Joe's favorite dish here is one of the 13 vegetarian specialties, Paneer Masala. Not only has Samrat's cooking improved in the years since our last review, it has expanded. An eight-page menu tees off with plentiful soup, appetizer and salad choices, followed by multiple options in rice, vegetable and tandoori specialties. Seafoods, Lamb Delicacies and Chicken Delights follow, then fully 10 varieties of breads, and desserts such as Punjabi Kulfi, an ice cream flavored with cardamom, saffron and pistachio nuts. Dal Makhani, a savory mix of black beans and kidney beans with tomato, onion and cream, was on hand, as well as rice, a sprinkling of salad ingredients, chewy Naan bread, and dessert of Kheer, a sweet, cardamom flavored mixture of rice and milk.
Wines are available, but few stand up to the strength of Indian seasonings.
Slat-seat booth benches were not made for long, leisurely meals. Minimal table surfaces, in the deuces at least, make a jigsaw puzzle of fitting in the numerous service pieces. Glassware and bottles often are consigned to the window sills above. Servers make the best of the situation, and the native male staffers, especially, are adroit and swift. Withal, folks keep coming, and coming back, for the food.