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Laziz Will Awaken Your Senses

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

The menu at Laziz includes, left to right, Laziz Special Vegetable Platter with sauces, Chicken Tikka Masala and Basmati Rice.

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

Published: January 8, 2009

CLEARWATER - Few things satisfy more than a great meal shared with friends. Throw in a show at Ruth Eckerd Hall and you have the makings of a great evening.

That's what we stumbled on during the buzz of the holidays. Show tickets in hand and feeling adventurous, we searched for a new place to grab a bite and settled on Laziz, a nondescript façade in a strip mall behind a Blockbuster. The outdoor tables gave the place an inviting look so we took a chance.

The scents of curry, cilantro and what I can only describe as deliciousness wafted from the kitchen as we walked through the door. We were quickly greeted and shown to a snug table. The restaurant was about half full when we arrived at 6:30 p.m. and was packed by the time we finished a little more than an hour later.

The extensive menu with foreign names (mulligatawny soup, kadahi chicken) gave us pause. Two in our party had never tried Indian and the rest usually hit lunch buffets, so we didn't know the names of all the wonderful flavors we had come to crave. No worry; the waiter was more than helpful in answering our unending questions, offering his suggestions and steering us toward items he thought we would prefer.

We started with the Laziz full platter of appetizers, a combination of samosas (fried Indian pastries stuffed with potatoes, green peas and spices) and pakoras (vegetable, cheese and chicken dipped in chick-pea batter and deep-fried). They came with two sauces - a spicy tamarind sauce and a sweet, cucumber raita, a homemade yogurt with grated cucumbers and herbs. We also ordered mango chutney, an imported specialty that is a thick combination halfway between a salsa and a jam.

Our senses alive, we highly anticipated the next course. Entrees arrived in rectangular trays with a platter of basmati rice, so sharing bites was no challenge. The butter chicken was my favorite, made of boneless tandoori chicken in a rich, creamy tomato sauce. Tandoori refers to the way the chicken is cooked: marinated overnight and baked in a clay oven.

The palak paneer (chunks of homemade cheese with spinach and Indian spices) and chicken madras (cooked in south Indian style with coconut, roasted ground spices and curry leaves) were equally delicious. Their sauces, soaked into the rice or mopped up with garlic naan, a soft, thin Indian bread, were the true pleasure of the meal.

The daal makhani, a dish of black lentils cooked for hours with spices and herbs, was slightly less savory and a little disappointing considering the menu calls it a "traditional all-time favorite." I'm accustomed to the Moroccan way of spicing lentils and the daal makhani lacked a little flavor - surprisingly, because everything else nearly burst in our mouths, a real workout for our taste buds, which were in absolute heaven.

Bursting at the seams, we ordered dessert to go. We wanted something to look forward to after our show at Ruth Eckerd and the Indian-style rice pudding called kheer and the rasmalai, homemade cheese soaked in sweetened milk and topped with pistachios, were to be cooling treats.

A 30-minute drive from downtown Tampa, Laziz is just blocks from Ruth Eckerd Hall making it the perfect spot for a pre-show dinner. Even though we were crunched for time, the staff did an efficient job at serving each course without making us feeling rushed - and we still made the show on time.

DINING REVIEW

Laziz

BOTTOM LINE: Authentic Indian cuisine

WHERE: 2475-J McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater

HOURS: lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; dinner: 5 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

CREDIT CARDS: AE/MC/V

RESERVATIONS: Recommended for large parties

CHILDREN'S MENU: No

ALCOHOL: Beer and wine list

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes

PRICE: $10 to $15 for dinner, $9.58 for lunch buffet

CALL: (727) 797-7541 or go to www.lazizonline.com

Tribune reviewers eat anonymously. Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661.

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