Friday food

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of OM, a restaurant with a menu devised by the wonderful Raghavan Iyer.

Housed in the former Nate's Clothing building, OM shows no sign of its previous tenant. The space is beautiful, a two-story facility with a bar and lounge on the first floor and the restaurant itself in the lower level. The colors are muted, yet rich.

I think the lounge area has great potential to become "the" spot to hang out.

The stairway to the restaurant wraps around a gorgeous chandelier.

Hard to see in the photo, but it's shimmery. The staircase winds down to a small reflection pool.

For the opening party, the food was served at various buffet stations--something that will not be the norm, as Iyer wants to move away from the stereoypical Indian buffet restaurant. And oh, the food:

 

This is just a sampling of what was available. Grilled lamb chops with a fenugreek cream sauce; goan pork tenderloin; tandoori chicken; and a green bean-carrot dish. All delicious. The lamb chops in particular were amazing; I may have, ahem, gone back for seconds. (Maybe thirds, but I'm not telling.) There was also eggplant pate, and some lovely coconut shrimp, with a very light batter as opposed to the coconut-drowned versions found elsewhere, and a spicy mango chutney.

I loved it. I'm anxious to go back and try the sit-down version; you lose a little something when you're scrambling around a crowded room, trying to find a place to rest your plate and wine glass. But I'm anxious to see how the restaurant continues to evolve, given Iyer's heavyweight Indian culinary knowledge.