Venturing to the New Jackson Diner

While I was taking an Indian Cooking Class at Brooklyn Kitchen, mention of a new Jackson Diner in the city brought music to my ears.  I love Indian food, obviously since I was at an India cooking class, and Jackson Heights is the number one place to get some amazing cuisine.  I've tried a few places in Jackson Heights with mixed reviews.  I usually like going to Jackson Diner, since the food is always hot, fresh and there are tons of leftovers to enjoy afterwards.


I'm not a huge fan of all-you-can-eat-buffets since I usually can't eat that much and I love having leftovers to enjoy the next day.  Indian food is one of those special cuisines that actually tastes better the next day.


With a little online searching, I discovered it opened a few months ago and has a fairly warm reception (based on Yelp of course) so far.  The new expansion is located at 72 University Place between East 10th and 11th.  A quick ride on the L and I was there in no time.


The decor was cute, a little more modern and upscale compared to the one in Jackson Heights.  We were seated right away and was excited to discover that the back wall was a window that overlooked the kitchen where they had a tandoori oven.  It's so cool to see them skewer the meat raw, put it in the over and then later pull out perfectly baked chicken.


Their menu is much smaller than their main restaurant, but it has everything one could possibly want.

Taste of Three

We ordered an appetizer, Taste of Three, to start.  It out quickly and offered us more than we could eat.  It had one samosa cut in half, which was by far the best I've ever had.  Not that I've had all that many since I'm not a huge fan of peas, but it was damn good.  It had a few juicy piece of chicken tikka, straight from that fabulous oven I was watching the entire time I was there.  It also had 3 well sized fried fish filets called Machi Amritsari.  This was exciting for us since we've never tried seafood at an Indian restaurant.  It was a flaky white fish, perfectly cooked and seasoned with Indian spices.  You could definitely taste unique spices blended into the batter.  It was really interesting!!  Honestly, this appetizer was so large, it could have easily been shared with four people.  I was already full by the time our main course came out.  Apparently this was Adam's plan all along since he wanted to take home lots of delicious left overs.  He is a sneaky fellow.

For our main course, we did what we always do, ordered a meat and a vegetarian option.  I was SUPER excited to discover that they offered lots of Sag options including Aloo and Chana (potatoes and chickpeas).  I ordered the Chana Sag and Adam went for the Chicken Curry, since it seemed like the healthier option.  It was a showdown between curry and masala, but masala has cream - hence not as healthy and would probably give me hives.  Although I would gladly take the hives for some delicious, creamy masala!


It took a while for the entrees to come out, but I wasn't hungry and enjoyed the wait.

Chicken Curry and Chana Sag

Both were brought out in the traditional metal bowls they use at the original Jackson Diner.  The portions are generous and the food was really good.  

Chana Sag

I loved the Chana Sag, it was absolutely delicious.  I know this looks gross, but its just not a photogenic dish.  Its just sloppy green glop, but its so tasty!!!  The chickpeas were cooked perfectly and practically melted in your mouth.  The greens, because I can't tell what type of greens they used, were creamy and flavorful.  It was spiced perfectly with just enough kick to keep things interesting. 

The Chicken Curry was also really good.  It wasn't the best curry we've ever had, but it was spiced well and had lots of juicy chunks of white meat chicken.  It was a hearty portion that left Adam very satisfied.  I liked that they kept it at a medium heat, per our request.  Although Adam and I can take a bit of heat, Indian food can be quite a challenge if spiced too much.  

I have a great deal of respect for cultures that can handle their spice, and let me tell you - Indians can bring it. 

Overall, the meal was well worth the small price.  The Chana Sag was only $10, the Chicken Curry was $12 and the Taste of Three was $10.  It's really an affordable restaurant that packs a lot of flavor. The service isn't that great, but you're not really going here for that - now are you??  I still think the original Jackson Diner is FAR BETTER than this.  But let's give it some time. So I'll give the new Jackson Diner 4 stars, since it is hard to find some good Indian food up to my snobbish standards in NYC.  I would have said 3.5 stars, but they had Chana Sag, which isn't all that easy to find! 


After a spicy meal, we needed something sweet.  We stopped by Whole Foods at Union Square, since they have a really nice dessert section with many local and in-house treats to choose from.  I LOVE carrot cake, and thank goodness my partner in crime feels the same as I do about it.  I don't think I could love a man who didn't love carrot cake.  We also tried the dark chocolate honeymoon, which was this chocolate caramel pecan treat that was mighty expensive, but really good.

Isn't this just about the cutest carrot cake you've ever seen.  It had real cream cheese frosting, which is the key factor in distinguishing good carrot cake from the bad. 

There was a ton of frosting, which was both good and bad.  Good in that it tasted delicious, bad in that it was not good for my waistline.  

Definitely check out the desserts available at Whole Foods, specifically the one at Union Square.  It's a nice alternative to Max Brenner around the corner that had an hour wait just to get in on a Saturday night.