Indian American Cafe

As noted in my post of yesterday, I feel guilt over anything I might have done to make Indian American Cafe sound less wonderful than Taste of India. So I'm going to knock together a quick IAC post to make myself feel better. Not that anyone reads this anyway.

• Location: 91 N. Main Street. This is one of those crazy hole-in-the-wall places I started this blog to celebrate.  There's no awning, no big street sign. You'd drive right past it and never notice, unless you happened to be stuck at that light. 
• Website: They don't have one. Menu information is available at http://rockingham.va.golookon.com/listings/indian_american_cafe
• Food profile: Indian, but more of a north Indian/Nepalese flavor than the other Indian places in town. They have all the foods on the menu that you would expect, but the spice blend is a bit different. The restaurant used to be listed as the "American Indian Cafe" in a local phone book, which I'm sure caused a good deal of confusion from patrons who arrived hoping for some spoon bread and bison. Interestingly, they used to serve what one would think of as "American" food, in addition to the Indian cuisine. I only know this because once, my team at work hired a Canadian guy whose parents were from India. On his first day at work, we decided to go to IAC, in an effort to show him that he could get the food of his people in little Harrisonburg. He ordered a hamburger. "I hate Indian food," he said. I still don't know if he was joking; that's just the kind of guy he is. Hamburgers are no longer on the menu.
• Price: $10-12 for an entree.
• Tip: The best deal is to get take-out. They really fill the take-out container, which is bigger than the eat-in plate.
• Warnings:
• Cash or check only--no credit cards!
• Closed on Mondays
• The waiter will ask you what "spice level" you want your food at, on a scale of 1-4. These numbers are largely meaningless, or are an approximation at best. What you actually get depends, as far as I can tell, on the cook's mood and the spice levels ordered by the other people in your party--and/or the restaurant at large. If you want really killer spice levels, try ordering a "Rick Black"--but only with the permission of everyone at your table.
• Periodically, throughout the year, the restaurant closes for several weeks because the owners go on a trip back to Nepal. This will invariably be at a time when you wake up with a mad craving for some ponir saag with a luschy on the side. You will be disappointed. Sorry.
• Atmosphere: Casual, but not sloppy. The staff is very friendly and the place is clean. Art from India decorates the walls. It doesn't try too hard to feel Indian--the waiters typically wear khakis and polo shirts rather than saris, and the music is as likely to be John Mayer as Ravi Shankar. There's something sort of nice about this. It's not self-conscious; it's a restaurant that says, "We're in America, and we have our home culture, and we're blending the two."