First Impressions Mirch Masala

Nothing beats a spicy hot beef vindaloo on a bitterly cold day. Because the wildly colorful taste palette of Indian food feels especially welcome on an icy afternoon, The A.V. Club ventured forth during a deep freeze to dine on spicy flavors from faraway India, to beat back the lashing cold of our windswept Midwestern plains with tantalizing flavors of tandoori at Madison’s newest paneer pakora purveyor, Mirch Masala.

The space and service: On a sunny day, bright light streams through the windows facing the Capitol, where demonstrators rally on the steps. The room is open, unpretentious, and capacious. It’s not that different from predecessor Flavor Of India, and that’s okay. It’s a good room. Service is solicitous and warm.

The A.V. Club’s food: The menu reveals 175 dishes, all of them permutations governed by rather a smaller list of ingredients. With most entrées hovering around 10 or 15 bucks, the time-honored all-you-can-eat Indian lunch buffet is probably the move for most diners, especially if you have no idea what you are doing. (Dang, 175 choices?) Winners from the buffet include a spicy cabbage, pea, and noodle salad; a wildly strange mushroom masala; and chicken daal, with mellow yellow lentils dusted in spice. The khasi ko masu goat-meat curry cooked with ginger, tomatoes, and garam masala looked askew, and it indeed proved too fatty and unfriendly to a knife. Roasted chicken masala cooked in a thick curry sauce over rice does the job as advertised and powers up when set against clay oven-cooked marinated tandoori chicken. A decent little salad bar with seasoned beans and red onions is flanked by loads of Indian condiments: two kinds of homemade yogurt sauce (the better is the minced-veggie version), onion chutney with tomato and chili, tamarind sauce (great drizzled like a syrup over naan), mint chutney with ginger and green chili, and blazing-in-a-pleasant-way hot sauce. All should be ladled liberally over a completed plate, resulting in a tasty, spicy pool afterward for dipping naan. If loaded with cash, look at the non-buffet items on the menu, among them 17 kinds of naan, including a chewy spinach bread and caramelized onion kulcha.

The verdict: Great location, baseline-to-better Indian food, and accordingly cheap buffet are savior material for the hungry. Relax and dig in.