Tandoori chicken with all the fixings...
I’m all about second chances, but never third chances. As I had promised my readers a while back, I would eventually revisit Neela’s Contemporary Indian Cuisine to see how this much-needed Napa restaurant was faring six months after its opening. I finally returned to Neela’s about two weeks ago for lunch, inspired by the rumors that the restaurant had finally lowered its prices. With Neela’s, the quality of the food has never been an issue for me, since I was already well aware of chef Neela Paniz’s reputation from her days at Bombay Cafe in Santa Monica.
Upon comparing the menu from Neela’s opening night to their current menu online, I discovered that the rumors were indeed true: Neela’s new menu featured significantly lower prices across the board, with dishes like the lamb vindaloo adjusted from $24 to $18, and the chicken makhni tikka adjusted from $21 to just $16. Of course, even with these significant improvements, I still know plenty of folks who are accustomed to trekking to Berkeley and finding much cheaper Indian fare. But as far as I’m concerned, Neela’s offers far more pedigree than most of the places that lie in the shadow of the UC Berkeley campus.
For my return visit to Neela’s, I opted for the old standby, tandoori chicken, which was $12, but which included lentils, rice and naan. I figured that any second chance warranted an assessment of the very basics, although to label this dish “basic” is clearly a misnomer. Neela’s tandoori chicken, pictured above, features a wide spectrum of terrific flavors, all presented side-by-side, with the naan and the chicken earning particularly high marks. I devoured the entire plate in a ridiculously short amount of time, and even considered ordering the dish again, in lieu of dessert.
