Khana Peena - 5316 College Ave - 4.4.08

We've actually eaten at Khana Peena twice - and I recently realized that my up-'til-now favorite Indian food in the East Bay is actually at the original Khana Peena at the top of Solano (I could never remember that place's name until I had to review this location and, in Googling it, figured out that the Indian-Place-I-Love-At-The-Top-Of-Solano is the original location), so we'll cover both trips in this review.

Khana Peena isn't your tyical Indian restaurant vibe - the decor is modern and upscale, with high ceilings, concrete floors and a nice outdoor patio. The service is friendly and young, and unlike many of our Telegraph haunts this place has a full bar.

I'll say it: Khana Peena has the best damn Indian food either of us has ever had. Both locations are great; I prefer the vibe, size and decor of the Oakland one (and the patio). I however haven't eaten at the Berkeley location in awhile so I can't say which has the better food. You can't go wrong with either.

This place is more expensive than your average Indian restaurant, but then again this isn't your average Indian restaurant (and rent on College and Solano are assuredly quite high) so we're not going to ding it for the pricing.

What we ordered (2 trips combined): Veggie Pakora (well, we didn't order it - it came on accident and they told us to keep it), Veggie Samosa, Organic Lamb Kabob, Lamb-something, Lobster & Papaya Curry, Dal (not the soup version; the thick one), Sag Paneer, Plain Naan, Indian White Wine, a glass of Pinot.
Atmo: modern, upscale, relaxing
Crowd: Rockridge goes out
Spent: around $50-$60
Overall rating: 5 sporks

The original location of Khana Peena gets mad props for having a lamb dish that was so good it made a meat-eater out of a vegetarian and made a lamb-eater out of me (I dislike lamb).

The Partner in Chow on the other hand adores lamb, and when the weekly organic menu displayed an organic lamb kabob she was thrilled. I give this place extra bonus spork tines (unless that would render the spork to a fork, in which case it gets an extra-sparkly shine) for having a weekly organic menu. One of the main fears in eating up Telegraph is the quality of the meat in local street food places, so it was a nice change to go to a more upscale place and not worry about it.

The dal and Sag Paneer are both very good, but the standouts on this menu are the meats and curries. Both times the PIC ordered lamb she went crazy for it and ate everything.

The veggie samosas are by far the best samosas we've ever had - the flavorful potato filling is delicious. The veggie pakoras came by accident, and tasted like a delicious vegetable donut or dumpling. They weren't greasy (though deep fried) and were moist and almost creamy inside. This isn't something I'd ever order (not being a fan of deep fried food), so the fact that I ate 2 of them says something for their quality.

The lamb kabob is served fajita-style - no skewers, coming to you with onions and peppers on a sizzling cast-iron platter that's belching smoke and steam. This makes for a very fragrant and impressive presentation, and on this trip it unfortunately also led to a fingertip burn for the PIC, who accidentally stuck her driving finger (read: the middle one) onto the skillet while trying to help our server make room for all our plates.

Ow.

Our server was concerned and wanted to bring more ice, but with a plate of sizzling lamb and veggies in front of her and glass of Pinot to soothe herself, the PIC bravely decided to move forward with dinner without any delays or interferences such as Band-Aids or ice arrival.

The naan here is fresh, perfectly crispy and chewy and a must-order.

On this trip I ordered the lobster & papaya curry. I never did find a piece of papaya, so I'll assume that it's in the sauce. The lobster itself was very good - it seemed to be small tails from some wee lobster. The sauce wasn't fishy and was just a unique, very flavorful yellow sauce. I was unfortunately so full from the accidental pakoras, the samosas, the dal and naan that I didn't eat a whole lot of my curry. I did however make awesome leftover Indian pizza the next day by dicing the lobster and smearing it on the leftover naan with some sauce, then baking at 350 for awhile. Mmmm leftovers.

The lamb here is good enough that I'll take a few bites and actually like it, as opposed to my usual sacrificial bite that reminds me that I really don't like lamb much.

So, to sum up: if you like Indian food, go eat here. If you don't think you like Indian food (the PIC didn't), you might eat here to figure out whether you don't like Indian food or whether it's just that you've been eating crappy Indian food.

Eating up College - overview

About us:

The Partner in Chow and I began the Eating up Telegraph project in October of 2007. Being foodies, what started to happen was that we'd abandon the Telegraph project on nights we weren't feeling ethnic street food. After several months spent not eating up Telegraph (but often eating on it - oh Pizzaiolo, you are a tempting mistress) we decided that we were wasting time, money and reviewing opportunties by cheating on our Telegraph project.

So we decided to start eating up other Oakland streets simultaneously to scratch that foodie itch, keeping Telegraph as the main priority until we finish it. Yes, we are the polygamists of self-imposed eating projects.

But don't tell Piedmont Ave. It thinks it's the only one.