The original Jackson Diner is located at 3747 74th Street in Queens off the Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Ave stop for the 7/E/F/M/R trains - so there is no excuse as most New Yorkers can manage to get here. Trust me, its worth the trip.
It's a weird looking restaurant with lots of room, high ceilings and gruff waiters. They do their job, but I wouldn't necessarily call them friendly.
I came here with my dad, Mel and Adam on a Tuesday evening, about 7pm. They weren't busy, so the food came very quickly.
We started with the Chat Papri, a mixture of crisps, potatoes, and chick peas in yogurt and tamarind sauce, something we usually order and enjoy. It's a bit sweet, tangy and spicy - a really interesting mixture of flavors and textures. I don't usually eat dairy, but I had no issue avoiding the small drizzling of yogurt on this dish. Our food came just as we were finishing off the last bite.
Perfect timing!
My dad ordered the Lamb Roganjosh, boneless juicy pices of lamb cooked in traditional kashmiri masala. He's a huge fan of lamb and rarely eats it. I loved the sauce and kept dipping the naan bread in it, but I'm not a fan of lamb so didn't really spend much time working on this. As long as dad was happy...
Adam and I ordered two dishes to share, the first was Murg Tikka Palakwala, broiled chicken pieces cooked with spinach, tomato, and ginger tempered with cumin seeds.
This was the first time trying this dish here. It was absolutely fantastic!! It was very similar to sag but had that butter flavor from tikka masala. I'm sure I shoudn't have been eating this since it most likely had dairy but I didn't care! This is probably one of my fave Indian dishes of all time. The chicken was so succulent, the spinach so flavorful that every bite was a dream come true. The left overs were equally delicious.
We also ordered the Chole Peshawari, chick peas and diced potatoes cooked in traditional punjabi style. This is similar to Chana Masala which is a common dish seen on most Indian menus. It was really good although I like my Indian food a little more spicy. I think they were being gentle with us since my dad asked for his dish mild. Oh well! I like my food SPICY!
Mel wasn't too hungry, so she ordered the Aloo Gobi, which is potatoes and cauliflower tossed with Indian spices, so that I could take it home and enjoy it for lunch the next day. I like Indian leftovers almost as much as fresh at the restaurant. They marinate and their flavors enhance - its just so freaking good!
This was the only "dry" entree we got, which complimented the other dishes nicely. I'm a fan of the "wet' India dishes, but its nice to mix it up once in a while. I took an Indian cooking class and learned how to make this, except it would never come out this good.
It was an epic meal and we ended up taking home a ton of leftovers. The naan was particularly greasy, but oh so good at soaking up the incredibly flavorful sauces. I really love Indian food and Jackson Diner serves the best in NYC (or at least what I've discovered so far). It may not be the nicest restaurant with the best servers, but their food speaks for itself.
So check it out if you have a chance, you won't regret it!
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