Meadowlark and Jeet India

Week before last, I made plans to go to dinner not once, but twice with friends while I was down in the Dayton area. Tuesday night, I had plans for dinner at The Winds with friends from the UCC where I interned last year. Mike and Tammy are a really cool couple about my oldest uncle's age. In fact, Tammy went to high school with Vic. I worked at the bookstore with her way back in the early 90s, then became reaquainted with her and met Mike when I was at that UCC. They are very involved in the church and also with P-FLAG. Both are deep thinkers and really interesting to talk to.

Since Mike had a church meeting, we ended up at Meadowlark (www.meadowlarkrestaurant.com) instead of The Winds. Ending up at Meadowlark is never a bad thing. The atmosphere is pleasant and the food, featuring high-quality organic foods and often locally-produced items, is phenomenal. I would rate Meadowlark among the top 3 Dayton restaurants, along with The Winds and El Meson. Mike had the crab spaghetti, which he said he "would recommend to anyone" and Tammy had the roast chicken thighs. These are stuffed with a mixture of feta, ricotta and olives, then roasted with oregano, lemon and wine. Tammy confesses that she rarely orders anything else there because she loves the thighs so much. I feel the same way about their garlic chicken. It's served with perfectly cooked rice and a ladle of meltingly soft lima beans cooked with capers and spinach, all topped by warm goat cheese. Oh, man! Dessert was great, too. Tammy's profiteroles looked scrumptious. Mike and I indulged in chocolate cake sprinkled with nuts and served with an amazingly deeply flavored toffee sauce. We talked about the state of the church, my schooling and theological ideas and places we had traveled until Mike was nearly late for his meeting.

The next night, I met Laurel for Indian. We went to Jeet India (www.jeetindiadayton.com) near Wright State University. It's relatively new and, while I probably still prefer Ajanta in Kettering, very good. I need to get over to the east side & find a good Indian place up here. We shared an appetizer combo and some pappadams. Then, I tucked into bhatura & the kind of chicken tikka masala I've been hungry for for months and Laurel had shrimp biryani. Great stuff and a very good time spent talking theology, inner work and other such heady topics. I was tempted by the gulab jamun and the ras malai, but didn't think to order dessert until I looked up from our conversation and realized they were trying to close.