The lousy thing about having an anniversary on the 4th of July is that it can be hard to find someplace for that celebratory dinner. After encountering closed doors at our usual neighborhood favorites, we ran home for a quick Citysearch search and came up with Banana Leaf. We chose Banana Leaf because we love Indian food and because it is vegetarian, but we were surprised to encounter a total novel dining experience. The extremely gracious host explained all of the food to us, telling us it was based on Indian street food. Plate after plate of chaat appetizers came out, and we eagerly devoured them all, washing them down with mango and rose lassi, not realizing there was still a full dinner buffet to follow. The dinner buffet was also wonderful, with the freshness of the ingredients shining in every dish. We especially liked the eggplant curry, even over our usual favorite paneer. Though we didn't have enough room to try the desserts, we will certainly be back, gaggles of friends in tow, to enjoy this food again.
Pros: Delicious food, very gracious service, all vegetarian, fun!
Cons: Maybe there could be some music playing?
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