Sometimes a restaurant opens that reminds you of home; it just has that comforting feeling like you could spend the entire night curled up with a hot cup of tea. RM Bistro, which opened in October in Commack NY and serves progressive Indian cuisine, is one such place. The owners and chefs, members of the Verma family, are not new to the restaurant business as they owned and worked at the well known Rangmahal Indian Restaurant in Hicksville up until its closure. Rangmahal was a favorite of ours for years, even catering our wedding rehearsal dinner, and we’ve missed them dearly. A skillful ability to make a meal a  masterpiece runs through this families veins, and they make every patron feel like a member of that amazing family.

RM Bistro is a new take on Indian cuisine, fusing classic Indian flavors with American, Mediterranean, and other cooking styles and ingredients; think Greek style salad jazzed up with masala hummus and charred kale for example. The Crispy Artichoke Hearts is another must try ‘taste’. These chickpea flour and tumeric battered and fried bites are not oily and pair mindblowing well with pairing sauce they are served with.

While the menu indicates only gluten free appetizers and breads, in the tradition of Indian cuisine almost every main entree can be made gluten free. For seafood try the Shrimp Baingan Bhartha, a transitional eggplant dish topped with shrimp. Your mouth will thank you for the sweetness and spice that meets it with every bite, and the shrimp is a good pallet cleanser. Seafood not your e game? Try ANY of their vegetable dishes, we’ve gone two times and we’ve had the Aloo Gobhi (potato and cauliflower), Bhindi Masala (Okra), and the RM Shahi Vegetables (Mixed vegetables). We can’t speak to their meat dishes, but I’m sure they are equally as phenomenal.

Pair those main dishes with the Besan Pura (chickpea pancakes) if you miss the naan, and add some of the house hot sauce if you want it spicy (and I mean super spicy). The family doesn’t stop with main dishes either, they go above and beyond with their dessert and drink options as well. I cannot recommend enough the Ice Cream Trio if you can have dairy. Each flavor is served in it’s own little dish ontop of a compote of nuts and fruits. It was perfect!

The food is a melody of flavor and texture, each dish taking on it’s own personality. What I like best is that the flavors are not lost in each other. For instance many of the dishes are light on sauce compared to other Indian restaurants which essentially smother their meat / seafood / vegetables in sauce. This lets you taste the sauce AND the ingredients, bringing out the natural flavors of both and making each bite a gastronomic powerhouse.

Beyond the food RM Bistro is also encouraging music, dance and home cooking. On Friday nights you can find local musicians and belly dancers entertaining the guests. And if going out isn’t your thing you can even get home cooking classes (including history of food, shopping, and ingredient picking) from the chefs.

If you are looking for a phenomenal gluten free experience look no further than RM Bistro, the food and the atmosphere feeds your heart as well as your belly. You won’t go hungry.