A Venezuelan man, and Asian man and two Caucasian girls walk into a bar...

The Beau and I had an impromptu dinner last night with one of his old college friends and his girlfriend. Having just seen Slumdog Millionaire (amazing film! now one of my absolute favorites), we were both craving Indian food. Our never-fail quick Indian restaurant in the city is Kennedy's, which is an Indian restaurant inside an Irish pub (as the Beau puts it, "what happens when an Irish pub and an Indian restaurant mate"). The result is a strange combination of pool-hall noise, a dive bar crowd, and the mouth-watering smell of curry in the air. It's probably one of the few dive bars that doesn' t actually smell like a dive bar!

We don't go there for the crowd or the pool tables though. We go there for the food. I usually get their lamb masala dosa, which is a crispy crepe-like shell about 15 inches wide wrapped around spiced lamb, potatoes and veggies. Last night we went family-style though and ordered a few different dishes to share, along with pitchers of beer (Dos Equis, to add another layer of complexity into our already ethnically diverse dinner!), naan (plain, garlic, and paneer, which is a type of Indian cheese) as well as some rice. We all shared:

• Onion bajhi, which is like onion rings (but better) with Indian spices
• Chicken do-piazza, covered in tasty onions and peppers
• Bhindi masala, which is ochre with spicy onions and tomatoes
• Lamb vindaloo, a spicy stewed lamb and potato dish
• Lamb korma, stewed lamb in a creamy sauce

Everything was delicious, but the highlights were the chicken and the lamb korma. We (obviously!) ordered way too much food, and there was enough leftover for probably four more meals. The total for four people plus two pitchers of beer was $84. Not too bad for amazing food and great company!

P.S. Another great thing about Kennedy's is that they deliver to Telegraph Hill, North Beach, Russian Hill and the Marina until 3 am on weekends. Just in case you're craving some late night Indian (and the inevitable heartburn that will follow)!