From a booth with a view of the interstate coursing through suburban Metairie, you can dig into a menu with links to a chef’s homeland of Kashmir, his journey from India to the United States and his time at a gas station in Hammond that he helped put on the map for great food.
Chef Bansi "Neeta" Lal and Jael Hilic at Mantra Indian Cuisine, which opened off Causeway Boulevard in Metairie in October 2020.
The chef is Bonsi Lal, who goes by Chef Neeta. In October, he and his partners opened Mantra Indian Cuisine in Metairie. It’s on a curl of service road off Causeway Boulevard, surrounded by a cluster of motels, in the address that was previously City Diner.
Mantra has a huge menu, one of those familiar rosters that unfolds like a road map and lists enough dishes for three or four restaurants. This menu isn’t just long though. It’s rich and deep.
Paneer masala with rice (left) and goat biryani at Mantra Indian Cuisine in Metairie.
An early meal showed an impressive start, with vibrant flavors, fresh touches and care in presentation.
The tandoori mixed grill at Mantra Indian Cuisine in Metairie has chicken two ways, lamb and fish.
The tandoori mixed grill was an aromatic mountain of red spice-stained chicken on the bone, chunks of chicken tikki, ground lamb kebabs and salmon, all with the tight sear of the superhot tandoor oven and the flavor the process seems to compress and compound.
The paneer masala was mellow and soothing, but also layered in flavor, with cumin and turmeric turning up just a beat behind the creaminess of the curry.
Naan flatbread with chili and garlic from the tandoor oven at Mantra Indian Cuisine in Metairie.
Lal is from Jammu and Kashmir, the name for the border region in northern India. Influences of Persia and other Central Asian lands flow through the traditional food of this area. That’s where Lal draws his inspiration, especially for dishes like rogan josh, a lamb curry, a mélange of chiles and garlic and ginger, not burning hot but robust and redolent. Lal said that’s a dish his mother cooked back home, and it’s a signature of his menu.
Goat biryani is a richly seasoned rice dish with hunks of goat on the bone at Mantra Indian Cuisine in Metairie.
He left home for America and landed in California in 2012, where he worked for the chef he now calls his mentor, the late Manjinder Singh, at a restaurant also called Mantra.
By 2018, he was in Louisiana and cooking at Punjabi Dhaba.
Samosa chaat covered with sweet tamarind sauce and chutney at Mantra Indian Cuisine in Metairie.
This is a full-fledged Indian restaurant within a gas station convenience store just off an exit of Interstate 12. Between ranks of Corn Nuts and cases of sports drinks, Punjabi Dhaba serves a sprawling menu of Indian dishes. It's a surprise for travelers pulling off the road, and it's become a destination for people who seek it out.
Paneer masala has house-made cheese in a mellow, bright tasting curry at Mantra Indian Cuisine in Metairie.
Lal left to open his own restaurant, which he named in honor of his mentor. He describes it as a humble restaurant, but one that encompasses his dream to start his own business and serve his food in just his own way.
Mantra Indian Cuisine opened in a former diner in Metairie, serving traditional dishes from northern India and other staples.
Before it was City Diner, this address was a Denny’s, and you can still see that vintage in the angular design of its exterior. Now, the once-open diner kitchen is closed off, creating an L-shaped dining room of booths and small tables. There is a small bar, serving a limited range of liquor and wine and a better selection of beer, including four brands from India.
Mantra Indian Cuisine opened in a former diner in Metairie, serving traditional dishes from northern India and other staples.
Mantra will add a lunch buffet when coronavirus safety rules permit this service to resume.
Mantra Indian Cuisine
3116 S. I-10 Service Road, Metairie, (504) 766-8004
Lunch and dinner daily (11 a.m.-8:30 p.m.)
Sliced peaches and a splash of Crown Royal give a different kind of sweet heat to one of Darian “Chef D Fresh” Williams' wing recipes.
As Hurricane Zeta roared over their Lower Garden District home last week, Caron and Shaka Garel knew there would be trouble.
It’s something in the appealing mystery rising with each turn of the ornate staircase, the perpetual twilight of the cloistered bar, the tropi…
