Crumbs in my 'Stache: A new taste of the East
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
By Ben Cannon
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Planet Palate (145 N. Glenwood), a multi-use coffee shop and bakery that transforms over the course of a day into a bistro, now turns by night into the only valley restaurant offering a full menu of Indian food.
The restaurant, opened in early fall by owner Amy Young, began evening servings of Indian food in December. Her travels in Nepal and to the Himalayan plateau inspired the cuisine idea.
“I loved the food and the hospitality there is amazing,” she said. “People would house you and give you a meal – a big meal – and if you wanted to be involved in the cooking you could.”
Young set out on a mission to learn as much as she could about Indian cuisine, recruiting a friend living in India to send her volumes of cookbooks in English.
“You can learn anything from a book,” she said, and one gets a sense the avid outdoorswoman, who has had to put skiing and kayaking on hold for awhile, has taught herself a thing or two before.
Hours of study and experimenting led to dishes like kela kofta ($17), a rich and earthy banana dumpling served in spiced tomato curry; and vegetable korma ($15), a medley of cauliflower, carrots, peas, potatoes and cashews in a heady blend of oriental spices.
For starters, try an order of samosas ($10), spicy fried dumplings filled with potatoes and peas, a dish promising to become a local favorite.
Planet Palate got off to a lackluster opening, and the off-season months before winter were a struggle for Young.
Part of the slow beginning could be attributed to what Young said is a degree of misconception about her business: that it caters only to vegetarian and vegan diets. That is due in part to the fact that Planet Palate uses only all organic ingredients bought through fair trade distributors, or that everything is gluten-free.
Until very recently, Young was contractually bound to keep her dinner menu all-vegan. With the help of Blu Kitchen, which shares a wall with Planet Palate, she was able to get the restaurant into a lease and agreed to keep meat and dairy off of the dinner menu to mitigate a competitive risk. With both restaurants now nurturing growing trade catering to different tastes, Young will now feature some entrees featuring chicken, marinated lamb and paneer, an un-aged Indian white cheese.
Planet Palate will first offer chicken tikka masala ($ TBA) marinated in yogurt and spices and served in a Masala tomato sauce, expected for this week, before she will begin serving lamb biryani and house-made roasted palak paneer in a spinach sauce.
A focus on consistency and portion control should bode well for a restaurant that could readily carve its niche, serving the only Indian food in a valley that boasts three Thai restaurants.
As Mike Mullen, a wiry, smiling Planet Palate server added optimistically, “We’re legitimate now.”
Photo by Andrew WyattPERMALINK:
Crumbs in my 'Stache: A new taste of the East | Planet JH News Article: Restaurants And Dining
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