Ordeal by Meal- Nick Cellino

I come from a family that is very Italian and very tradition-based. This means that every night, we would have sit-down dinners and the cuisine from night to night did not vary all that much. It was always either pasta, sauce, meatballs, salad, or some combination of them. We tried new things every once and a while but normally, my mom would just cook the things that she knew how to cook, which were the things I mentioned before. A couple years ago though, my mom started working a lot more, and she never really wanted to cook by the time she got home. At this point, we started going out to dinner a lot more, making it a point to try a new place every time.
My favorite food memory involves a time when my family decided to try out Indian food for the first time at a place called India Gate on Elmwood Avenue. Being there for the first time, the atmosphere was very interesting to us. The menu there is all in Hindi, though they have since added English descriptions of each dish. Not knowing how to order, each person in my family picked out a dish randomly, and much to our chagrin, the waiter responded by saying, "No, you can't get that." We were pretty confused, and so the waiter, who seemed a bit annoyed at our ignorance, went on to explain that dishes are ordered for the table, not for individuals. Also, you need to get a combination of "wet" and "dry" dishes, or in other words, dishes that come in sauce and dishes that are simply baked and served dry, like tandoori chicken. He went on to basically order our entire meal for us, and it was one of my favorite meals ever. My family goes back there pretty often, and we've even gone for my birthday the past few years because it is my favorite restaurant in the city. My favorite dish there is probably the Chicken Shahi Korma so if anybody goes there, I highly recommend it.