NJ Restaurants Guide - Review of Wazwan Indian Restaurant, West Caldwell, NJ

691 Bloomfield Ave - West Caldwell, NJ - Ph: 973-226-3132

- - R E V I E W S - -

New York Times

REVIEWED -- Sunday, March 21, 2004

NEW JERSEY WEEKLY DESK

RESTAURANTS; Not for the Multi-Tasker

By DAVID CORCORAN

WEST CALDWELL -- ''UNIQUE'' is not an adjective I like to throw around, but Wazwan@Santoor appears to qualify on at least two counts. Its owners, Bal and Sarita Kaul, say it is the only authentic Kashmiri restaurant in the United States. That may sound like hyperbole, but after a Web search and an e-mail exchange with a ranking ethnic-food expert, Jim Leff of Chowhound.com, I can find no evidence to refute it.

Beyond that, Wazwan is unquestionably the only Kashmiri restaurant on the planet owned and operated by an eminent toxicologist. Bal Kaul (pronounced cowl), a slight and courtly man in his early 60's, came to the Midwest from India as a medical student, earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology and for two decades held high positions in the health departments of New Jersey and New York City. He ran the world's largest anti-lead-poisoning program and patented tests for illicit drugs that are still in use today.

But Sarita Kaul, a gifted chef who followed her husband here in the 1980's (it was an arranged marriage that lasted, she says), was eager to cook for people. So Dr. Kaul took early retirement, and in 2001 they opened this trim, understated 50-seat restaurant on a nondescript commercial stretch of Bloomfield Avenue.

It has not been an easy sell. The town is, famously, ''Sopranos'' country, and nearly every restaurant I spotted on the drive from Interstate 80 was either Italian or a steakhouse or both. Dr. Kaul estimates that three-quarters of his patrons come from Montclair, 15 minutes and several sensibilities away. Even they were not much in evidence on either of our visits.

Those absent diners are missing a lot. The Kauls are from Srinagar, capital of the Indian part of Kashmir, the tormented, achingly beautiful Himalayan region long fought over by India and Pakistan. Their cuisine is northern Indian with subtle Brahmin inflections: many dishes are vegetarian, and most use no onion or garlic, relying instead on a battery of spices that Mrs. Kaul will not enumerate but that clearly include cumin and coriander and cardamom, turmeric and clove and ginger and many kinds of chilies.

The results are always satisfying, sometimes transporting. Yakhni is described on the menu as lamb or goat ''cooked in tangy white sauce,'' but that does not begin to get at the deep currents of flavor that penetrate this dish -- hot and cooling and nutty and earthy and tart, a set of sensations that almost command you to shut out conversation for a few minutes, close your eyes and concentrate on the news from your palate. Rogan josh, a familiar lamb dish that turns out to be Kashmiri in origin, calls in a different sensory region, its brick-red sauce charged with blasts of pepper and whole spice seeds.

Goat (or lamb; they seem to be interchangeable here) also figures in rista, a mild sausage that draws most of its flavor from its red-pepper-based sauce. Lamb chops, a little tough but full of character, are further energized by fenugreek. Shikar is a game bird (guinea hen, the night we ordered it) in a brown sauce that features another assortment of Kashmiri spices and the intriguing lotus root, an appealingly chewy tuber that looks in cross-section like an old-fashioned rotary phone dial.

Kashmir is known for its deep, gorgeous lakes, and fish are well handled here, notably a bracing appetizer of grilled shrimps and scallops topped with chili purée. Accurately baked salmon gets a vibrant, almost Caribbean accompaniment of mango, avocado, spinach and coriander. Rainbow trout is a bit dry, but its flavor is intact and it stands up well to another intensely spicy red sauce.

Mrs. Kaul goes easy on the butterfat, so her dishes avoid the heaviness and grease that weigh down lesser Indian cooking. Samosas, the pea-and-potato dumplings, have a light, crisp pastry crust that doesn't get in the way of the cumin-and-ginger-scented filling and the tamarind dipping sauce. Pakora, an Indian version of tempura, consists of chunks of onion, cauliflower, spinach and potato dredged in chickpea flour and deep-fried, again greaselessly.

A necessary side dish goes by the jawbreaker name boondi/kheera/booz wangan raita. It comprises bits of chickpea-flour dumplings afloat in a shallow pool of spiced liquid yogurt, given extra crunch and character with grated cucumber. Two modestly priced vegetarian dishes deliver immodest amounts of flavor: darmaloo, or potato dumplings in a fiery red sauce; and koshur chaaman, balls of homemade low-fat cheese grilled and then doused in a mildly spicy sauce painted a bright daffodil yellow, presumably by turmeric.

