Tandoori Nights, Arlington, VA

The Market Common at Clarendon is the beneficiary of an exciting new restaurant that opened just a little over a week ago. Tandoori Nights is the second location for the Migliani family, which already established a successful Tandoori Nights in Gaithersburg, Maryland. If our experience this week is any indication, the Arlington location as well should prove to be highly successful.

Svet and I went to Tandoori Nights for lunch Thursday. It was a beautiful day and we took advantage of their large, second floor patio overlooking the Market. Inside, though, the decor is bright and exciting. Fabulous murals decorate the space, including some vibrant Indian-themed paintings on the ceiling. Bar furnished are streamlined and contemporary, and several tables in the dining room feature stylized canopies recalling Indian tradition.

The menu features items which I can best describe as popular and modern, designed for the young Washington urban professionals. Perhaps this is due to the popularization of Indian foods in American culture, but the kitchen does not forget its Indian roots. I'm not sure if they have separate lunch and dinner menus, since the menu we received featured a lot of dinner type items priced in the mid- to upper-teens. A table tent, though, listed a number of lunch meal specials priced at $7.95.

While Svet started with a fruit smoothie, we both ended up ordering the lamb kebob lunch special. The first course was an apple and shredded carrot salad dressed in a light and slightly sweet vinaigrette served in a white, boat-shaped bowl.



For the main course, they brought us clover-shaped plates with two sausage-shaped rolls of lamb barbecued in the tandoor, a bowl of thin yellow dal (lentil) soup, basmati rice studded with bits of saffron rice, and a delicious spinach dish I thought at first was going to be saag paneer, but which turned out to be pieces of miniature corn on the cob in the spinach mixture. Along with the meal came some nice naan bread from the tandoor; Svet wanted more bread, so we ordered an onion naan as well.



Service was excellent and attentive throughout the meal. We also had a visit from the restaurant manager to make sure everything was alright.

Next time you're on a shopping expedition to the Market Common (Apple, Williams-Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, etc.), stop in at Tandoori Nights for lunch or dinner. And, judging from the looks and size of the bar, it will, no doubt, soon be a popular happy hour destination for the young professionals crowd.