In The Idler, Samuel Johnson wrote, “Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.” And you know, he was right. So many of life’s memorable moments come about due to some type of coincidence, happy accident, or just dumb luck. I’m chalking this one up as happy accident, a casual mention of a favorite food that turned into an incredibly enjoyable, and delicious, evening.
Let’s rewind for a bit and set the stage. If you read my last post, you’ll know that I have a very large soft spot in my heart for Grand Junction, Colorado. Recently, my wife and two great friends spent a long weekend there and gave ourselves a private winery tour in Palisade, the heart of Colorado’s Western Slope wine country, a small town that sits 15 minutes east of GJ (Grand Junction). While we were there GJ threw a Farmer’s Market in the heart of old downtown. As we were wandering around, we came across a booth for La Fleur by Livvy, a local perfumery (you can also get soaps, candles, and locally made chocolate there). Everyone in our party was pretty impressed and we took a spin by their brick and mortar store the next day.
While buying some of the afore mentioned chocolate, I casually struck up a conversation with the owner Olivia Larson. As it turned out, she was born in India and I naturally started talking enthusiastically about Indian food. Out of the blue, Olivia pulled out a flyer and explained that she and Keane Karnan, the fellow that, among other things makes the outstanding chocolates, host private events at the shop one of which was “Tales of India”. In addition to the tales, you also get scents and tastes of India, a true sensory experience. I got pretty lathered up about this, and as we were all coming back to GJ two weeks later for the Air Show, thought we better make reservations. And we did. And wow, were we glad we did.
The event started off in the perfumery show room with Olivia explaining many of the traditional scents from India she uses to make her unique perfumes. These were all passed around for everyone to inhale, which really put us all in an exotic place that was perfect for the forthcoming tasting. Olivia’s perfumes are excellent and very high quality. I’ve been sporting around smelling of Jadon (Roots) since our visit. Yes, there’s scents for men, too.
After about 20 minutes Olivia escorted us into their event room. The theme of the dishes that night was Indian street food, an entire culinary world of its own and for my money more interesting and fun to eat then typical restaurant food. I’ll preface this by telling you that all the recipes were Olivias and served by Keane. Everything was absolutely top-notch and authentic, in fact some of the best Indian cooking I’ve ever had.
First up, Samosa Chaat. We did chat about it, but Chaat in India refers to a broad variety of street foods found all over the country. It literally translates to ‘delicacy or tasting’, but encompasses so much more. If you haven’t had samosa chaat, it’s bit different than the normal fried pyramids of dough encasing spiced potatoes and peas. The difference, when you serve it, smash the samosa flat and pour on some yoghurt, then sprinkle with cilantro, pomegranate seeds, and sev (crunchy fried chickpea noodles). Served on the side were a date and tamarind chutney along with a cilantro chutney. Everything all at once is the only way I can describe it and it was utterly delicious. All the flavors and textures contrasted perfectly and had we stopped there, the night would have been a success. But we didn’t.
Next, Panipuri, one of my all-time favorite chaats. The puri are little puffed wheat dough shells filled with potato, onion, cilantro and chickpeas. You’ll see a little hole at the top. You make it with your thumb so you can put in the filling and then pour in the pani. Pani translates to ‘water’ but that’s just a euphemism for the highly flavored water, this time presented in test tubes (really cool) and flavored with cilantro, chilies, and kala nemak (black salt). Once you pour in the pani there’s no time to waste as it’ll fall apart if you linger, so po the whole thing in your mouth and hold on for an explosion of goodness. Panipuri, if made right, are tart, sweet, savory, and just a little bitter all at once. These were extraordinary and hit all the right notes in the right places.
The third course consisted of onion pakora and, my special request, aloo tiki. What the heck is aloo tiki? An Indian fried potato cake. Imagine taking the filling from a samosa, shaping it into a disk, and frying until golden brown on the outside. Serve them with mint and tamarind chutneys and you have a first-rate snack. These were really delicious and took me back to the time I first had them with one of my Indian friends (big thanks to Olivia and Keane for adding these to the menu). The pakora were outstanding as well, sliced onion deep-fried in a spiced chickpea batter, but you’d never guess considering how light and non-oily they were. Not necessarily an easy feat. They made all this look so easy.
If you thought that was it you’d be wrong, two more courses to go! The final savory dish we were served were naan-bites with an eggplant chaat. Eggplant, onion, and tomato were spiced and cooked to perfection, spooned onto miniature naans, and then topped with sev for a little crunch. I’m not a huge eggplant fan, but I was fan of this! It was almost like an eggplant salad, very refreshing after the fried course. The mini-naans were the only not straight out of India element in the entire meal, but they worked and I’d happily have them again.
How do close out such a fantastic dinner? With a fantastic dessert of course! We were treated to ras malai, a homemade soft cheese dumpling simmered in milk infused with saffron and pistachios. It may sound heavy but on the contrary was very light and bright in flavor, bringing the palette back from all the heady flavors that came before. Served with house-made chai they were just delightful (as was the chai). But the hits kept coming! We were treated to a plate of truffles that Keane made which were wonderful and hopefully will make their way to the shop. If you stop by be sure to pick up some of the several varieties of his chocolate, you’ll be very happy you did. I brought back some as presents for friends and they’ve all loved them. Finally, a small spoon of mukhwas, candy coated fennel seeds that Indians swear aid digestion and give you sweet breath. Then off into the night, raving about how good everything was, and how nice Olivia and Keane were.
If you find yourself going to Grand Junction, please visit these folks. Check out their website, La Fleur by Livvy, for more details about special events, their products, and so forth. As for me, I can’t wait to get back over there and do this again!