I love the rice pudding, runny and sweet and scented with pistachios, and what the Kauls modestly call their amazing kahwa chai, green tea with cinnamon, cardamon and chopped almonds. Gajar halva -- grated carrots and dried fruit bound with milk and sugar -- is rich and cloyingly sweet. But mango lassi, the iced fruit-and-yogurt drink, is terrifically refreshing.

About the restaurant's ungainly name: Wazwan is a Kashmiri term that translates roughly as ''gourmet cooking.'' A santoor is a dulcimer-like instrument whose soothing but melancholy twang easily evokes soft, warm evenings in a land at the foot of the Himalayas. The Kauls are self-exiles from the violence that has torn that land for the last half century, a state of affairs that has clearly broken their hearts. Bal Kaul in particular will go on about it at great length if asked, so a meal in their restaurant can be a political education as well as a culinary one. In short, a rich experience, one that fully deserves that overworked adjective ''unique.''

Wazwan@Santoor - 691 Bloomfield Avenue, West Caldwell, (973) 226-3132

VERY GOOD

ATMOSPHERE -- A dim but spotless pair of rooms decorated with Kashmiri photos, paintings and artifacts.

SERVICE -- A mom-and-pop operation, with mom and pop very much in evidence.

SMOKING -- Not allowed.

WINE LIST -- Bring your own.

RECOMMENDED DISHES -- Samosas, spicy shrimp and scallops, boondi/kheera (yogurt with chickpea dumplings); rogan josh, rista (sausage), yakhni (meat in white sauce), shikar (game bird), salmon, koshur chaaman (grilled cheese balls), darmaloo (potato balls); rice pudding, mango lassi.

PRICE RANGE -- Appetizers: $2 to $7; breads: $2 and $3; entrees: $9 to $19; desserts: $3 to $5. Lunch specials: $6.95 to $9.95.

HOURS -- Sundays by reservation only; closed Mondays. Tuesdays through Thursdays, noon to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 11 p.m.

CREDIT CARDS -- American Express, MasterCard, Visa.

RESERVATIONS -- Accepted, but necessary only on Sundays.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS -- Two steps up from the parking lot; otherwise on one level.

Critic's Review
The Splendor of Kashmir Lives On!
Subtle Spices Flavor a West Caldwell, NJ Find

Wazwan

Suburban Essex Magazine
Winter 2002

By Grace Russell

Photo by Dan Epstein

Unfamiliar to many Westerners, the Kashmir Valley in the Himalayas is a place of magnificent beauty, surrounded on three sides by Himalayan ranges. Throughout its troubled history, foreign invaders have brought changes in traditions, food habits and recipes into the valley, coloring local cuisines with their influences.

Bal Kaul, owner of this tiny West Caldwell restaurant, explains that the name of their restaurant in the Kashmiri language means "cook" (Waza), and "shop" (Waan), namely a restaurant. He speaks passionately to visitors of his homeland's history and beauty, the latter eloquently portrayed in his own photographs lining the walls.

"I love to tell people what Kashmir is all about," Kaul confides. And while Bal is the historian, his wife Sarita brings the cuisine of the area alive with a loving touch that makes diners feel right at home. "From my heart I cook," she says warmly, adding that Kashmiri food is very distinctive, and because no butter or cream are used, very healthy. Even Sarita's homemade yogurt contains only 2 percent milk. Kashmiri spices are lighter than other Asian types, she explains, and in the case of such spices as Kashmiri mint, more fragrant.

Both the milder influences of Hindu food and the garlic-and-onion-laced influences of Muslim food can be found on the menu. Although Kashmiri cuisine is in the same family as Indian cuisine, consider it a distant relative. For instance, the wrapping on the $2.00 samosa appetizer is more like a light pie crust than the Indian deep-fried version, and its filling is a terrific mix of ginger-flavored potatoes and peas with a hint of cumin.

A distinctive Kashmiri appetizer, Kabar Gah, priced at $7.00, consists of pieces of fried lamb ribs garnished with wonderful roasted and ground spices that impart a light sweetness to the dish. Vegetarians will love such dishes as the $9.00 Wangan, whole baby eggplant with a nice tomato-y kick, and Hakh-Munja, a $9.00 offering of collard greens in mild spices. Meatlovers will savor the Gushtaba, minced lamb in an extraordinarily delicious white sauce, priced at $15.00, and the spicy hot Rista, lamb meatballs cooked in red sauce, priced at $13.00. For another treat, try Wazwan's authentic version of Rogan Josh, succulent pieces of lamb cooked in Kashmiri Spices, red pepper sauce and priced at $13.00.

