Spicing Up Issaquah -- The Only Seasoning Bukhara Needs Is With Its Service

------------------------------- RESTAURANT REVIEW

XX Bukhara of India 317 N.W. Gilman Blvd., Issaquah ($$) Reservations: 425-392-8743 Hours: Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; dinner 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday Prices: lunch buffet, $6.95; dinner: starters, $2-$5.95; entrees $8.50-$15.95 -- Beer and wine -- Credit cards: all major cards -- No obstacles to access -- No smoking -- Parking: Gilman Village lot -------------------------------

Bukhara's executive chef wears a crisp white chef's coat embroidered with his name: Benjamin Cruz. He wears that coat proudly, as well he should. Classically trained, with a resume that includes stints at hotels throughout India, this native of Goa (the former Portuguese colony along the Malabar Coast) adds a much-needed hit of spice and sizzle to Issaquah's ethnic dining scene.

Co-owner Mukesh "Mike" Panjabi also deserves to be proud: for going where others failed to tread. The first to bring the flavors of India to Ballard, at India Bistro, Panjabi opened this, Issaquah's first Indian restaurant, in August.

So, it's got fine food, an experienced chef, and a corner on the market. What more could you ask for? Well, how about better service? Please.

Yes, it was busy on a recent Saturday night when my party was seated at the last available table. But that's no excuse for the 15-minute lag before a server (one of several working the small, simply appointed room) approached to take our order. Or for having to wait another 15 minutes before we got our beer - and then only after we requested it a second time so that we might have something to drink with the appetizers set before us.

Various sauces described as complements to certain dishes (raita, mint sauce), never materialized. We had to beg the busboy to arrange another round of IPA to help assuage the slow burn of Cruz's artfully spiced entrees, and, after waiting eons for dessert, Panjabi, who was (mis)directing his unskilled floor-staff, presented us with our check instead. Lest we chalk these problems up to Saturday night fever, note that on a quiet weekday afternoon, halfway into an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch, I had to remind the server that he'd never brought our beverages. We were his only customers.

The beer served here arrives, appropriately, ice cold. And the missing-in-action mango mousse? We eventually got that too, on the house. Moral of the story: Patience will be rewarded.

Among those rewards are all the usual fried appetizers, minus the usual overdose of oil. Vegetable samosas are two plump pastry "hats" stuffed with potatoes and peas, flavored with turmeric and cumin seed ($2.95). Bite-sized chicken pakoras ($3.95), moist morsels in a chickpea-flour jacket, are the adventurer's equivalent of Chicken McNuggets and the answer to question, "What should I order for the finicky kid?" The lightest of pakora batter clings to onion bhaji, sweet, slender rings that crunch when you munch them. Don't do fried? Try the steamed mussels in a garlicky curry sauce ($4.95), or a thick, soul-satisfying lentil soup brightened with lemon and cilantro.

Strangely disappointing is Bukhara's naan. Normally, I can't get enough of the hot, puffy, tandoor-baked flatbread, but here I found it too floury, too flat and too much like packaged pita, making me wonder how long it had actually been since the bread had seen the walls of the tandoor.

That clay oven is used to best effect when introduced to skewers of boneless marinated chicken (the Irani kebab, $10.95) or an outstanding rack of lamb ($14.95). Assuming we'd find lamb chunks in the khuroos e tursh, one of Cruz's "specialty curries," we were wowed by six luscious chops instead, bathed in a tomato-based cream sauce, thickened with ground almonds ($13.95!).

The baingan bharta - smoky roasted eggplant imbued with turmeric and sweet onion ($8.50), is an impressive vegetarian entree option worth considering as an appetizer. Saag panir ($9.50), with tiny cubes of smooth, homemade cheese, is creamed spinach taken to dreamy new heights. It's a fixture in the $6.95 lunch buffet.

Seafood biryani ($15.95), a heaping plate of basmati rice, comes dotted with crab, shrimp, scallops and halibut. Ordered "mild" it still bore the kick of freshly ground spices, causing a mild-palated companion to mop his mildly perspiring brow. Far less exciting was halibut tandoori ($10.95), a filet with a "tropical fruit relish" flaunting (say what?) diced apple, potatoes and peas.

Joining a growing host of ethnic eateries in the quaint confines of Gilman Village, this simply appointed spot is a welcome addition to Issaquah's dining scene. And despite those service snafus, it remains a worthy detour off I-90. Nancy Leson's phone number is 206-464-8838. Her e-mail is nleson@seattletimes.com.