Several months ago I got to talking with my friend Sujit about Bollywood movies. I’m not even sure how it came up, but I ended up asking him for a recommendation. I’d never seen a Bollywood movie before, but I felt inspired after seeing his film, ‘American Desi‘ (which, by the way, is a great movie.) Sujit suggested a film called ‘Dil Chata Hai‘ and I slapped it up on my Netflix list. Unfortunately it somehow ended up rather far down on the list thanks to my obsession with Mystery Science Theater 3000 and my brother’s Zatoichi movies. But my Bollywood movie finally arrived last week! I was so happy.

    My family and I started watching it just before midnight. In all honesty, the movie was far better than I was expecting. I’d been warned that most Bollywood movies are campy, but that’s what makes them so fun. ‘Dil Chata Hai’ was beautifully filmed, told a great story, and I was engaged in it the whole time. And of course, the dance sequences couldn’t have been any better. Sure, I may have giggled at the spontaneity of them, but they were certainly fun. Different, but fun. My one complaint with the film was it was really long. I didn’t realize it’d take until nearly 3:00am to finish it.

    The movie was full of all these lessons about love and romantic stuff from the perspective of three male friends – one falls for an older woman with problems, one keeps falling over and over and over again, and the third finds love unexpectedly but can’t bring himself to tell the girl. While that was all well and good, very enlightening, and cute and stuff, there were other things that got me thinking. First, why do so many Indian men wear vinyl pants and slightly sheer shirts? Second, where can I find good Indian food?

    In between watching episodes of ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete’ on my computer, I’ve been looking through an online city guide for new restaurants. Lately I’ve been rather disappointed with the food and the service at Sweetwater. Shock of all shocks, I know, but they’re just… losing it. I’ve been there a lot lately, drinking root beer excessively to combat a cold, and it’s just dismal. The service has been lacking and the food is either wrong, brought out lukewarm, or far too salty. They just can’t seem to get it right. They’ve tried to make it up to me by giving me gift cards, managers apologizing out the wazoo, but really, when they’ve failed so many times in a row that my wallet is now stuffed with well over $100 in Sweetwater gift cards, I think that’s a good sign that something’s seriously wrong. It’s time to branch out, look for something new, add a little more variety to my dining experiences. I’ve often said that I really wish ‘Star Trek’ were real, if for no other reason than we’d have a bit more variety in our cuisine. And since I’m actually not all that fond of the eating process, food can get real boring real fast.

    I’ve compiled a list of about a dozen restaurants in the immediate area so far, mostly Indian, Italian, American, and a few Latin American places. Anybody from around here want to tell me about their favorite restaurant(s)? I’m up for almost anything (except for really spicy, strange food – my stomach just can’t take it anymore.) I need to try something new and unfortunately I’m not too familiar with the restaurant scene. So please, enlighten me, and fill me in on what I’ve been missing. And if you feel like coming along, heck, the more the merrier. 🙂