10 cents a show

Today I finally got my gumption up and went to the Snow Lion, Bloomington’s own Tibetan restaurant.  I’ve been meaning to go for the entire summer, and hence putting it off just as long, probably because I knew deep in my heart of hearts that it would not be as good as the fine establishment in McLeod Ganj by the same name.  The Snow Lion in McLeod Ganj is a hotel on Jogibara Rd. with a great restaurant that has cheap and abundant Tibetan staples (tenthuk, momos, et al.), a wait-staff consisting of a Tibetan dude with a lazy eye and a Indian kid, and a kitchen full of local Indians.  The Snow Lion in Bloomington is a restaurant established by (I think) HH the DL’s nephew that serves an eclectic mix of various Asian cuisines, with a few token Tibetan dishes (no tenthuk, and no steamed momos), a wait-staff consisting of an over-eager white kid in a Less Than Jake t-shirt (who pronounced my order of “thukpa ngopa” more like “thukpa en-go-pa”) and a kitchen full of people people chatting away in English.  Snow Lion McLeod Ganj is patronized by a fifty-fifty mix of whiteys and Tibetans; Snow Lion Bloomington is patronized mostly by the IU Philosophy department, at least according to my professor.

I know it’s not fair to compare these two, since they are literally about as far apart as two restaurants can be.  But I really miss greasy, wonderful Tibetan food and am generally feeling very nostalgic about McLeod Ganj (a feeling that is in no way related to that paper that’s due in like a week hahahaha), and a nice bowl of tenthuk is too much to ask, is it?  I suppose I’ll have to wait until I’ve saved up enough to fly back to India and pay a visit to ol’ lazy-eye and the rest of the real Snow Lion crew.