For Indian, best to worst, Naan on Devon, Hyderabad House, Hema's Kitchen, Sher a Punjab, Ghareeb Nawaz.
Naan, Hyderabad, and Ghareeb, if you're out late. Hyderabad and Naan had the grimiest, yet most tasty biryani. Ghareeb is about as consistent as a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.
Hema's for a date, just because its clean, but it's about as bold as 6 point Arial, no caps. If you go here, I don't think you've really haven't tried Indian food.
Sher a Punjab is the mean--neither exceptionally late nor clean, and the food does what its supposed to do.
On to Chinatown, where I have very recently (um, last night) found my new favorite Chinese restaurant: Lao Shanghai. This is the Chinese place I've longed for--one that features a"Very Chinese" menu. No joke. The heading for one of the menu pages actually read "Very Chinese". I wouldn't go here for the kung bao blank, mongolian blank, blank chow fun, or the blank fried rice (although I've sure they perform those well too). We impressed the manager when we ordered the Dong Po pork knuckle, some fried eel served on a sizzling plate, the xia jiang style lamb, fried beef liver--Chinese style obviously. Perhaps it was that we enjoyed our meal for the most part without the pretentiousness of chopsticks (cmon, steamed pork knuckle with chopsticks?) She came out to ask if it was our first time and how I heard of the place (Yelp and word 'o mouth). Like I mentioned, they probably do some of the more Americanized staples brilliantly, so don't be afraid if you aren't as adventurous. I will try their xiaolongbao next time, as I hear those are good too.
A dim sum place to check out is Triple Crown, not to be confused with Triple Crown Seafood Restaurant. This Triple Crown you can't miss because you'll find it right on Wentworth. All I had there was the chicken feet and congee, but I realized immediately this place deserved my repeated business.
Now excuse me while I marinate in my rhinovirus and polish off the last of this eel.
