Frugal Floozie Friday - Cardamom

My dear friend Marcie joined Jeremy and me at Cardamom recently; Marcie and I had been counting down 'til it opened, and Jeremy was happy to share in the adventure of trying a brand spankin' new restaurant.

Marcie, unfortunately, suffers from numerous food allergies and intolerances; so Cardamom's menu - which provides a code indicating which items are vegetarian or vegan, which can be made gluten-free or vegan, which ones contain nuts or gluten - makes ordering much easier for those who need to be careful with their diets. Our waitress, Grace, was wonderfully helpful, too, in answering questions and checking with the kitchen to find out information about ingredients.

We ended up ordering an array of items from the lunch menu (available Tuesday - Friday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.) to try numerous dishes. The dinner menu is more extensive and costs a bit extra because of larger servings; the lunch menu offers some sandwiches and other quick items, as it is designed to facilitate a fast meal - but not typical "fast food" - for busy folks who need to get back to work for the afternoon.

The vegetarian thali (pictured above) costs only $10 and is absolutely generous enough for two, to meet our mandatory Frugal Floozie Friday budget of $5 per person. I ate a huge lunch from this platter, shared tastes, and still had enough food to bring home for another meal the next day. There were dishes of chickpeas, cauliflower, spinach, and lentils; rice and naan; chutney and pickles; and even dessert, the creamy and fragrant rice pudding.

All but one of the appetizers comes in under budget, so we ordered the Vegetable Pakora (left; potatoes, onions, spinach, and cauliflower) and Onion Bhaji (right) for $4 each.  I could happily have made a lunch from either of these, or divvied them up to enjoy a plate of half-and-half. The fried fritters, dipped in a chickpea flour batter, come with both tamarind and mint chutneys for dipping, and were excellent.

A full serving of the cardamom-infused rice pudding costs $3.50. Jeremy ordered the Gulab Jamun - fried balls of dough in a sweet, rose-scented syrup - which also costs $3.50, and which he enjoyed immensely; I was fortunate to be given a small taste, to see how good they were.

You could also order a cup of soup for $3, a generously-portioned side salad for $4 (the lime vinaigrette, one of three choices for a dressing, was lovely and bright), one of the numerous beverages (the mango lassi for $3.50 was rich and creamy), or one of the luscious desserts (most of which come in under budget, or could easily be shared with a loved one).

I love Indian food, so it's wonderful to welcome another restaurant offering this fabulous cuisine!

Cardamom
1739 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
734-662-2877
Tuesday - Thursday: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., 5 - 10 p.m.
Friday - Sunday: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., 5 - 10:30 p.m.
Closed Mondays



View Larger Map

Playing Catch Up

I've got little crumbs and tidbits to toss out here, ones which didn't necessarily warrant their own posts but which can combine themselves -- like leftovers! -- into a nifty little package. I could have milked these and stretched them, but why make the effort? It's easier to do a re-cap -- a buffet, if you will -- here ....

First course ....

When Jeremy and I ate at Neehee's a few weeks ago, I was sure that he'd love the masala dosa as much as I do ... and I was wrong. (Good thing I didn't place any bets!) He adored the dosa part -- the enormous lentil pancake -- but found the potatoes to be too spicy.

He did, however, thoroughly enjoy the mango ice cream I bought for him to make up for his not liking the dinner he'd invited me to and paid for; and he absolutely adored the sugar cane juice (on the left, in the photo; on the right is my mango lassi, which was rich and delicious ... a perfect accompaniment to spicy food). When I learned that Neehee's served this drink, I knew Jeremy would have to try it: he'd once sliced his finger (thankfully not damaging his guitar-playing ability!) in trying to cut a stick of sugar cane that I'd bought for him, and it was infinitely easier to simply place an order than it is to extract the sweetness oneself. With what seemed to be a hint of ginger, this was something Jeremy liked so much that he might almost make the 13-mile trek to Canton just for a cup of it!

Next course ....

Two weeks ago, Tom and I went to eat at Ray's Red Hots on East University, a place that he used to take his daughter to both when she would come to Ann Arbor to visit him on weekends and also while she was a U of M student. He had many fond memories of the place, so how could I not go? Yeah, I can't eat anything with sodium nitrite or else I get the disturbing sensation that my head is being crushed under a dump truck; but there had to be something on the menu that I could have without getting a migraine, right?

Well, not really. $6 hamburgers, which I wasn't willing to pay for. Lots of variations on hot dogs, more hot dogs, still more hot dogs, tempeh dogs (retch!) ... sigh. The one lone employee was very friendly, very sweet, and very helpful -- a presumed college kid whose mother raised him well. When we asked about the nitrites, he offered that the hot dogs were from a company that uses top quality ingredients; well, Hebrew National gets rabbinic certification for kashrut (kashrut = Jewish dietary laws, a.k.a.: being kosher), advertises that they "answer to a higher authority," and states on their website that they use "No fillers or by-products. No artificial flavors or colors" ... but they still use sodium nitrite as a preservative! So I am eternally leery, and was unwilling to take the risk.

So Tom and I shared an order of waffle fries in addition to his relishing -- ha! -- a Chicago-style hot dog. The fries were good; but in retrospect, I should have considered either the cheese or the chili on top of them ... either or both of these would have provided some protein and a few thousand extra calories, but they would have been perfect and luscious in a "white trash" kinda way.

Ray Charles was playing in the background, which only enhanced the dive-y charm of the little restaurant. And since the food is served in baskets rather than on plates, and one bears responsibility for bussing one's own table, I had to take a picture of the very cute sign reminding people that the serving-ware is not available to go home as souvenirs.

Been very busy and preoccupied today, and I still have to write up my Mexican Brownies for a pre-Cinco de Mayo post on AnnArbor.com; so I'm going to save the fish course I'd also planned to add to the buffet table for another time ....