May 2005 Archives

Not long after I moved to Columbus, I began seeking out the various Indian restaurants to try to find one whose menu, quality, and atmosphere were to my liking.  It didn't take long to find and settle on the Taj Palace at Mill Run in Hilliard.

Taj Palace offers a variety of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.  The decor is tasteful and the restaurant is very clean, well-lit, and open.  The service is generally excellent, though at times is only adequate (usually when they're really busy).

On Monday night they offer a non-vegetarian buffet.  Unlike many Indian restaurants, the buffet at Taj Palace is a good sampling of the dishes from their normal menu with no shortcuts taken (e.g., at many restaurants the chicken dishes on the main menu are boneless, while they're bone-in on the buffet).  There are certain staples on the buffet like samosas, chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken, and so forth that are usually present, but they do mix it up a bit.  If you go every week, you'll usually find a dish there that you didn't see before.  That, too, is a pleasant difference from other Indian restaurants I've visited.

On Tuesdays they offer a vegetarian buffet.  I've not been to one of these so I can't really comment on it.

On Thursdays they do another non-vegetarian buffet, which is identical to the Monday menu and excellent.

Over the past few years, I've eaten probably 2/3 or 3/4 of their menu items.  I've yet to have anything there that I didn't at least consider "good" and there are some items I especially love, such as the Madras Curry dishes, the Vindaloo, Mulligatawny soup, and the flan dessert.

If you like Indian food, you can't go wrong with Taj Palace. 

Taj Palace
3794 Fishinger Blvd.
Hilliard, OH
http://www.tajpalacecolumbus.com/

(614) 771-3870

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During my recent visit to Fort Lauderdale, I picked up a CAO Brazilia Samba cigar at the Oasis Cigar shop in the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall in Sunrise, Florida.  Last night, I had the pleasure of lighting up the cigar and enjoying it, which took a couple of hours.

The CAO Brazilia Samba is a torpedo style cigar made in Nicaragua.  It has a dark brown wrapper with an oily sheen an pleasant texture.  Only the tiniest of veins is visible.  The binder and filler are Nicaraguan. The wrapper is Brazilian, hence the name of the cigar.

The CAO Brazilia Samba cigar is very firmly constructed and has a very solid feel to it.  It's 6.5" long with a 54 ring gauge. 

Unlit, the aroma is pleasing, with a hint of a leathery smell to it.  The draw is very easy.  The cigar lit easily as well.  I found that the one I reviewed did not burn very evenly.  At first, I attributed this to a poor lighting job my part, but after evening it up a bit and ensuring that the entire end was lit properly, it continued to burn unevenly at the bottom, with the wrapper more or less refusing to burn.  Perhaps the bottom got too moist in the humidor, I don't know.  I didn't expect that from a CAO cigar.

The ash from the CAO Brazilia Samba was extremely firm, which I expected given the firm construction.  It was a very light gray, almost white, with trace amounts of other gray colors here and there.

The flavor was a bit intense in the first half inch or so, then mellowed out a bit.  The smoke was very thick and white, visible all the way from my mouth to the ceiling.  My wife found the aroma of the smoke pleasant, as did I.  Nevertheless, she asked me to close the sliding glass door to the house while I sat on the screened-in porch smoking it with a beer (the "Grotten Brown" Belgian Ale that Michael Jackson the beer expert rated the best of 2005).  The flavor to me was very good, with a hint of a pleasing leathery taste and a very light peppery touch to it.  A couple of unintentional breaths of the smoke into my lungs (I normally do not inhale the smoke into my lungs, like - I gather - most of you) were tolerable and didn't make me want to cough like many cigars do.  I got a mild "buzz" off the CAO Brazilia Samba, far less than I did from the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series I had last week in Florida, but noticeable (and no, I'm sure it wasn't the beer).

The cigar lasted at least two hours.  I lit it some time after 8pm and it was going well past 10.  If you plan to smoke one of these and don't plan to be drawing on it constantly, make sure you allot a couple of hours to enjoying it.

All in all, I'd say this was another fine cigar from the good folks at CAO, confirming my evolving opinion that they're one of my favorite manufacturers.

On a 1-10 scale, this is at least a 7.5.  I'd rate it higher, but the uneven burn and the intense initial draws take it down a peg for me.  If I have another in the future and the burn is more even, I'd move it to an 8.

During our recent vacation to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, my wife and I had the good fortune to have dinner (twice) at the Rustic Inn Crabhouse.  This seafood restaurant is located on the water near the airport.  It features a pretty diverse menu, focusing on crabs as you might imagine.

The Rustic Inn sign (taken by my camera phone at night, so the quality is lacking)

On our first visit, we both had shrimp cocktails as our appetizers.  We agreed that these were probably the best shrimp cocktails we'd ever had.  The shrimp were very large, much larger than you might get at Red Lobster.  They were cooked to perfection and lightly seasoned.  The sauce was tangy with just the right kick of horseradish to it.  The price was about $11.99 for the half-dozen or so shrimp in the cocktail, but it was amazingly worth it.

As my main course on the first visit, I had a crab sampler platter that showcased their most popular crab types and flavors (their claim to fame is inventing the garlic flavored crab cluster).  I really enjoyed the Alaskan Queen Crab cluster, which had an excellent flavor.  I didn't care much for the garlic crabs or the blue crab varieties, as they are a nuisance to hammer open and provide relatively little meat. 

On our first visit, my wife had a shrimp dinner that was quite good.  It was more than she could eat, so I helped her finish the dish after eating all my crab clusters on the crab platter.

