I Have Achieved Nirvana

"Nirvana," to my knowledge, is the only Indian food restaurant in all of NOLA. Fortunately, since it is the lone representation of the genre, it is also delicious. The service however, has ranged from just below openly hostile to completely indifferent. Sometimes I think they treat us like crap to test our love of Nirvana. Once 8 of us went on a Sunday afternoon for the buffet, and though there were plenty of tables they could push together, they made us wait 20 minutes until the one large table cleared out. But of course they knew we would wait.

EZ's favorite thing to get on the buffet is the rice pudding. He will always fill a soup bowl with it rather than use the small metal bowls provided, and he gets inordinately grumpy if they run out and don't refill it. He's then forced to lope around the kitchen area until he can hunt someone down to bring some more out.

And no matter when we go in there, the same 3 guys are working the room, which makes us think it is a family run and these guys are enslaved to the restaurant, which is why they are so bitter. I, however, have made it my personal quest to win them over. We always tip an insane amount and am sure to greet the waitstaff and say "thank you" for every activity, regardless of how shittily performed.

Our usual ritual is that we go on Sunday after EZ gets out of church. This past Sunday was our first trip since our return to New Orleans. And of course, the same three guys were there, but this time they greated us when we entered in a friendly manner. And most surprising of all the moment we sat down, the bald one brought me a chai, which is what I order ever time we go. I was completely stunned, and I swear I almost cried.