I love Vik’s. Every time I go to the Bay area, I always make it a point to visit Vik’s. And as I go through my life here in Los Angeles, I pray for the day that Vik’s will show up in my neighborhood. Chances are if you are even minutely familiar with the Bay area, you know exactly where I’m talking about. The SF Chronicle just did a piece trying to figure out what makes Vik’s so great (thanks, maisnon).
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Dhokla |
From its beginnings in 1989 as a bare counter with just a few chairs at the front of the store, Vik’s Chaat Corner now fills an entire warehouse, and on a typical Saturday will serve more than 1,200 customers.”Our food is craving food for Indians,” says Amod Chopra, Vinod and Indira’s 35-year-old son, who helps run the business. “You don’t crave naan or tandoori chicken. You want to eat the zippy, zesty food.”Chaat combine various textures and flavors — crunchy, crisp and soft, spicy, tangy, fresh and sour. Crackers and dumplings, made from lentils, chickpeas or potatoes, act as vessels for a stunning variety of chutneys — mint, cilantro, coconut and tamarind… Chaat means “to lick” in HindiChaat means “to lick” in Hindi, a result of the fact that chaat originally were served on banana leaves, leaving customers to lick each leaf clean. Nowadays in India, people go out for chaat like Americans do for coffee.[link]
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p>I remember growing up what a sucker I was for the pani puri. When I was visiting Bangladesh, I was told that my sensitive stomach would not be able to withstand the water and spices of the chaat stand. Of course I would sneak out and have some anyways, and suffer through the tummy pains after. Now, you can buy all the chaat ingredients in bags and boxes at your local Indian grocery store. But let me tell you, eating pani puri at your kitchen table is simply not the same as eating it on a street corner with sticky fingers. Vik’s, though not a street corner, has the same chaat house style appeal.
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p style=”margin-right: 0px”>As if thinking about how yummy chaat is doesn’t make your mouth water enough, check out Vik’s online menu. Dahi Papdi Chaar, Sev Puri, and Pav Bhaji, they have it all.
Amod has also been instrumental in helping with greener business practices. He and his father worked together to design a disposable — yet recyclable — compartmentalized thali plate. This keeps costs of dishwashers and water down. Using counter service instead of tableside has also kept costs down. The low prices — most items are $3.50 to $5 — also account for the high numbers of patrons who crowd the tables. Amod has arranged for Steve Smith, a Berkeley resident, to pick up the used oil every week to be converted into bio-diesel fuel for his Mercedes G-Wagon. [link]
Bhel Puri
The thing about Vik’s isn’t that it’s just another Indian Sweets and Spice. But it’s Vik’s. A combination of innovative business practices, increasing populations of desis in the Bay area as well as popularity amongst the Berkeley community has made Vik’s THE chaat house to eat at- at least on this coast.
dhokla…
if i come to visit the bay area, we’re going to do a meetup there.. i’ve heard so much, and craved it for years… ahh….14 more months and i’m back in cali… :)!!!
But Taz – have you ever considered the unfair labor practices that Vik’s engages in? Their continued oppression of the working poor wills me to avoid this spot. I’m sorry, but I personally don’t support oppression – do you?
Riverside,
I’m open to changing my mind if you can prove it. There are many establishments I don’t shop at because I’ve been given proof they are opressive. Convince me on this one.
malhotra..would you boycott the whole of asia in that case?
Nice pictures..Pav Bhaji made in the giant street wok granished with some finely chopped purple onions/tomatoes, generous quotmere (sp), pav bread dripping with amul butter..that’s the sh*t, right there.
Sure you can. Now if you could just recreate the e-coli/fecal matter and other contaminants in your average glass of desi drinking water you too can recreate pakka pani-puri. Sure we can drink out the faucet here but we’ve lost our natural resistance to the galaxy of microbes, metaphysicallly absorbed into the First World. There is no free lunch in this universe. I stared at the pics for so long that I actually feel sleepy.
I don’t know about you, Riverside, but personally I do support oppression of low-skilled immigrant workers. Particularly if its means cheaper dhokla for me. Stop whining. Besides, how do you even know that Vik’s engages in unfair labor practices, anyway?
I’ve been to Vik’s a few times with family and relatives. While the food is palatable, it definitely isn’t the best you could eat in the Bay Area. My wife is a major chaat enthusiast and knows what stall food should taste like from her days in Pune. I personally like Chaat Cafe. For good pani puri, the best alternative is to go to Dana Bazar in Fremont. One caveat about that place, however. They are horrible in food handling and I regularly have seen them handle food and money without using gloves or washing their hands. My 2 rupees…
Blah!
