Last night we stopped in for dinner at Gateway to India on Chatham Road in Springfield. Our last meal there, a lunch buffet, was less than stellar. So in the interested of fairness, we decided to try a dinner there. I ordered my usual, Chicken Mahkani. Sarah got brave and tried Mango Chicken. We also ordered Paneer Pakoras for an appetizer. It’s deep fried cheese and comes with a nuclear-hot dipping sauce. I avoided the hot sauce and stuck with the milder tamarind chutney. A really tasty appetizer, though.

My mahkani was very good, although we’ve had it there before when it was better. Sarah’s mango dish was quite spicy, but just a little too different. Sort of like chicken in a mango mush. Not something we’ll be ordering again anytime soon. We also ordered one regular naan and one garlic naan along with some raita. The naan was excellent and so was the raita, although the raita portion was quite small. I ended the meal with my customary gulab jamun, which is always good at Gateway.

Tonight we had a great dinner at Silver Creek on Race Street in Urbana. We’ve eaten at Silver Creek many, many times and have often taken visitors there. The building was originally a mill (as it sits right beside Silver Creek). Then it was owned by Urbana Laboratories. It has been a restaurant since 1989, although it’s still easy to picture it as a mill. The decor is rustic, yet warm and comfortable. During the winter months there is usually a fire blazing away and in the summer months the greenhouse is a popular place to enjoy a steak cooked to order on the grill.

This evening we both ordered the 8oz. Filet Mignon. Sarah started with the Baby Spinach salad and I had a bowl of their awesome tomato, basil, and gorgonzola soup. It’s really more like a bisque as it’s quite thick. It is the best tomato soup I’ve ever had. Our steaks were cooked exactly to order, Sarah’s was medium and mine was medium rare. Both were very tasty and came with green beans, baby potatoes, and the world’s most delicious onion rings. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of Merlot with my meal. We were both too stuffed to even consider dessert. It was a superb meal, as is the norm at Silver Creek.

Tonight we ate at The Courier Cafe on Race Street in Urbana. We had intended to eat at Silver Creek, which is owned by the same folks, but the wait there was too long. We waited only 10 minutes or so at The Courier Cafe. Sarah ordered a Reuben and sweet potato fries. I had a cheeseburger and regular fries. Both meals were excellent. The Courier doesn’t do burgers as well as Gunner Buc’s in Mattoon, but then again, no one does. Still, a very enjoyable meal and great service. Cheap, too. Dinner ran us $15. Not hard to take at all. I hear their milkshakes are out of this world, but I can never quell my conscience long enough to try one. One day maybe.

Today for lunch we had the buffet at Gateway to India on Chatham Road in Springfield. We’ve eaten there many times before and usually it’s excellent. The buffet today was a bit of a disappointment, though. The Chicken Makhani (my personal favorite) was bland and watery. Often buffets at Indian restaurants are tailored for non-Indian diners and hence are low spice. Such was the case today. The Raita was also very soupy. Sarah tried Vegetable Korma, which she said tasted like reheated vegetable soup. She also tried a bean dish and a cabbage dish, both of which she liked. But she was disappointed in the Chicken Makhani as well. All in all, lunch was a letdown. Gateway to India does individual dinners better.