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by Dr. Stephanie Lemelle & Dr. George Thomas
July 1, 2010

Click here to get 10% off coupon for Rangoli's Indian Cuisine.

Dr. Stephanie Lemelle was born and raised in New Rochelle. She continues to live here with her husband, Dr. George Thomas, originally from Mt. Vernon, and their children who attend local schools. Although busy with their medical careers and raising their family, they often take advantage of the convenience of relaxing over dinner in downtown New Rochelle, and of course enjoying the excellent food.

On Friday evening a few weeks ago, Drs. Stephanie Lemelle and George Thomas enjoyed dinner at one of their favorite downtown restaurants, Rangoli Indian Cuisine. They are clearly not alone in making this a favorite, since Rangoli has maintained an excellent rating by Zagat.com for almost a decade and for six years has been named "Best Indian Restaurant in Westchester County" offering "fabulous warm service and flat out good fare."

 “As we entered Rangoli, we were impressed by the warm décor and the even warmer greeting of Anu Nagpal. Anu, beautiful in her traditional Indian dress, explained that Rangoli is often interpreted as the "festival of colors," and the lounge area where we relaxed over a drinks (Rangoli has a full service bar) before going in to dinner, clearly illustrated this with its colorful blend of authentic Indian furnishings, carpets and art.

Anu and her husband Som are the owners of Rangoli which relocated from Pelham a several years ago. We were seated in a comfortable and attractively appointed dining room as Anu told us the history of her family and their restaurant and brought us some crisp bread and tamarind relishes for the table. We decided to try the vegetable Samosa for an appetizer while we immersed ourselves in the fascinating menu. The Samosa turned out to be a deep fried pastry with a vegetable/potato filling. It was served with a mint dipping sauce and was yummy!  A little spicy, and full of flavor.

Since George is a vegetarian, he chose Sag Paneer as his main course, home-made cheese cubes in a spinach puree. It came in a substantial bowl and was fragrant with Indian spices.  Since I’m not fond of overly spicy food, Anu suggested several dishes that would fit the bill, and I decided to try the Mango Chicken.  Wow!  Chunks of chicken and mango in a cashew sauce…very rich and creamy and totally delicious! We also added some Rangoli’s homemade nan bread, kind of like pitas, but tastier. We had some garlic, and some with raisins and fruit. Both were excellent.

Although we were stuffed at this point, we decided to try Rangoli’s Mango Lassi, a smooth sweet yogurt drink blended with fresh mango…and it was a cool, refreshing treat.

Since our visits to Rangoli are always great, and the food so good, we went back again recently, and discovered more delicious and intriguing dishes. This time I had the Tandoori shrimp which came sizzling on an iron skillet with excellent shredded vegetables. George had the Malai Machi, salmon cooked in white wine with almonds and cashew paste.  Both dishes were terrific, not spicy, and came with the best Basmati rice I’ve ever tasted. These dishes would appeal to anyone who loves good food, not only connoisseurs of Indian cuisine.

As we have come to expect, eating at Rangoli is a lovely way to spend an evening. The staff is warm, the décor is lovely, and the food exceptional. We highly recommend a visit. And, as Anu explained to us, Rangoli can cater your private family and corporate party, both off premises, as well as in their restaurant which accommodates 170 people and has facilities for live performances and multimedia presentations.