Rev. David, Pastor Rowe, the Pastor from VaanMalar Lutheran Church and his wife, as well as, your humble correspondent, just returned from Chennai's greatest culinary experience: Barbecue Nation.

The rest of the folks (those now at home) went there one of their first nights in India (the fact that Glen opted out of a second trip should already be telling you something... and Drew decided to go over the Andrew's house for dinner... one word for both of you: Cowards!) and made Rev. David swear to take the rest of us (especially me--the one with the cast-iron stomach and high spice tolerance) there.

I will share the event with you by quoting from their placemat, liberally sprinkling my own comments and interpretation in parentheticals...

• Barbecues Stake Their Claim (I wish that was "Steak", not...)
• The day the Turkish nomad discovered the art of grilling, the world changed forever. (Don't try to tell anyone in Texas they didn't invent grilling).
• In culinary history, barbecues staked their claim. The charm of open fire cooking trespassed (word choice kind of brings pictures of fire walkers to mind) all racial, linguistic and gatronomic borders to find welcome adoption in every cuisine of the world.
• Seasonings (the only one I could find: red chillies... hot red chillies... really hot red chillies...), herbs and marinades (there might have been a guy named Herb at the next table) contributed to seared, chargrilled, tandoored, tossed and sauted variants (almost picturing a Burger King commercial aren't you...)
• Barbecue Nation invites you to an epicurean tour de force (I just hope the tour doesn't end sometime around 3am, standing next to an empty Tums bottle).
• Drawn from Mediterranean (if you say so...), American (no brisket... no ribs... no tri-tip... where again was the American part... oh, right, the brownies on the dessert tray), Oriental and Asian origins, this earthy (grilled mushrooms were the earthy part) experience of open fire cooking comes with a grill, right on your table (pretty cool set up... I wouldn't mind a table like this at home...).
• Skewers settle on red hot embers. Baste them with your favorite marinade (although they all come soaked in red chillie sauce and all other marinades run away in fear).
• Finish them to your preference (maybe with some ketchup or something like that to put some of the fire out).
• Sense the sizzle, soak in the aroma, tuck in the treat (lose your lips to numbness... fondly bid farewell to your tastebuds...).
• Epicurean Abundance. Fixed Charge. We encourage you to indulge in unlimited abundance (this is most certainly true).
• From our prix fix fare of five vegetarian and five non vegetarian delicacies (all ten soaked in red chillie sauce before and after roasting... and possibly again while the waiter is walking them to your table).
• Followed by a sumptuous buffet dinner (the grill on the table part is only the warm-ups... after searing away your lips and tastebuds you can eat all the "regular" Indian food you want... it also is largely soaked in red chillie sauce... except for a couple dishes that were soaked in green chillie sauce for a variation...).
• And desserts (Praise the Lord for the desserts: brownies... gulab jamun [sweet balls in syrup]... ice cream...).
• At a fixed charge of 450rupees per head (about $9).
• Tariffs, service time and portions do not restrict you. Eat as much as you enjoy. Bon Appetit!
• For more information about this epicurean adventure, you can find Barbecue Nation located in Mumbai, Thane, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Chennai, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Pune, Kolkate, Jalandhar, & Amritsar... or you can check them out at: http://www.barbeque-nation.com/. (Perhaps the entrepeneurs in the audience want to contact them about franchising opportunities...)

It really was a wonderful meal, except as Dan pointed out on the comment card--the tables could use candles...