Kabab & Grill Review: Kabab grill and goaty stew
I was actually on my way to go check out Macaron Cafe but I was swayed by the huge ‘Internet Access’ banner. Why eat food when you can feed your body with broadband? The Kabab Grill attracted my attention because what’s better than kababs when it’s twenty degrees outside? As it turned out, it wasn’t really a kabab grill, but actually a place that has Pak-Indian food and Latin food.
This is the second time in midtown where I saw an Indian place next to a Spanish food place, all inside the same place. Does that make any sense? Basically the Kabab Grill is one store, and inside, two different areas offering different foods. For some reason this just makes me happy beyond belief. This whole idea of random cultures together. It’s naan meets ox tail. It’s heaven as we know it.
For a place like the Kabab Grill, you have to really temper your expectations. This is not the best Indian food in Midtown. I’m not even sure what that is but this is what should be called, serviceable and filling. The naan is a little less soft than others that I’ve had in the past. On the plus side they do give you a huge one. And they appear to at least be semi-fresh. Or they just keep all of it in the back and only bring it up when it’s ordered. The standard order of chicken tikka masala was decent and less oily than Taste of India if you’re into less oily foods.
Since they have the word kabab in their store front, it was only right to get a chicken kabab. $2 dollars. It’s an average deal. The kabab has a nice spicy kick to it and I bet if you bought three and a naan, it would make for a decent sandwich. Just remember the naan is not super soft, therefore your theoretical sandwich wouldn’t be like a soft taco, but more like um, I don’t know. Not a soft taco.
The next day I decided to tackle the other steam table with the Spanish food. They seem to have many of the normal choices you see at steam-table places. You have oxtail and various other stews that smell great. My strategy at steam tables is to pick the stew that’s close to depletion. This means all the regulars like it too. Or, all the newbies order with the same strategy and none of us know WTF we’re picking.
The most depleted one is the first picture of this post, goat stew. I don’t eat much goat. This is due to the fact that my over-priced grocery store limits my meat selection to cows, pigs, and horses. No wait, I meant chickens. Sometimes lambs. Never goats. [Side note, the other day I saw alligator arm/claw in a Chinese meat market. It was craaaazy.] I figured, might as well. It’s goat. How often do I eat this? It’s in a stew and he’s going to pour it all over this yellow rice with beans. Awesome.
You could tell the stew was cooked low and slow because the bones were all hollow. No marrow action. This meant all the goatiness was cooked into the stew. One small problem. It was way too goaty for me. Some dude next to me just cleaned his plate and I sat there thinking… “Um… maybe next time I will try to ask for a goat sample before ordering it…” See, I still have faith that goat is good. It just takes getting some time to get used to it.
I threw 80% of my goaty stew into the trash. It was a sad moment. Anyway, I would go back to this place just to try the meat stews that I’m familiar with and also to just eat more Indian food and kababs. It’s about time the blog gets some dessert action though. Mmm…. cupcakes.
Kabab & Grill150 W. 36th St.New York, NY 10018212-967-0813