Peak Charm

Peak Restaurant & Bar, 2901 Fair Dr, Ste 190, Fort Worth. 682-250-3265. Noon-2am daily.

Anyway, Peak Restaurant & Bar. I love it, and the food is only a minor reason why.

With a similar, older location in Irving, Peak is a year-old sports bar of sorts near the intersection of I-35N and Western Center Boulevard in North Fort Worth. “Of sorts” because burgers, pizza, and almost everything else normally associated with the televised display of in-shape people throwing, catching, and shooting balls and pucks are not on the menu. Instead, think east of here. Like far east.

If you asked me to locate Nepal on a globe, I’d be as clueless as the current White House occupant trying to find Missouri or Iowa on a U.S. map. All I know of the historically sacred place is mountains, and most of what I know of them stems from my 2007 reading of Pynchon’s Against the Day. Worldly, I am not. I grew up in the same Rust Belt house where my mother was raised. Intercontinental travel took us as far as New Jersey. I’d never tasted Indian food or similar cuisines until well into my 20s. I’m 54 now, and my Death Row meal would most certainly be Bombay Grill’s chicken tikka masala with a ton of that fluffy naan they do so well. Peak’s Far East delights do not compare to Bombay Grill’s (my Indian food barometer), though never having tasted “authentic” Indian or Nepalese fare, I can say that Peak’s less buttoned-up take — lacking in bold, neat, complementary flavors — is more than made up for in ambiance.

Peak sits in a strip mall set back from a massive Western Center-facing Race Trac. At night, with the white lights of the gas station burning as brightly as a thousand suns, Peak and its fellow tenants recede into shadow. To combat the darkness, neon lighting outlining the sports bar’s storefront windows glows prismatically. The trick works. You may not know what all those colorful lights mean — sports bar? smoke shop? Fight Club? — but it’s gotta be something fun.

Inside is just as wonderful. Here you have an Indian restaurant geared toward American sports fans, and I can’t imagine there’s anything else like the Peak franchise in the Western hemisphere. That alone is reason to recommend the place. In all my visits, I’ve never seen any one of the 900 TVs on the walls tuned to soccer or cricket. It’s all the Big Four plus golf and combat sports, every shot, block, toss, swing, and head fake unwinding to a soundtrack of Indian pop music. (!) Yeah, there’s a little Borat vibe going on here, but it’s endearing, not grossly capitalistic.

Much effort has gone into the décor, from the hallway to the restrooms realistically painted to look like lockers and the silhouettes of athletes in action beneath the west wall of TVs to the sports jerseys, equipment, and photos hanging up and the small stage outfitted with chairs, two mics, and a pastel-neon sign indicating “live music.” Very nice!

Of all the entrees my family and I have tried since discovering Peak a few weeks ago, the butter chicken masala always hits the spot. Mixed with cumin, garlic, and other traditional spices, it’s cooked well and has a little zip. Another dish we love is the saag paneer, a creamy mélange of spinach and cheese cubes in assorted spices and other veggies, most noticeably fragrant garlic and onion. I’d also recommend the lamb bhuna, tender meat with gently fried onion and garlic in a zesty, brown semi-dry sauce. Can’t complain about the fluffy basmati rice and delightfully chewy garlic naan accompanying all our entrees.

For appetizers, the veggie samosa (two pieces) couldn’t be any more perfect, the deep-fried pockets stuffed with spiced potatoes, green peas, ajwain, and more tangoing especially well with the accompanying tamarind and mint sauces. The momo also get the gold. Fried dumplings tossed with the chef’s special spicy sauce, they come in chicken (our preference) or pork.

For adventurous eaters, Peak offers a range of dishes not to be found anywhere else under the same roof, including the Tibetan noodle soup thukpa, assorted goat specials, and chicken, pork, or mutton sekuwa (Himalayan spices and barbecue in a clay oven, served with bhuja, bathmats, and aloo achar). Balancing out the exotics are kebabs, tandoori items, chow mein, and — all hail, sports bars — chicken wings.

During happy hour (3pm-6pm Mon-Fri), domestics are only $2.50, and $3.50 gets you a 16-ounce draft, import bottle, or well/white tea shot. Nepali bottled beer and Tito’s go for 5 bucks, while a house margarita will run you $7.

The strip mall housing Peak is a kind of a Little Nepal. All the adjacent stores (clothing, nails, groceries) are also Nepalese. The only exception appears to be one of my Top 3 local sushi spots, MK’s, which has been in its corner location here for going on 20 years. In a part of town best known for macrobrews and burgers, a little diversity like this strip mall is much welcome. A little diversity aspiring to Americanness in all our brilliance and dreadfulness is just downright charming.

Peak Restaurant & Bar
Lamb bhunna $14.99
Butter chicken masala $13.99
Saag paneer $13.99
Momo …………… $13.99 (chicken), $15.99 (pork)
Veg samosa (two pieces) $6.99