Good wine shop in Providence, RI ?

originally posted by Salil Benegal:
originally posted by Michele H:
I highly recommend a northern Indian restaurant called Not Just Snacks in Providence. It's on Hope Street, run by a wonderful man named Mohammed, and home to the best mutton biriyani I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Slow cooked, pink inside, accompanied by a few different kinds of nuts in perfectly cooked rice...it's awesome.
Damn. I may have to make a trip down to RI just to try out the biryani.

Biryani - usually adequate, but rarely great. Even some of my favorite local Indian or Pakistani restaurants are uninspiring when it comes to Biryani. I wonder why that is?
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
originally posted by Salil Benegal:
originally posted by Michele H:
I highly recommend a northern Indian restaurant called Not Just Snacks in Providence. It's on Hope Street, run by a wonderful man named Mohammed, and home to the best mutton biriyani I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Slow cooked, pink inside, accompanied by a few different kinds of nuts in perfectly cooked rice...it's awesome.
Damn. I may have to make a trip down to RI just to try out the biryani.

Biryani - usually adequate, but rarely great. Even some of my favorite local Indian or Pakistani restaurants are uninspiring when it comes to Biryani. I wonder why that is?

Most often, it's the same thing that plagues bad risotto: poor quality rice. Sometimes crap rice to begin with, more common is stale rice, I find. It's pretty much never "real" rice in the US. It's industrial stuff. Then there's the whole cultural issue of how a rice dish fits into a whole meal in the US vs. how it would in south Asia.
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

Biryani - usually adequate, but rarely great. Even some of my favorite local Indian or Pakistani restaurants are uninspiring when it comes to Biryani. I wonder why that is?
Because good and authentic biryani takes a long time and a lot of effort to make. Not to mention good quality basmati rice (freshly cooked!), saffron and other ingredients that a lot of Indian/Pakistani restaurants in the US don't often use (at the needed quality levels). When it's slow cooked and done with the right ingredients the dish can be amazing.
 
I always loved the biryani at Arianna Afghan Kebab near my old apartment and have never had an even passable rendition of it elsewhere (including other Afghan Kebabs and numerous Indian and Pakistani restaurants). I wonder if they still have the same chef, haven't been in years.
 
originally posted by Salil Benegal:
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

Biryani - usually adequate, but rarely great. Even some of my favorite local Indian or Pakistani restaurants are uninspiring when it comes to Biryani. I wonder why that is?
Because good and authentic biryani takes a long time and a lot of effort to make. Not to mention good quality basmati rice (freshly cooked!), saffron and other ingredients that a lot of Indian/Pakistani restaurants in the US don't often use (at the needed quality levels). When it's slow cooked and done with the right ingredients the dish can be amazing.

The man speaks Truth (as if there was any doubt). Well prepared rice dishes (pilau/pulao/pilaf/biryani) are a treasure of S Asia and the Middle East but require top quality ingredients and patient preparation. I will no more order biryani in a "typical" Bengali/Bangladeshi Indian restaurant than I would bouillabaisse in a typical French restaurant.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Listen to the voice of reason
originally posted by Salil Benegal:
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

Biryani - usually adequate, but rarely great. Even some of my favorite local Indian or Pakistani restaurants are uninspiring when it comes to Biryani. I wonder why that is?
Because good and authentic biryani takes a long time and a lot of effort to make. Not to mention good quality basmati rice (freshly cooked!), saffron and other ingredients that a lot of Indian/Pakistani restaurants in the US don't often use (at the needed quality levels). When it's slow cooked and done with the right ingredients the dish can be amazing.

The man speaks Truth (as if there was any doubt). Well prepared rice dishes (pilau/pulao/pilaf/biryani) are a treasure of S Asia and the Middle East but require top quality ingredients and patient preparation. I will no more order biryani in a "typical" Bengali/Bangladeshi Indian restaurant than I would bouillabaisse in a typical French restaurant.

Mark Lipton

All true. What I find most curious is when a restaurant that will go the extra steps even for boring old Tandoori chicken, with a fresh custom spice blend and long marination, serves a dull biryani.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
I always loved the biryani at Arianna Afghan Kebab near my old apartment and have never had an even passable rendition of it elsewhere (including other Afghan Kebabs and numerous Indian and Pakistani restaurants). I wonder if they still have the same chef, haven't been in years.
I remember the kabuli pulau but not the biryani.
 
originally posted by John M:
Any updates on wine shops, in or near Providence? Maybe something has changed in ~14 years?

Eno Fine Wines is rather good (at least was last year) and on par with the better stores in Boston.
 
originally posted by georg lauer:
originally posted by John M:
Any updates on wine shops, in or near Providence? Maybe something has changed in ~14 years?

Eno Fine Wines is rather good (at least was last year) and on par with the better stores in Boston.

Thanks, Geeorg.

J
 
Campus Wine and Liquors. On Brook Street.

Edit: Actually I see they changed the name to Campus Fine Wines. Or maybe that change was a couple decades ago. In any case that’s my main go-to in Providence within the last 5 years.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Campus Wine and Liquors. On Brook Street.

Edit: Actually I see they changed the name to Campus Fine Wines. Or maybe that change was a couple decades ago. In any case that’s my main go-to in Providence within the last 5 years.

I see they have Vollenweider and Öhlzelt, and probably some others imported by the good folks at Vom Boden, so that's a very good sign. Thanks!
 
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