Thursday, Sep. 01, 2011

Baja goes from Hollywood to Bollywood

Baja Grill Indian and American Cuisine

By Becky Billingsley -

Setting the Table

Baja Grill, which serves Indian and American cuisine, might have the right amount of quirkiness to make it succeed in a spot where many others have failed.

About the name. The most recent previous owner called the restaurant Baja Grill, and he served southern coastal California-style food. Shortly before closing the restaurant, a gorgeous sign was erected out front of a surfboard on a wave, with Baja Grill on it.

The new owners, husband and wife Bharak Dave and Neela Dave, didn't want to waste that beautiful sign, so they also named their restaurant Baja Grill. Inside the layout has not changed much - just substitute a bit of Indian art for the surfer art.

The Daves - an extremely friendly and eager-to-please couple - have lived in the Myrtle Beach area for 14 years and had a convenience store. Neela Dave always wanted to have a restaurant, and Bharak Dave is happily helping make her dream come true. Bharak, he said proudly, means "India."

Down the Hatch

The food is similar to but different from the Indian cuisine served at nearby Bombay at the Beach. Neela Dave's food is more homespun, like I would imagine is served in an Indian neighborhood cafe.

Diners receive a complimentary appetizer, which changes daily. The day I visited it was Chorafali, also known as Fafda ($4), which are long and hollow cigar-size fried tubes made from chickpea flour dusted with chili powder. They're served with vivid yellow dipping sauce that looks like Hollandaise but actually has a yogurt base made with mustard seeds, oil, mustard powder, salt, sugar and green peppers.

This was a new taste for me, and I like it. The yogurt sauce balances the spiciness of the tubes, and the crispy/creamy texture combination is appealing.

Tip: break off pieces, dip and pop in your mouth. If you try to bite the long stick, it shatters into crumbs.

Other appetizers ($2.49-$8.49) include Vegetable Samosa (fried turnover), Pani Puri (think fried tortilla, sort of), Chili Cheese Fries, Wings and Shrimp Cocktail.

Neela Dave bakes her own breads, from the white Tandoori bread baked in a clay oven called Naan to Roti (whole wheat flat bread) and Puri, which is described as "whole wheat deep fried fluffy bread."

Four salads ($4.49-$7) are all-American: Fried Chicken, Grilled Chicken, Caesar and House with tomato, onions and cheese.

Entrees include nine Indian choices and nine American ones ($2-$10).

I tried Chicken Saag, which does not look especially attractive in its thick and menacing-looking dark green gravy but tastes lovely. The color comes from an abundance of spinach cooked down with herbs and spices, and it's served with perfectly cooked basmati rice. This is a spicy dish but not overly so; a half-hour after eating it there was a pleasant warmth in my chest that would probably be a more effective cold treatment than Vicks Vaporub and a hot towel.

About those spices - the Daves say while they add flavor to their recipes, they also have health benefits. Mustard seeds are good for the blood and brain, they say, while cumin is beneficial for the stomach and chili powder gets rid of bacteria.

The Daves also make Aloo Matar (potato/pea curry), Idli Sambhar (lentil soup served with a rice patty), Dosa (potatoes and peas in a rice flour wrap serves with lentil soup and chutneys) and Chicken Curry. Although I didn't taste it, I appreciated the aroma and colorful pinkness of Chicken Tandoori, which is marinated in yogurt and spices and cooked in a clay oven.

Three rice dishes ($4-$8) include plain basmati served with yogurt sauce, Vegetable Biryani and Chicken Biryani.

American choices ($2-$15) range from a Grilled Cheese, Hotdog and fries, Barbecue Sandwich and Cheeseburger with fries to a Pork Chop Dinner or a Steak Dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Check, please

A liquor license is coming soon, and there are soft drinks, coffee and hot tea. There's also Masala Tea - otherwise known as Chai - and two house-made yogurt drinks called Salt Lassi and Sweet Lassi. I tried both, and while the Salt Lassi is interesting I preferred the pink Sweet Lassi ($3) that's a frothy cross between a smoothie and a milkshake.

Three desserts ($2.50-$3) are another Indian taste adventure. I tasted Gulab Jamun, which is cake-type donut holes soaked in simple syrup and ghee, which is Indian clarified butter. The other two sweets are Kheer (rice pudding) and Ras Malai, an interesting-sounding concoction where cheese patties are "soaked and served in creamy milk sauce."

Baja Grill Indian and American Cuisine is at 504 16th Ave. N. in Myrtle Beach, and the phone number is 626-0088. It's open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and there's free delivery on orders of at least $10.

Becky Billingsley serves up fresh news daily at MyrtleBeachRestaurantNews.com.