Text from this link:
Whoa.. two or three days to make sambhar? Ayyo! My mom will roll her eyes if she she’s this. Hmm.. should send the link to her!
I’m sure those chaat-waalahs in Pune were really careful about wearing gloves when handling the food and money as well…
You guys and this link got me craving ‘RasRaj’ in good ol cerritos. For now..I will make do with ‘Git’s’.
As for the lack of cleanliness…why pick on the establishments in the US? We all know how fantastically clean and supreme food places in India and Kenya etc (where I am from) are. The pickier you are about stuff like that..the sicker you get!
Go ahead and tell me off about this one..hehe.
I’m sure those chaat-waalahs in Pune are no better, but you expect a little cleanliness here. Or maybe you shouldn’t?
I know this is about Vik’s and not about which restaurant to go to for chaat in the Bay Area, but I cannot resist talking about the umpteen other alternatives. Vik’s closes at 6pm and it is certainly not convenient. Down in the South Bay, there is Chaat House (not Chaat Cafe) which has good Delhi-style chaat, and there is Real Ice Cream which has Bombay-style chaat. If you try those places (and Dana Bazaar’s Pani Puri) Vik’s will become redundant and unnecessary.
Ask me.
ha ha..that’s true. But those chatwallahs charged a mere Rs 2 for that stuff. No matter how hard people try to prepare “home made” (ghar ka bana) aloo-tikki, pani puri or behl puri, they’ll never be able to replicate the street chat. The sutff that you get in streets is far more delicious. So much for “ghar ka bana” khaana.
meh…the food looks terrible…nothing comes close to the stall foods in India…unhygenic they may be but it’s damn good. I can handle diarrhea once in a while.
do things like gol guppa and papri chatt qualify? There are few places that serve these – my desi friends think I’m crazy when I describe the yumminess of tamarind, yogourt, chickpeas and potatoes with that tangy juice/sauce. Is this an acquired taste that only us brown peeps get?
I don’t know how anyone could put Chaat Cafe over Vik’s! Vik’s is so friggin good and chaat cafe is just so bland and blah. I’ve tried a few and none have satisfied me like a meal at Vik’s. Like you Taz, no trip of mine back home is complete without a visit =)
Damnit, severe craving for some that of that Chaat.
Metric,
Gol guppas and pani puri are the same thing. I think bengaulis call them “puchka”.
Out of context – but does anybody have a good recipe for that “meethi imli chutney” that they put on the tikkis etc.
I hear ya – I just ordered some papri chaat. It can’t be good for the hips, but what the hell – it’s damn yummy. The restaurant owner’s daughter fell asleep on the phone as I was giving her my address – lol – i waited for a about a minute and then finally said “umm…. hello?”. Poor kid – restaurant employees work hard and the hours are ridiculous.
Its called “sonth” in North India..sorry I don’t have the recipe but I know that its better when made with jaggery (“gud”) instead of sugar.
I would tend to agree that the chaat at Vik’s is over-rated. I went there a couple times to make sure that I was not making an incorrect call: but Vik’s chaat is great for the uninitiated. But for some one who has grown up on good chaat, Vik’s is like a nightmare, the crowds, the mis-management and on the top of it all: poor quality food. I would not recommend it to enemies, even they deserve to be poisoned with a fine quality one!
oh, what a tease, taz! i was born in a small clinic in mumbai across from a pani puri hawker….ram aur shyam was the name of his stall. he’s still operating….and now has upped his prices because he makes his chutneys out of bisleri! so no upset tummy for me! absolutely d’lish.
there’s a great indian grocery store in the dallas metroplex (taj imports…i believe that it is the largest desi grocery store in the country)….and there is a chaat corner (and a sugarcane juice machine!)….the guy making the bhel etc is from delhi…..different from the mumbai style, but damn good in his own way. if y’all are in the area, it’s worth stopping at. let your mouth orgasm.
Man, I am drooling on my computer reading this. It is totally unfair that there are no chaat places here in Manila. Even good Indian food is not available……oh man, I miss the bay area!!!!