If you're seeking to clear your sinuses, Wazwan is definitely the place to eat. In fact, a $14.00 dish called Marchwangan-Korma, consisting of pieces of lamb cooked with tamarind and hot red pepper Kashmiri sauce, should have been served with fans, prompting us to ask if diners could "customize" the temperature of individual dishes. Regretfully not, we were told, but Bal and Sarita assured us that they are always happy to suggest dishes to suit diners' individual heat tolerances.

Kashmiri food is very labor intensive, Sarita explained, citing as an example the Mechi-Maaz, a $13.00 dish made from tender pieces of lamb cooked with fenogreek, an herb with leaves so tiny that individually picking them drives many restaurateurs to use the herb, stems and all, in their dishes. "We would never do that," she assured us. The painstaking Sarita even makes her own smooth, low-fat cheese, called Koshur, priced at $10.00, and cooked in a mildly spiced yellow sauce.

Round off your Kashmiri evening with a celestial cup of soothing cardoman/almond tea and Kheer, the best rice pudding you'll ever eat. And talk about labor intensive-Kheer takes eight hours to cook, proving that there are no short Cuts In this tiny jewel of a restaurant, only constantly unfolding revelations of a cuisine both delightful and distinctive.

Critic's Review
Very good, inexpensive Kashmiri food

Wazwan

December 21, 2001

By Peter Genovese

Kashmir, the subject of a fierce territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, is a magical, mystical place. Verdant, mountainous and beautiful - it has been called Paradise on Earth - Kashmir's most familiar tourist destination is Dal Lake and its houseboats.

A photo of the houseboats hangs on the wall of Sarita and Bal Kaul's West Caldwell restaurant, Wazwan, which opened in September. Why West Caldwell? For one, the Kauls live there, and they didn't want their restaurant to be swallowed up in a restaurant-happy town like Montclair.

Wazwan - a traditional name for Kashmiri gourmet cuisine - is a small place, with just seven tables. But Sarita Kaul's warm manner, not to mention her cooking, will put a big smile on your face. If you want to talk to the cook's husband and who is also co-owner, you don't have far to go. Bal Kaul, a public health consultant and researcher, has an office next door.

Start with some excellent green Kashmiri tea flavored with cardamom, cinnamon and almonds. "This tea is amazing. You can make a whole restaurant out of this tea," said dining companion Mike. Mike's wife, Rebecca, a colleague, tried to order every vegetarian or yogurt-flavored item on the menu, but more carnivorous, if not saner, minds prevailed.

Two appetizers, boondi raita (homemade low-fat yogurt with chickpea flour dumplings, $2) and kheera raita (the yogurt with grated cucumber, $2) were equally outstanding.

For bread, skip the poori (rolled, deep fried whole wheat dough, $2) - too greasy - and go with the naan, the traditional light, flat oven-baked bread ($3).

Pakora (broccoli, cauliflower and other fried vegetables in a chickpea flour mix, $6) may remind you of tempura, and is accompanied by two dipping sauces, a syrupy brown tamarind, and a green coriander. You'll be dipping the pakura, the bread, and anything else you can find in the green sauce. It's that good.

Gaad (trout cooked in spices and served in a red sauce, $15) was undistinguished. On the first visit, the rogan josh ($10) consisted of chunks of goat, but not much more. When Bal Kaul informed us that his wife's assistant had cooked the meal and that we did not sample authentic rogan josh, we ordered it on a second visit. This time, succulent, bite-sized pieces of meat arrived in a tangy red sauce.

It was tough to choose between the rista (lamb or goat meatballs in a spicy red sauce, $11) or the gushtaba (mint-topped chunks of lamb or goat in a creamy white sauce, $12). Both - we chose goat - were terrific. The basmati rice pulav ($5) is also good, flavored with bay leaves, cumin and cardamom.

The cumin and ginger-tinged peas and potatoes in the samosas ($2 each) were stuffed in an ever-so- light fried pastry. And there's that great green sauce for dipping. The rice pudding ($4) is a slighty nutty, tapioca-like marvel. The tender carrot cake ($3) is studded with nuts - soooo good.

"My sister cannot cook like this," Sarita Kaul says. "When I go to India, my mother secretly says to me, 'Can you cook for me?'"

Pay Wazwan a visit, and let Sarita Kaul cook for you. You'll dream happily, if momentarily, of paradise.

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