Mount Everest Cafe

Over this last summer, I was fortunate enough to go on a week-long rafting trip on the Rogue River in Oregon. OARS hired me as a freelance writer to create a short narrative essay about my first experience with white water rafting. We were in the middle of the Wild and Scenic part of the river, detached from the rest of the world. We were surrounded by black bears, towering evergreen trees, and the thrill of the river, all while leaving technology and the comforts of home behind. Yet, despite the lack of kitchen conveniences, we ate like royalty.  This happened to be a culinary wilderness trip, and we ate dishes like ceviche, pan-seared filet mignon, and berry cobbler. It blew my mind to realize that it is very possible to enjoy gourmet cooking in the middle of the wilderness.

While dining at Mount Everest Cafe here in Fort Collins, a Sherpa-owned and operated restaurant that features cuisine from Nepal and Tibet, I thought that maybe years of cooking experience on one of the most harsh and dangerous mountains on the face of the earth would yield similar skills – the ability to make food taste amazing no matter the environment. But after my first bite I realized that it was a lost hope, and discovered that it tasted more like campsite grub that you gratefully devour because you just survived a bucket-list expedition, and not necessarily a taste that you enjoy while dining in a college city.

Mount Everest Cafe, on the southwest corner of Drake and Shields, began in 2004 when Dawa Sherpa brought authentic Nepalese recipes to Fort Collins. Dawa is originally from Nepal, where his home was a two-day walk away from the base of Mount Everest. He was a sherpa who took tourists on expeditions in the mountains and learned to cook Nepalese and sherpa food in desolate conditions. After moving to the Unites States in 1997, living in Boulder and working in the restaurant industry there, he and his family started Mount Everest Cafe. His brother, sister, wife, and brother-in-law were all contributing founders of the restaurant.

One afternoon I had a lunch meeting there with my business partners to hammer out the details of our upcoming marketing agency. We decided to go for the lunch buffet, just like everyone else there. There were typical Indian dishes on the line, like nan, vegetable samosas, beef curry, tandoori chicken, saag, vegetable korma, eggplant curry, and Dahl soup.

I tried just about everything on the line, and was extremely disappointed. Everything was bland, greasy, mushy, and tasted like cafeteria food. The worst part was the tough chewy texture of the beef in the beef curry. The only saving grace was the eggplant curry – this dish was downright delicious with a slightly sweet and savory flavor, and a very mild spice. Everyone at the table agreed that this meal was a flop.

I came back again for dinner with Jessica. I started with a mango lassi, which had a more sour than sweet taste to it. Definitely not the best I’ve had, and the meal went downhill from there.

We ordered the chicken MoMo appetizer – a homemade Tibetan dumpling filled with chicken then steamed. It was served with a homemade tomato dipping sauce called achar.

These looked like familiar Chinese pot-stickers, but they were poorly made. The dough was thick and chewy, and even undercooked at the pinched edges that sealed the dumpling together. The chicken stuffing was greasy, with globs of yellow grease pouring out after the initial bite. I could only stomach one, and didn’t want to continue with any more.

Jessica ordered the Thukpa entree – A large bowl of broth, egg noodles and vegetables served with homemade naan bread. It was indeed a very large bowl, but it was just as disappointing as everything else – bland with chewy undercooked noodles. However, the naan was tasty.

I ordered the lamb korma, but they were out of lamb, and I had to chose beef korma instead. It was supposed to come with sides of rice and dahl, but only the soup made it to our table.

The dahl had a chalky gritty texture, where the lentils had pretty much disintegrated. For a soup that is supposed to be heavily spiced, it was basically flavorless.

The beef korma did have a good flavor, and I really enjoyed dipping my pieces of naan in the sauce, but the beef was horribly tough and stringy. Quite frankly, it’s the worst beef I’ve chewed on in a very long time. It was no different than the incredibly tough chunks of beef in the beef curry dish I previously ate at the lunch buffet.

After getting full on naan and korma sauce, and leaving a full dish of rubbery beef and oddly chewy dumplings, I left Mount Everest Cafe with a feeling of relief knowing that I’d never have to eat there again.

After living a gourmet experience on the Rogue River, knowing that rustic wilderness is no excuse for bad cooking, I had hopes for Mount Everest Cafe’s Nepalese and Indian cuisines. Sadly, we pretty much ended up eating cafeteria slop.

Mount Everest Cafe
1113 West Drake Road
(970) 223-8212
www.mteverestcafe.com

Kid-Friendly? There is a very strange kids’ menu with only a few side-item-type foods. Nothing that qualifies as an entree.

Parking: Parking lot

Healthy Options? Many vegetarian dishes

Budget-Friendly? Most dishes average $10

Recent Health Inspection: Unavailable (site is not functional at this time)