Natalie & Ryan: New Tastes

After family pictures at the temple and a quick nap, Ryan and I were gifted a night of freedom. Kevin and Jan watched Lilly while we went out on our "leftover" date. I call it that, because for the past month or so, every week, Ryan and his brother, Christian, have been going out for what I like to call a "bro date." They go out to a random movie and try a new restaurant. They liked their last bro date so much, they did a repeat and invited me along. We went and saw a Salt Lake City Film Society movie (kind of like Sundance) called "Grand Budapest Hotel." It's leading actor is the guy that played Voldemort from Harry Potter, and it is riddled with a dozen or so other huge-name actors. It was a great movie, I totally recommend it.

Dinner was one that Ryan had been raving about for weeks. He and Christian spontaneously tried a Pakistani restaurant, and when Ryan got home that night, he couldn't stop talking about how good the chicken was. We've been trying to get into going to random, off-the-beaten-path places; those kind of places you find tucked into a corner, and wouldn't think to go to. I personally think you can find some real gems if you're willing to take the risk. And I think it's safe to say, we did.

The restaurant is called "Zaika," and translates to "Taste the World" in Pakistani. The owners/cooks are a cute Pakistani husband and wife. When we first walked in, even though it had been a month since Ryan had been there, the wife remembered Ryan fondly and was SUPER friendly. Now that's what I call great customer service. Her husband suggested a bunch of random things, and, since the menu didn't have any translation as to what the dishes were, we trusted his suggestions....maybe too much. The food was DELICIOUS, but he brought WAY too much. We each got a chicken kabob (the chicken that Ryan was raving about), a beef kabob (a suggestion on the husband's part), a family-size plate of rice, chicken curry (his suggestion), and a big bowl of some sort of heavenly garbanzo bean concoction (also the husband's suggestion).

What I loved most about this experience is that they range the food on a spice scale from 1-3. Below 1 is for wussies, and 3 is for "natives," that like it HOT HOT HOT. Ryan and Christian stayed with 1, and I braved a 2, since I have a stronger heat tolerance than Ryan. Even the 1 was spicy, but my 2 was just right for me. Ryan was guzzling water down the whole time, but wouldn't stop eating because it was so good. This is my husband, the man that won't eat anything hotter than ketchup!! He loved the flavor so much, he was willing to suck up the heat. The garbanzo bean mixture was my favorite. I could have just eaten that and been happy. It was tame, and creamy enough that it calmed down the heat from the meats and curry. We will definitely be going back, and I will most definitely be ordering the garbanzo beans again.