Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
An all-American diner
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Generous and straightforward, Sparky's throws in some Italian, Mexican and Cajun too
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Food sans frills At Sparkys Photo: R. Ragu
My trainer at the gym is eyeing me suspiciously these days. I'm dreading the day he makes me get on the weighing scale, flexing his muscles menacingly. And it's all because of those chocolate brownies.
Warm and velvety, speckled with crunchy nuts and topped with fudgy chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream, the brownies could be poster boys for the food at Sparky's - Chennai's first all American Diner.
Because this is a restaurant that believes in straightforward, generous cooking. No pretensions. No fancy frills. And, above all, no calorie counting. Comfort food at its most basic.
And, judging by the crowds at the restaurant on weekends, it's working.
Barely two weeks after the diner opened, it's already got a steady flow of regular patrons, some of whom come in as often as thrice a week. And they're there as much for the food, as the Chef. Because Sparky's is, to a large extent, a personality driven restaurant and its American Chef-Owner, Thom Petty, makes it a point to get on back slapping terms with his customers. Even if it means passing nasty cracks about diets, which involve eating your friends' French fries. ("Because calories don't count when they are from someone else's plate. Oh, yeah, and abuse comes at no extra cost here," he grins.)
Though, to be perfectly honest, if you're a calorie counter, you'd be far happier elsewhere. Because even the soup here is stocky. The French Onion soup, for instance, comes like a little pie, sealed with thick, stretchy cheese, which you have to cut through to get at the steaming soup, crammed with browned onions.
Since America is an amalgamation of cultures, the menu incorporates Italian, Mexican and Cajun cooking, besides serving up the obligatory burgers and roasts. So there are golden-brown burritos, beds of spaghetti and rice served with spicy Tallahassee. And, of course, chicken wings, draped in deliciously smoky barbeque sauce.
However, since every item on the menu is indulgent, and the portions are big enough for two, eating here often might just mean that you can eventually get a part time job as a blimp. Adding salads to the menu would be a good move, especially because the Diner already has an interesting collection of dressings.
And dessert's as all-American as apple pie: crusty, spiked with cinnamon and drenched in caramelised sugar, the apple pie here is great, though it would probably go better with whipped cream than icecream, considering how sweet it already is.
The Diner is Spurtank Road. Call 52144206 if you lose your way. But that's unlikely. Because there's an unabashedly neon light above the Diner that screams, 'Sparky's: Never Trust A Skinny Chef'.
SHONALI MUTHALALY
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
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