
1243 High Street
345-4905
Serving Handcrafted Ales & Wines and I’uh Fare
11:00am-1:00am, Monday Saturday b 12:00-12:00 Sunday
eucene symphony
Latin Pops
with Caliente & Friends
FRIDAY. APRIL S. 8 PM
Lingo couple Angel & Rosa return
to kirk up their Iveels to hot Latin
ihylhms meri’tunic. snlsct, aimhiu. j
Argentine zumlxi performed hy
Miguel and his ' I>ig hand, Caliente
and ho Nuestro. An evening ol
irresistible rhythms from the Caribbean
islands to the highlands ol Mexico,
Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru.
A
( <>n< crt sponsor
Eubank
Artist sponsor
WILDISH
Tickets: 682-5000
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