Friday Food: Panna II Indian Garden
On Tuesday, Katie, Jim and I continued our every-few-weeks tradition of a weeknight dinner out. The first one was in Chinatown, the second in Little Italy and for Tuesday I suggested Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant in the East Village.
I had been there once before, when I was staying in the city on Valentine's Day of this year. An old college friend and I had decided to meet (he didn't even know it was Valentine's, not that it mattered to either of us) and he suggested Indian food. The picky eater in me almost requested a change of venue multiple times, but each time I stopped myself. I kept thinking that I needed to try new things, step outside of my comfort zone and not rock the boat. As soon as we arrived at the restaurant (he hadn't told me the name of it) I was so glad that I hadn't wimped out. I loved it so much, in fact, that I couldn't wait to give others their first Panna II experience and Katie and Jim agreed when I suggested it for our next dinner.
Having been twice I can say that I still don't love Indian food, but you (or at least I) don't really go to Panna II for the food. Sure, you eat there, but it's 99% about the atmosphere and decor of the teeny tiny second floor restaurant.
There are actually three nearly identical Indian restaurants right next to each other, with each one trying to usher you into their respective spaces. I received this worthy advice from Shawn, who has been to (or knew someone who had been to) each one: Panna II is the best, just keep your head down, ignore the solicitations from the competitors and head straight upstairs (it's the one to the right). Hosts from the other restaurants will literally try to push you into their doors, but resist!
Once inside you'll understand why I'm concentrating this review on the decor and not the food — I've never seen anything like it (except for next door.. and downstairs…). Basically every square inch of ceiling is covered in lights — chili pepper lights, Christmas lights, pumpkin lights, baseball lights — but there's a whole lot more festive bits and baubles hanging in between, including hawaiin lais, stuffed animals, Christmas ornaments and holiday decorations from every season.
There is about five feet of actual headroom (from the floor to the start of the lights) and the place is tiny so you'll have to duck and squeeze but it's totally worth it. It's all just so weird and fun and makes very little sense (what the connection between India and Christmas lights is I can't be sure) so of course I love it. It's also probably a safety hazard and can't possibly be hygienic (how do they clean all of those??) but it got me to eat Indian food not once, but twice so they're doing something right.
As for the actual food, it's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be and most of it is actually quite good. The coconut poori (Shawn described it as a coconut donut, which is accurate) is delicious (and cheap!) and the chicken tandoori is a good choice if you're a terribly picky, uncultured American like me. It's basically just two freakishly large chicken breasts that have been roasted and rubbed with something that makes them bright red and a little spicy — don't let the fact that they look like human hearts scare you, and hey if you go on Valentine's it's just extra festive!
Do note that they are cash only and BYOB, although they don't charge a corkage fee, so that's nice. It always feels a little shady to me to crack open my own drink in the middle of a restaurant, but you do what you gotta do (it's totally allowed and normal, I'm just weird). I can't say that I will ever get to the point in my life where I think to myself "hmm, you know what I'd like for dinner?Indian food," but I'll probably (definitely) drag at least a few more of my friends to Panna II if only to take in the sights.