Annapurna, Mira Mesa

Last week, we both came home and were hungry.  We were also not in the mood to cook dinner.  Considering that T’s method of cooking consists primarily of opening cans and reheating food, it must have been a really long day.  United Airlines sends these e-mails about their Dining program and new restaurants that have been added to the list.  If you use your United Visa to pay, you get bonus miles.  Their last e-mail listed a new Indian restaurant in Mira Mesa, Annapurna.  I don’t know if it’s a new restaurant or just new to the Dining program.  My car GPS didn’t have it in the database.  Annaupurna is on Camino Ruiz, but more like behind Target and closer to the bowling alley. 

When we got there, the place was pretty full and there were a lot of Indian people there.  I have no idea if that’s a politically correct statement, but it’s usually a good sign for an ethnic restaurant.  I feel like we ordered the wrong things, because it didn’t leave me satisfied.  But everyone else seemed to really enjoy their meals, and their tables were full of dishes that were not like ours, so it could have just been us.  We got an eggplant curry (in a peanut gravy) and marinated, fried, spiced Cornish hen.  T also had a mango lassi, which was think and mango-y.  Quite good, and helpful when dealing with spicy sauces. 

So, I’m kind of torn on my feelings for the place.  I think we will definitely go back, perhaps for a dinner buffet so we can try more things.  The eggplant dish was really good – soft but not mushy baby eggplants – but there were only 3 small eggplants in the bowl.  And the dish cost $11.  That just seems like a lot of money for 3 eggplants.  The Cornish hen dish was $15 and nicely spiced, but it was all chopped up, bones included.  We actually brought most of this home because we felt funny picking at little pieces of cornish hen, nibbling at pieces of meat and trying to work around all the bones.  And then dealing with messy, oniony, spiced fingers.  It was tasty, just difficult to eat.  We also ordered garlic naan, which was very garlicky and buttery, but pretty much your average naan.

We saw this dish go by of something covered in a yogurt sauce.  I think it was their lentil donuts.  That looked good.  We also saw a few dosas go by – Indian crepes filled with tasty morsels (I assume).  So, there are lots of dishes I’d still like to try.  One of them will definitely include a boneless chicken dish.  No more bones!

The paper menu I picked up said that they had a dinner buffet ($12,95) on Tuesdays, but the website says it’s on Sunday.  When I find out which day it actually is I’ll let you all know.