The Weekly Eater

BY NADINE KAM

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Ahimsa Curries | Eddie's Burgers & Frozen Custard

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Tyson Gadingan scoops out some vanilla custard at Eddie's Burgers & Frozen Custard on Waialae Avenue.

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Ahimsa entices Indian-food
aficionados with 8 curries

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Sometimes, the pen is slower than the mouth. I've been eating around without stopping to fill you in on the details, and now it's time to play catch up with a couple of places, entree, then dessert:

Ahimsa Curries

Word of any Indian restaurant opening always gets me running out the door. I guess that's true of a fair number of people, enough so that this buffet -- which is supposed to keep going until 10 p.m. -- was wiped out by 8 p.m. earlier in the week.

"You're going to make more, right?" I inquired hopefully.

"No, we are out of food," came the reply.

Newbies, obviously.

If you can overlook the lackadaisical approach, you will be rewarded by a satisfying array of about eight different curries per evening, with side dishes of basmati rice and puris (flat bread), all for $6.99

They're not wedded to any one region in India or style of curry, even managing to slip in Thai-style green curry beef.

Spice blends featuring the likes of cardamom, coriander, cloves, garlic and ginger will be considered bold by those shy in the ways of world cuisine, but will likely be considered mild by those expecting a higher pepper count.

Vegetarians will welcome a Nayratna vegetable curry offering a combination of cauliflower, peas, carrots and golden raisins, with pineapple for a lively citrus twist.

I generally try to stay away from deep-fried foods, but I couldn't resist the pakoras, slices of potato, carrot and zucchini with a crispy coating made of chickpea flour, cilantro and other spices.

Ahimsa is at the corner of Kapiolani and McCully, an unfortunate site for many a would-be restaurateur, but hopefully, diners' passion for curry will overcome bad feng shui.

AHIMSA CURRIES 1901 Kapiolani Boulevard / 942-0853 Food 1/2 Service Ambience Value Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. daily Cost: About $8 per person.

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Eddie's Burgers & Frozen Custard

What you see is what you get -- Eddie's is all about burgers and frozen custard, really a glorified ice cream with the richness of egg yolks and density that comes from remaining "unfluffed."

Eddie's is the latest effort by Ed Wary of Auntie Pasto's and Dixie Grill fame, but don't abandon your favorite burger yet. Although this one comes with the pedigree of Parker Ranch Angus Pride Beef, it's rather flat-tasting and helped considerably by the addition of bacon, mustard, barbecue sauce, cheese and your choice of raw or butter-grilled onions.

I don't know if Wary ever was a Rap Reiplinger fan but this is one of those eateries where you have a choice to make, as in "you like one cheez burga or one burga wit cheez?"

The cheese (American) burger is $4.42, and the original Eddie's burger is $3.99. The cheese (American, Pepper Jack or Wisconsin cheddar) is .49 cents. For those who didn't score high in the math section of their SATs, I did the math, and it turns out the burger with cheese is 6 cents more, at $4.48. Got all that?

Still, it's really the custard that people keep coming back for, in the form of shakes ($3.89), floats ($2.45) and basic sundaes ($2.95 with one topping).

The custard is silky smooth but melts quickly so I'd think twice about getting a cone. And while there are candies galore to ad infinitum -- a hot fudge volcano is $5.29 with said fudge, caramel, chocolate chips and macadamia nuts -- that kind of defeats the purpose of tasting the custard.

The space itself is done up in a polished blue and white, with so much light flooding the room you gotta wear shades.

EDDIE'S BURGERS & FROZEN CUSTARD 3607 Waialae Ave. (next to C&C Pasta) / 739-OOED (0033) Food 1/2 Service 1/2 Ambience 1/2 Value 1/2 Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, and 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays Cost: About $5 per person.

See some past restaurant reviews in the
Columnists section.

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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:

	excellent;
	very good, exceeds expectations;
	average;
	below average.

To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com