Our second visit a few days later had us revisiting the shrimp cocktails.  We enjoyed them just as much the second time around, so I don't hesitate to recommend this item on their menu.


My wife enjoying her shrimp cocktail.

I ordered just the Alaskan Queen Crab clusters on my second visit, as did my wife.  They were properly cooked, arrived hot, and were delicious.  My wife enjoyed them, but not  $26.99 (menu price) worth.  I thought they were the best crab clusters I'd ever eaten.  They were seasoned expertly, cooked properly (i.e., not so overcooked that the meat sticks to the shell), and delicious.  Again, I'd recommend this dish.

For dessert on the second visit, I had their chocolate cake.  While I can't say it was the best chocolate cake I've ever eaten, it was certainly quite good.  My wife had the Key Lime Pie and loved it.

The Rustic Inn isn't a cheap place to eat.  Our bill was over $100 (including tip) both visits.  But if you're looking for great seafood and great service, in a very casual and fun atmosphere, look no further.

 During my Florida visit I had the good fortune to visit the Oasis Cigar store in the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall in Sunrise, Florida.  While at Oasis Cigar, I picked up a Macanudo Gold Label Shakespeare cigar.

 

The Macanudo Gold Label Shakespeare cigar is 6.5 inches long with a 45 ring gauge. It features a Cuban-seed Dominican and Mexican filler with a Connecticut shade wrapper that Cigars International says is "culled from the first and second primings". The wrapper is a beautiful golden color and remained properly affixed to the filler throughout my experience with it. Clearly it is a well-constructed cigar, which one would expect from Macanudo.

Unlit, the Macanudo Gold Label Shakespeare cigar has a very mild but pleasant aroma. A draw through the unlit cigar showed that this mild aroma carried through to the heart of the cigar's filler. Drawing through the cigar was quite easy. Since I was attempting to smoke the cigar while sitting next to the beach, lighting it with matches was challenging but took only a couple of tries.

The burn was far less even than I expected, with about a half-inch of wrapper more or less stubbornly refusing to burn until I was very nearly finished with the cigar. The ash from the Macanudo Gold Label Shakespeare was a very light gray as would be expected for a lighter-colored cigar, and stayed attached until I intentionally knocked it off.

The flavor of the Macanudo Gold Label Shakespeare cigar was extremely mild, which is what I was looking for at the time. In fact, it was so mild that at times I thought maybe it wasn't lit, because I'd draw a mouthful of smoke and barely taste it at times. As the cigar burned farther down, probably about half way, its flavor picked up a little and gained a bit of a peppery note to it, like an extremely mild jalapeno.

On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being excellent, the Macanudo Gold Label Shakespeare rated about an 8.5. Not quite as good as the Perdomo Reserve Cuban Cafe series (which I rated a 9) but close enough that I'd have no problem having a few more of these in the future.  In fact, I bought several from Cigarbid.com based on my good experience here.

I just returned from a vacation in Florida where I had the opportunity to pick up some cigars at the excellent Oasis Cigar shop in Sunrise, Florida. If you are in (or visiting) the Fort Lauderdale area, I recommend visiting this shop. And if you happen to speak Portuguese, you definitely need to visit to talk to the owners.

I picked up 2 of these cigars during my visit to Cigar Oasis. I had previously smoked and very much enjoyed another Perdomo Reserve cigar, one of the Cuban Cafe Series P's, so I looked forward to reviewing this one.

Unlike the Perdomo Reserve Cuban Cafe series I reviewed earlier, the "La Tradicion Cabinet Series" is a maduro and the series "P" is a perfecto 5 and a half inches long with a 55 ring gauge. The Perdomo web site describes the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series "P" Maduro cigar as featuring "a distinguished and contemplative blend of medium bodied, double-aged Cuban-seed tobaccos. Grown in the rich, dark soil of the Perdomo family plantations nestled in the Nicaraguan regions of Esteli, Condega and the Japama valley".
Cigar Aficionado rated the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series "Red Box" or "Red Label" cigar a 92 and named it one of the top cigars for that year.

The wrapper of the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series "P" Maduro is dark and slightly oily looking, typical for a maduro though lighter in shade than some other maduros in my collection. The wrapper has very fine veins running through it. The cigar has clearly been constructed to the highest quality standards.

Unlit, the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series "P" Maduro has a very pleasing aroma. A draw through the unlit cigar revealed a definite but pleasant "punch" and the fermented flavor you'd expect from a well-aged cigar. Drawing through the cigar was quite easy.

Since I was attempting to smoke the cigar while sitting next to the beach, lighting it with matches proved to be quite a challenge. Still, once lit it burned very evenly, requiring a turn only once to correct a slightly uneven burn. The ash was a medium gray in color, very firm, and stayed on the cigar until forcibly knocked off.

The flavor for the first inch or so of the cigar was pretty strong to my taste, but very quickly mellowed out after that. In the end, the smoke had a very pleasant flavor and a decent body to it. There were some hints of chocolate or earthiness in the last portion of the cigar. It burned pretty warm up to the end, and left my head swimming quite a bit when I was finished with it, which took close to an hour.

On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being excellent, the Perdomo Reserve Cabinet Series "P" Maduro rated about a 7.9 in this review. Not as good as the Cuban Cafe series (which I rated a 9) but certainly one I'd smoke again.

What do frozen peas have to do with a painful foot condition called "plantar fasciitis"?  It's an amusing story and I thought I'd share my experience here so that others who are experiencing regular foot pain might be inspired to have a medical professional check it out...