Maharaja -- It's Spreading The Word About Northern Indian Cuisine

IF AT FIRST you DO succeed, why not try, try again, anyway?

You may succeed three times in the process. That seems to have been the pattern for the Maharaja restaurants, which started last year with an Indian restaurant in Kent.

It prospered. Indeed, it thrived.

The second Maharaja surfaced in West Seattle, in a space that had been an "American" steakhouse and lounge since 1922. It, too, found an enthusiastic and growing clientele. So the owner-managers, Daljit S. Virk and his sister, Kuldip ("Kelly") Sandhu, opened the third (and probably not the last) Maharaja in Seattle, at 500 Elliott Ave. W., on Aug. 31.

Indian food - with a couple of notable exceptions - has been slow to catch on in the Puget Sound area. Some of the earlier attempts at presenting the subtleties of the subcontinent either weren't that subtle or that good.

But gradually, with places like the Tandoor in the University District, Shamiana in Kirkland and Raga in Bellevue showing the way, a sizable patronage developed of locals (as well as immigrants) who knew quality when they found it.

Maharaja follows in that tradition; fine, traditional dishes (from the Punjab, in the Mogul style of Northern Indian cuisine), at modest prices and with a flair for hospitality.

Sandhu and Virk, who are almost exclusively called Kelly and D.J., met in California, moved north and took over Van's, 4542 California Ave. S.W., in 1990.

It was an unswervingly American spot with a loyal but aging clientele.

"We didn't have the heart to make any changes in the menu," Sandu said. "Our older customers liked what they had gotten used to. But they were aging and, well, disappearing - dying. They were not being replaced by the younger people in the neighborhood. So we decided to put in our Indian menu here, too."

That was after they had started the India Palace restaurant in Everett two year earlier.

"The menus and recipes for all of the restaurants are identical," she said. "We have a team of five cooks for each of the Maharajas." Complete name: Maharaja Cuisine of India.

The menus feature a half-dozen dishes from the tandoor clay ovens, seven or eight lamb curries, another 10 chicken specialties, an equal number of vegetarian offerings, four biryanis and three beef dishes (a curry, a sagg and a vindaloo) and some seafood choices, mostly shrimp, and eight varieties of fresh-baked Indian breads.

Nothing costs more than $12, with most dishes about $7 or $8.

As with all Indian meals, the centerpiece is rice - basmati - in an array of presentations; from meat-augmented biryanis like lamb or chicken (at $7.95, the lamb is excellent), to plain rice "laced with flavorful butter" for $2. You assemble the rest of the culinary creation around it.

Start with the Chicken Pakoras (six for $4.95). Even those who hesitate to begin a dinner with deep-fried appetizers will find these light and savory; herb-and-spice-infused chick-pea flour coats sections of boneless, skinless white meat, are flash-fried so that not a trace of the cooking oil is present.

They are served over shredded lettuce and cucumber chunks, with three chutneys: mint, tamarind and pickled carrots. The mint is especially refreshing.

On one visit we skipped the usual lineup of appetizers - the stuffed pastry samosas and papadum (lentil-flour wafers) - and split a Gobhi Paratha ($2.25), whole-wheat Indian flat bread layered with minced cauliflower, along with nontraditional glasses of chilled white wine.

Wherever you proceed from there, do include a teardrop-shaped section of naan, especially the Garlic Naan ($1.95), briskly cooked in the tandoor for about a minute. It's dusted with finely chopped fresh garlic and coriander.

"We've had suppliers come in and try to sell us peeled garlic or whole cloves of commercially prepared garlic," Kelley said, "and they tell us how much we can save in labor. But I tell them we have plenty of people in the back room to peel and mince garlic, and the taste is unmatched."

Tandoori Chicken ($5.95) is one of the least expensive items on the menu - and one of the best. It's a half chicken, marinated in yogurt and spices (along with the brilliant red coloring typical of the dish) and then quickly seared over charcoal in the high-heat, urn-shaped oven. Quite tender, quite moist, and visually appealing.

A similar item, Chicken Tikka ($6.95) features five pieces of boneless chicken.

There is a certain cross-cultural note in dining at the West Seattle location. The decorations on the wall are pure Indian. But the quilted vinyl booths, in tan and dark brown, with shining gold buttons, are sheer 1950s Americana. The juxtaposition is further heightened by the busy lounge adjoining the dining room.

Neighborhood regulars who may think a samosa is a dictator (or was it a Champagne drink with orange juice?) come and go with curious glances at the gastronomic exotica.

You can order complete dinners, $10.95 for a seven-course vegetarian meal for one, to $20.95 for a lamb or chicken dinner for two, with appetizers, main course, dal, rice, vegetables, raita, and dessert.

But it's more fun to go with a group, order a bowl or two of rice and create an Indian-style, multi-course dinner with several different surrounding curries and grills.

Try the Chicken Tikka Masala, one of the Maharaja's most popular specialties. Pieces of chicken are marinated, roasted in the tandoor, then finished in a richly seasoned, light-red curry sauce with ginger, onions, cilantro and green bell peppers.

The level of seasonings can be varied. The mild is just that; but still with a lot of fragrance and flavor. The medium-hot will serve most tastes - piquant but not searing. The hot, frankly, is hot but bearable (although you may have some second thoughts (and a couple of Tums) a few hours later.

Other chicken options: curried with a fresh onion sauce, garlic, tomato and ginger; saag (with spinach); "dancing," a dish from the Raj and popular with the British, with lentil sauce and spices; Murg Mussalam (with egg); stir-fried in a Karahi; or Chicken Korma, done with nuts, spices and cream.

Lamb gets many of the same treatments (all about $7.95), including a hot and bracing vindaloo - with potatoes, tomatoes. I found the Lamb Vindaloo on one occasion to be overly sauced with tomato and rather one-dimensional.

The Lamb Korma ($7.95), however, was superb; mildly seasoned, then slowly cooked in a velvety yogurt cream sauce.

Vegetarians will enjoy a choice of 10 main dishes, including Bharta, tandoor-roasted eggplant pulp with peas, onions and tomatoes ($4.95).

I rarely eat desserts, but Indian foods are so robust in flavor and heat that a few minutes of sensory cooling down is an appealing idea. The Kulfi ($2.50) is irresistible and rich enough for a week of guilty contemplation. It's a homemade Indian ice cream made from reduced half and half, condensed from long, slow simmering, then completed with chopped pistachios and cardamom, and frozen.

How do you say an act of contrition in Hindi?

##1/2 Maharaja Cuisine of India (three locations): 26108 Pacific Hwy. S., Kent (946-0664); 4542 California Ave. S.W. (935-9443), and 500 Elliott Ave. W. (286-1772). Lunch ($4.95) 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Dinner ($5 to $12) 4 to 10 p.m. nightly. Beer, wine. Major credit cards, nonsmoking sections. Reservations.

------------------------ CHAI (INDIAN SPICED TEA) ------------------------ Makes 3 to 4 servings

3 cups water. 2 tablespoons Indian tea leaves. 1 cup milk. 6 white cardamom pods (crushed). 2 sticks of cinnamon (crushed). 3 cloves (crushed). pinch of anise seed (crushed).

Boil water. Add tea leaves and spices. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add milk. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for a minute or two. Let stand for a few minutes, then strain into a teapot. Sweeten to taste.

(Copyright 1993, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.) John Hinterberger's food columns and restaurant reviews appear Sundays in Pacific and Fridays in Tempo. Greg Gilbert is a Seattle Times photographer.