As far as Vic’s is concerned, their food just does NOT do it for me. I have been there 3-4 different times and have ordered different dishes, but it did not make a believer out of me. Same with some friends I took there. In fact I thought Dana Bazar served better food.
before you are swayed by the haterade 😉 trust the people who were actually raised/lived in the yay urrea (read: sonia and ME). vik’s is and always was the shiz, ever since it opened in the back of that cozy store. by the by, there were no chairs when it started. there was a small counter along the right-wall with napkins…and that was it. all they sold was samosas, the first time i went. i will admit that the amount of yumminess has decreased slightly over the last few years, but that’s tolerable b/c
a) the mango lassis are so good, finicky babies who’ve refused all else for a few days and put their parents at wits end suddenly start guzzling. two. (true story)
b) their menu suddenly has wayyy more to choose from, including this aloo curry i’m still craving, which was the special the last day i went.
mmmm, vik’s. 🙂
They have chaat in Bangladesh? That means, at a minimum, chaat stretches from Punjab to Bengal. I also know it’s eaten throughout the Hindi-speaking areas. Do they have it in Pakistan? Is is eaten in South India?
So…”chaat” is kind of like yum cha: little bits to eat with tea..
TAZ MUST STAY!!!
yes…but does it have christmas lights like NYC’s hyper-authentic Milon?!
Has chat been patented yet??
If not, I will do it.
Amitabh (#26)
Chat is eaten throughout North India. In fact if I have to make a guess, I would say Chat owes its origins to Areas surrounding Delhi and Lucknow [Wiki Says], it might have to do something with the fact that pre independence both were centres of urdu culture*
Regards
Has anyone ever eaten at the chaat place (forget its name) in Delhi, by the UPSC building near the India Gate gol chakkar.. ooohh yum yum.. my dad tells us stories about how long it has been there.. how it was shut down by the police years ago (was un’licensed’) but was given a license and allowed to be set back up due to public demand..!! Their stuff tastes grreat and it is (or at least seems to be) verry clean! Hmm.. miss those days!
Its def not the same eating Gol-guppas in the kitchen. It was fun standing at the stall where the “bhaiya” would give, rather distribute it one by one. You also had to wait for your turn to get one or just steal one from under other people’s noses. I miss Delhi now
ok now im sooo in the mood for chaat (or any good indian grub), but im in dc. not sure where to go. any ideas?
Jeet ~ If you’re in the Bay Area you can get the same experience at Dana Bazaar in Fremont on the weekends =)
sajit and i adoooore Rasika (i think it’s at 6th and D?) but it’s pricey ($15 black and coke? are you kidding me?). there’s this spinach chaat dish that is unlike anything i’ve ever had. quite addictive. the ragda patties are also excellent.
i had chat at indique once, wasn’t bad.
i consider rasam-vada to be chaat, for that, go to Amma’s in gtown, i.e. where we held our meetup. 🙂
Okay, all this talk about chaat.. and I’ve been craving golguppas for days! How about someone helps a sister out and suggests a good place in NYC? Don’t say Sukhadia’s or I will come after you. How about someplace a little more authentic N.Indian? Anyone?
Re: “Okay, all this talk about chaat.. and I’ve been craving golguppas for days! How about someone helps a sister out and suggests a good place in NYC? Don’t say Sukhadia’s or I will come after you. How about someplace a little more authentic N.Indian? Anyone?”
Well, I’m definitely not a chaat expert, but I thought Dimple both in Manhattan and Queens is pretty good (personally I prefer the Jackson Heights one). Lots of variety, too.
Not in NYC, but I like Dimple in Jackson Heights but Rajbhog (in Jackson Heights) also has great chaat, coupled with a much cleaner store if that matters =)
The rose milkshake at Dimple is really yummy!
Despite being one of the busiest eateries in Berkeley,the unprofessional approach drips like oil from their Chholas.Cleanliness is something that is non existent.I don’t think any one there looks professionally trained in food handling.To me , the food doesn’t taste that good either.The place & food are highly over rated.You can find better tasting food in bay area,in a much cleaner surrounding.
There is nothing like eating gol-gappas on a ‘thela’ by the road. Each chat-wallah had his own style. Some told you to keep count of the gol-gappas that you had hogged while some kept the count for you. You never had to order a specific amount of gol-gappas…just stand there with a “pattal” (a kind of crude bowl made from leaves) and the chat-wallah will begin his ritual of serving gol-gappas one by one. Most of them didn’t even keep count..it was all based on trust. i miss those good old days in Lucknow.
Of course we do. I don’t know why people assume Pakistan is so different – my favourite things to eat while I’m there are bhel puri and dosas.
Dosas in Pakistan. Wow. 🙂 Now that you say so, I remember this Cricinfo peice that had one of their reporters go to a restuarent that specialized in dosas in Lahore or Karachi (am not sure where)!
hi, vikas i am your friend rahul