Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

International Heat

Place

World Curry

1433 Garnet Avenue, San Diego




Hey. Here it goes. The scalp. Prickling, breaking out in sweat beads. Ladies and gentlemen, we have liftoff.

Tonight I stopped outside this big red-and-yellow sign on Garnet. “World Curry.” Hmm... Why not? I like curry. It’s like Irish stew, but spicy.

I stop at the wall menu. Must be 15, 16 curries listed there. And yes, they’re from everywhere: India, Thailand, Britain, even Japan. Lessee... The Thai curries (all with the choice of a meat, tofu, or vegetables) include mussaman (from the Muslim south of Thailand, with red chili, garlic, and onion), panang (the sweet curry with chicken, tofu, or veggies), green (with green chili, cilantro, and basil), and masala (with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and coriander). All are mixed rich with coconut milk. The Indian ones have names like murgh masala (“tomato-based North Indian curry”) and keema (a minced chicken curry with tomato, cilantro, and peas).

The spinach curry looks like a good vegetarian option, and so does the Singapore, loaded with everything from cauliflower to carrots to spuds to chickpeas and cilantro — and the Caribbean would work too, with black beans, tomatoes, corn, and pineapple. The Japanese curry — who’d put “Japanese” and “curry” in the same sentence? — is brown, with potato, carrots, and onion. The katsu is like the Japanese curry, but with a breaded pork cutlet added. That sounds like a deal, ’cause the dishes are mostly priced at $6.75 for regular, $9.75 for large. Oh, and there’s a pretty sexy-looking teriyaki curry — breast of chicken with mixed veggies and a dark teriyaki sauce “using Momoko’s old family recipe.” Hmm... Momoko. Wonder if she’s the gal at the register?

“I’m Momo,” she says when I ask. She can tell I’m dithering about choices. “The Thai curries are the most popular,” she says. “And vegetarians love the Caribbean.”

And the hot ones?

Sponsored
Sponsored

“You can have any as hot as you want,” she says.

I spot the vindaloo curry, “a hot and tangy curry for the adventurous curry eater.” Guess I’m that adventurous guy, heh heh. I order it — spicy — with brown rice and an iced tea. It’s $7.49 for the curry and $1.65 for the tea.

I go to find a seat. The place has green booths set against both side walls and a long table running up the middle. Yellow walls, and pinkish fabric banners slung below the ceiling, between big leaf-shaped paddle ceiling fans. Giant Asian photos take up one wall. The first one, I see, is of Ganesh, the elephant god. Yeah, he’s cool. I sit down. Notice that the front window lifts like a garage door. You can see the rails curving up the wall and along the ceiling. Huh. Daytime, this must open right onto the street. Great.

Gal named Devin brings up a small salad bowl with shredded cabbage, lettuce, and then, on an oval, biscuit-brown Bakelite plate, the vindaloo. It’s a brown mess of shredded chicken, plus a perfect pressed pyramid of brown rice.

I chomp in. Wow. What flavor is that? Tang of…chutney? In the meat? Whatever — yee-hi! It’s starting to pack heat. Bristles on my head’re standing up. Nose is starting to itch. This is a bronco I can ride. Only thing nagging me is that mystery flavor. I take a fork-load of the salad. Huh. Similar seductive taste.

“Rice vinegar,” says Momo when I ask. “It’s in both. Vindaloo and salad.” She sits down a moment. This is her business, with her husband Bruce. They met in Japan. He was a finance major at SDSU and went over on a student exchange. They met when she was 19, on a weekend when she was helping her uncle put on an arts festival over there. She later took Bruce to kari (curry) stalls that, turns out, dot every Japanese town. “He loved it,” she says. “So he went to cooking school in northern Thailand, where they taught curry-making.”

That’s when they had this idea: Why not create a curry restaurant back in San Diego? And not just Indian or Thai or Japanese curries, but all of them. “We’re the only ones doing this in the county,” she says. “Probably the world.”

Of course, when they opened up here 13 years ago, it was tough. “No one even knew what curry was,” she says. “We had to do a lot of educating.”

