Most of us love food we talk about it, think about it, plan for it and of course consume it, but don't you sometimes just get bored with the average menu choices offered. Occasionally you need to shake it up a little. After all, variety is the spice of life.

It's a long way from Tamil Nadu, located on the southern tip of the Indian peninsula, to Anna Maria Island, but four friends all found their way here. Since they had shared experiences in the hotel and restaurant business in the Caribbean and in Colorado, opening a restaurant on our Island was a natural choice.

In February Ramkumar Kamatchi, Vijayakumar Muthusamy, Narendrasingh Saud and Baskaran Jeyachandren opened The Island Spice restaurant in Bradenton Beach. The partners' concept was to design a multi-cuisine restaurant offering authentic Indian dishes along with American dishes, providing the ability for friends dining together to all have a choice.

The Island Spice is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can eat in its bright, open dining room or call in an order to go on your way home from the beach. Its breakfast menu has a variety of eggs choices including Eggs Benedict in addition to pancakes, Belgian waffles, lox and bagels and French toast. For lunch you can choose from a blackened fish sandwich, a Rueben, a burger and more in addition to Indian and curry dishes.

Dinners feature curried lamb, shrimp curry and chicken dishes as well as vegetarian choices liked curried potato and spinach and curried chickpeas among others. The Island Spice also has beer and wine offering six different tap beers and house wine. Their prices are affordable, and most people take home some of the large portions offered.

The partners have future plans for their young business including a further development of their menu choices to include Asian and Caribbean dishes complementing the existing Indian and American dishes creating a true fusion multi-cuisine establishment.

They also are planning on stepping up their take out and catering business with the ability to cater parties up to 100 people with a variety of cultural dishes. They view catering as an every day event, not just for parties, and encourage local businesses, clubs and family get togethers of all sizes to think outside the box the when next ordering out. Shortly their website will allow orders to be placed on line.

So the next time your husband wants a burger and you're dying for curry, you'll know exactly where to go. If indeed variety is the spice of life, then The Island Spice is the way to shake up your food choices by offering a range of menu items to put the spice back in your life.

The Island Spice

1701 Gulf Dr. N.
Bradenton Beach
941-527-0123

TheIslandSprice.com

Monday-Friday
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday
7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

All major credit cards
accepted

 

The recent news of a trade-gone-bad creating a large $2 billion loss for J.P. Morgan Chase is the latest jab in the war of needles pricking away at investor confidence. With memories of the financial crisis of 2008, the flash crash in 2010, Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the seemingly endless Eurozone troubles still fresh in our minds, the last thing we need is a lack of confidence in the soundness of our banking institutions.

Any loss with the word billions after it is a big deal. But, for a large institution like J.P. Morgan Chase, it is not even close to being big enough to bring the firm down. In fact, the estimates of the loss are still growing as the complicated, illiquid trade has still not been wound down, and some say the real loss could end up being $3 billion or $4 billion.

To put that in perspective, even counting a $4 billion loss, J.P. Morgan is still estimated to generate a $2 billion profit in the second quarter of 2012. So, shareholders of this large banking and investment conglomerate have a right to be angry, and there are already class action lawsuits being filed. But the bank will survive this fiasco, and I suspect CEO Jamie Dimon will likely retain his position.

Is the issue here a different one than just dealing with this loss or the future gains and losses which will surely occur? I believe the question we should be asking our representatives and senators in Congress is why a banking institution which has become too big to fail is allowed to pursue these aggressive trading strategies? Why should an institution which required taxpayer bailout funds to survive the 2008 financial crisis be allowed to risk it's future and potentially future bailout funds by taking excessive risk?

The Glass-Steagall act of 1933 required separation of banks from investment banks so that the potential for a losing trade or stock market fluctuations would not threaten the banking system we all rely on and would like to trust. Portions of Glass-Steagall were repealed in 1999, allowing for the merging of traditional banking activity in the same firm as investment banking and trading activity. Some experts blame the problems we experienced in the financial crisis to this merger of activities, and there have been some proposals to separate these activities again, reducing the risk of the next stock market decline or a failed trade from bringing down a major institution or the banking system.

I am very much a pro-business guy, but I believe it is an abuse of privilege for a bank to engage in activity which is risky and could result in using public funds (your money and mine) to save one of these large organizations. If you want to be in the banking business, then be in that business and make loans and issue CD's to make your money. If you want to be in the investment banking business and put capital at risk in the pursuit of profit, then choose that route and don't participate in traditional banking activities. If you agree, then a letter to your elected federal officials would not be a waste of time.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.