Wow. I’m getting some education myself. Like, Momo says my vindaloo is shredded chicken slow-cooked in rice vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and serrano peppers. And the soup I almost had, mulligatawny (remember that Seinfeld episode, “The Soup Nazi”?), is a thick, spicy, British-style-curry chicken soup. Mulligatawny sounds Irish, but it comes from Tamil words meaning “pepper water.”

“Would you like some chutney with your curry?” she asks. “Heck, yes,” I say. Momo gets up, brings back a jar of dee-licious apple-peach chutney that sets off the vindaloo meat with an even sweeter tang.

“Excuse me,” says this guy, Ravi, at the next booth, “but I asked for the tikka masala hot, like, spicy. It is not spicy.”

Momo apologizes.

“I know, they probably have to tame it for the PB crowds,” says Ravi. “I love this place. I bring my family all the time. And I love this beer.”

He picks up the large bottle of — wow — Himalaya Blue, from Sikkim, foothills of Mt. Everest. I swear. Next time.

I’m still curious about Japanese curry. So I order a plate to go, to take home to the long-suffering Carla.

“Hot?” says Momo. “Really hot?”

Ha! Opportunity knocks! Carla claims she can out-spice me any day. Maybe it’s time for a showdown.

The Place: World Curry, 1433 Garnet Avenue, Pacific Beach, 858-270-4455
Type of Food: Curries
Prices: Curries ($6.75–$6.99 regular, $8.99–$9.99 large, each with choice of meat, tofu, or vegetables) include mussaman (red chili, garlic, onion), panang (sweet curry), green curry (green chili, cilantro, basil), and masala (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander), all with coconut milk; Indian curries include murgh masala (“tomato-based North Indian curry”), keema (minced chicken curry); vegetarian curries include the Singapore (mixed veggies), the Caribbean (with black beans, corn, pineapple); Japanese curries include the Japanese (potato, carrots, onion); the katsu (with breaded pork cutlet)
Hours: 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday; midday to 9:00 p.m. Sunday
Buses: 8, 9, 27, 30
Nearest Bus Stop: Haines and Garnet (8, 9, 27); Grant and Ingraham (30)

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy
Place

World Curry

1433 Garnet Avenue, San Diego




Hey. Here it goes. The scalp. Prickling, breaking out in sweat beads. Ladies and gentlemen, we have liftoff.

Tonight I stopped outside this big red-and-yellow sign on Garnet. “World Curry.” Hmm... Why not? I like curry. It’s like Irish stew, but spicy.

I stop at the wall menu. Must be 15, 16 curries listed there. And yes, they’re from everywhere: India, Thailand, Britain, even Japan. Lessee... The Thai curries (all with the choice of a meat, tofu, or vegetables) include mussaman (from the Muslim south of Thailand, with red chili, garlic, and onion), panang (the sweet curry with chicken, tofu, or veggies), green (with green chili, cilantro, and basil), and masala (with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and coriander). All are mixed rich with coconut milk. The Indian ones have names like murgh masala (“tomato-based North Indian curry”) and keema (a minced chicken curry with tomato, cilantro, and peas).

The spinach curry looks like a good vegetarian option, and so does the Singapore, loaded with everything from cauliflower to carrots to spuds to chickpeas and cilantro — and the Caribbean would work too, with black beans, tomatoes, corn, and pineapple. The Japanese curry — who’d put “Japanese” and “curry” in the same sentence? — is brown, with potato, carrots, and onion. The katsu is like the Japanese curry, but with a breaded pork cutlet added. That sounds like a deal, ’cause the dishes are mostly priced at $6.75 for regular, $9.75 for large. Oh, and there’s a pretty sexy-looking teriyaki curry — breast of chicken with mixed veggies and a dark teriyaki sauce “using Momoko’s old family recipe.” Hmm... Momoko. Wonder if she’s the gal at the register?

“I’m Momo,” she says when I ask. She can tell I’m dithering about choices. “The Thai curries are the most popular,” she says. “And vegetarians love the Caribbean.”

And the hot ones?

Sponsored
Sponsored

“You can have any as hot as you want,” she says.

I spot the vindaloo curry, “a hot and tangy curry for the adventurous curry eater.” Guess I’m that adventurous guy, heh heh. I order it — spicy — with brown rice and an iced tea. It’s $7.49 for the curry and $1.65 for the tea.

I go to find a seat. The place has green booths set against both side walls and a long table running up the middle. Yellow walls, and pinkish fabric banners slung below the ceiling, between big leaf-shaped paddle ceiling fans. Giant Asian photos take up one wall. The first one, I see, is of Ganesh, the elephant god. Yeah, he’s cool. I sit down. Notice that the front window lifts like a garage door. You can see the rails curving up the wall and along the ceiling. Huh. Daytime, this must open right onto the street. Great.

Gal named Devin brings up a small salad bowl with shredded cabbage, lettuce, and then, on an oval, biscuit-brown Bakelite plate, the vindaloo. It’s a brown mess of shredded chicken, plus a perfect pressed pyramid of brown rice.

I chomp in. Wow. What flavor is that? Tang of…chutney? In the meat? Whatever — yee-hi! It’s starting to pack heat. Bristles on my head’re standing up. Nose is starting to itch. This is a bronco I can ride. Only thing nagging me is that mystery flavor. I take a fork-load of the salad. Huh. Similar seductive taste.

“Rice vinegar,” says Momo when I ask. “It’s in both. Vindaloo and salad.” She sits down a moment. This is her business, with her husband Bruce. They met in Japan. He was a finance major at SDSU and went over on a student exchange. They met when she was 19, on a weekend when she was helping her uncle put on an arts festival over there. She later took Bruce to kari (curry) stalls that, turns out, dot every Japanese town. “He loved it,” she says. “So he went to cooking school in northern Thailand, where they taught curry-making.”

That’s when they had this idea: Why not create a curry restaurant back in San Diego? And not just Indian or Thai or Japanese curries, but all of them. “We’re the only ones doing this in the county,” she says. “Probably the world.”

Of course, when they opened up here 13 years ago, it was tough. “No one even knew what curry was,” she says. “We had to do a lot of educating.”

Wow. I’m getting some education myself. Like, Momo says my vindaloo is shredded chicken slow-cooked in rice vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and serrano peppers. And the soup I almost had, mulligatawny (remember that Seinfeld episode, “The Soup Nazi”?), is a thick, spicy, British-style-curry chicken soup. Mulligatawny sounds Irish, but it comes from Tamil words meaning “pepper water.”

“Would you like some chutney with your curry?” she asks. “Heck, yes,” I say. Momo gets up, brings back a jar of dee-licious apple-peach chutney that sets off the vindaloo meat with an even sweeter tang.

“Excuse me,” says this guy, Ravi, at the next booth, “but I asked for the tikka masala hot, like, spicy. It is not spicy.”

Momo apologizes.

“I know, they probably have to tame it for the PB crowds,” says Ravi. “I love this place. I bring my family all the time. And I love this beer.”

He picks up the large bottle of — wow — Himalaya Blue, from Sikkim, foothills of Mt. Everest. I swear. Next time.

I’m still curious about Japanese curry. So I order a plate to go, to take home to the long-suffering Carla.

“Hot?” says Momo. “Really hot?”

Ha! Opportunity knocks! Carla claims she can out-spice me any day. Maybe it’s time for a showdown.

The Place: World Curry, 1433 Garnet Avenue, Pacific Beach, 858-270-4455
Type of Food: Curries
Prices: Curries ($6.75–$6.99 regular, $8.99–$9.99 large, each with choice of meat, tofu, or vegetables) include mussaman (red chili, garlic, onion), panang (sweet curry), green curry (green chili, cilantro, basil), and masala (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander), all with coconut milk; Indian curries include murgh masala (“tomato-based North Indian curry”), keema (minced chicken curry); vegetarian curries include the Singapore (mixed veggies), the Caribbean (with black beans, corn, pineapple); Japanese curries include the Japanese (potato, carrots, onion); the katsu (with breaded pork cutlet)
Hours: 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday; midday to 9:00 p.m. Sunday
Buses: 8, 9, 27, 30
Nearest Bus Stop: Haines and Garnet (8, 9, 27); Grant and Ingraham (30)

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tijuana sewage infects air in South Bay

By September, Imperial Beach’s beach closure broke 1000 consecutive days
Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader