I can’t begin a food post without sharing an experience from a few nights ago. A group of us had dinner at Indus Valley, a reasonably well-regarded desi restaurant at 100th and Broadway in New York. At some point the composer Philip Glass walked in, and one of our group, a big fan, went into a state of beatific darshan that threatened to destabilize our meal. It got worse when Glass and his companion sat at the table next to ours. My fellow diner was finally able to compose himself, give Glass props, and return to getting our eat on.
Suddenly another of my companions let out a piercing yell and pushed back from the table with great speed. Yes, there was a big old cockroach crawling up the tablecloth — not the short dark ones you often see in NYC kitchens, but a tropical-quality beast, two or three inches long (though not the flying kind). A minor tamasha ensued, during which Philip Glass turned to me and said, with an air of wisdom, “Don’t worry, they have very small appetites.”
Cockroaches happen; celebrity sightings happen too. But what was truly shocking was that the macacas brothers running the restaurant did not comp us even a round of drinks or dessert, let alone a meal, in recognition of the disgusting insect experience. I guess it shouldn’t have surprised us, seeing that they were already trying to seat a couple at a nearby two-top while the cockroach hunt was still on, but come on, what the hell kind of restaurant management is that? So, folks, if you go to Indus Valley at 100th and Broadway, watch out for big-ass cockroaches and don’t expect a discount.
Which brings me to the subject at hand. Perhaps in response to a desi dining landscape that, except in a few fortunate neighborhoods and towns, consists of the same old slop doled out from the same buffets, plus a few “nice” places that look fancy but aren’t necessarily up to snuff in the hygiene department, the idea of desi fast food — cheap, standardized and franchised — becomes a more and more compelling alternative.
We’ve mentioned this before, with reference to the Hot Breads bakery chain, but now here is another entrepreneur heading this way, this time from an unlikely starting point in New England:
Yogi Sood sits in front of his restaurant in the food court at the Burlington Mall talking strategy with his son. The conversation is not about recipes or vendors or price points. Their recipes already are great, their vendors steady, their prices fair.
Rather, this debate is about the speed at which they should conquer the world. Yogi, a 57-year-old retired engineer and the founder of Gourmet India, wants to do it quickly. Now. Yesterday.
“Fifty franchises in five years,” he says.
Vishnal Sood, 24, raises an eyebrow. He is deferential to his father but the eyebrow is ominous.
Yogi interprets: “My son thinks I’m a bit ambitious,” he says. Then he laughs.
The Soods’ company, Gourmet India, has franchises in well-selected, semi-upscale or well-trafficked malls in the Boston area. The idea is to make desi food ubiquitous in mall food courts. I would imagine there are other regional chains starting up in different parts of the country on exactly the same premise.
Still, a national chain? “It’s a big leap,” says Harry Balzer, an expert in the eating habits of Americans. “People’s taste changes very slowly.”
Sood is nonplussed. Indian food will be to the ethnic food market what Chinese food became 20 years ago, he says. He looks around the mall’s food court. Some of the heavy hitters of the franchise restaurant business are his neighbors: Pizzeria Regina, Johnny Rockets, Quiznos. “We’re already among the most popular here,” he says.
The article treads the usual ground (with a punning title too lame to repeat here): how the US market for desi food is different from the UK, etc. Still, the question is there and it’s surely worth a lot of money: what are the chances, and what would it take, to make desi food a ubiquitous option in the malls, airports and train stations of America, like pizza and Chinese?
Their chutney is extremely bland. If you want more than one kind, they charge extra, if I recall. They basically treat dosas as French crepes. I like French crepes, and I like dosas, but the two are not interchangeable. They prepare their dosas like crepes, making several at a time and leaving them in a stack. The dosa I ordered had been sitting out for at least 10 minutes, was already cold and had lost much of its crispiness. The “masala” potato filling was godawful bland and ice cold.
Maybe their spinach-and-feta dosas are good; I didn’t try one. If I want a spinach-and-feta crepe I’ll go to a crepe place. If I go to a dosa place I want a fresh, hot dosa with at least two kinds of good chutney included, one of which should be fresh coconut. I am spoiled.
I really don’t understand this perception that “Americans” can’t handle spice
LMAO! You cant be serious! I can say this for a fact: White Americans cannot handle spicy food, PERIOD 😉 Of course there are some exceptions, but generally it is pretty true that Americans cannot handle spicy food. BTW, Thai food is not spicy, my American sista!
check out this story while we are on the topic of Indian food —
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5638057
The author’s makes some vague claims – we started eating out as a nation since partition??
someone explain that to me.
AMD,
I still don’t get it. I spent a lot of time eating my way through Malaysia when I was younger, and while the food there was spicier than in the US, it wasn’t the “oh my god I’m going to die” experience some seem to expect. It’s true my food experience in India was limited to Trivandrum, and it wasn’t very spicy. The Thai food I ate in Malaysia and Thailand was a lot hotter. I know some Indian food can get extremely hot, but I didn’t encounter that genius where I lived.
I have been to some awful “ethnic” restaurants outside of San Francisco (where I lived for 11 years) and New York (where I live now), and it’s true they take all the spice out. Come to think of it, even NY has had sucky Thai places for a long time. But right now I live in Hell’s Kitchen, where there are many good ones, such as Pam Thai on 47th street.
Thinking about this reminds me I am spoiled in the restaurant department. In the early 90’s I considered moving from San Francisco to Portland, OR, but decided against it only because the food there wasn’t as good (at the time – I hope it’s improved). I shouldn’t extrapolate my food-city experiences to the rest of the US. Since my friends also live in the same cities, their tastes run similarly. I live an insular life.
Also, my good pal Ian, who is of Scottish descent, eats whole jalapenos and drinks hot sauce. He may skew my sample.
Nina – Maybe it was just a bad day or something, or maybe they’ve deteriorated since they first opened down in Soho. But their dosas are authentic. I know that the owner of HCC has a guru and all that and spent 14 years of his youth in India in an ashram. He even waddles his head like an Indian. If they’re pre-cooking their dosas then that’s definitely a very bad thing, but I ate there 2 times and mine were crispy. I’m particular about that and even in Indian restaurants I take care to tell them to make my dosa extra-crispy otherwise they turn out like crepes. As for bland chutney – I love it, so for sure those who’re looking for spice will be disappointed.
I ate there a few years back, just when they had first opened and it was pretty mediocre. They cooked mine fresh, but it wasn’t crispy, and the filling was bland as heck. I also found most of their fusion dosas to be poorly conceived – I have no objection to the idea, but this was “put chicken and suntried tomatoes in!” without thinking of what tastes would work well in a dosa. Basically, it felt like a poor creperie.
cinnamon is a spice.
cardamom is a spice.
cloves are a spice.
mace is a spice.
allspice is a spice.
black pepper is a spice.
white pepper is a spice.
you;ve probably tasted all of the above in ye olde pumpkin pie.
spices add flavor – not necessarily heat.
peppers and their derivatives add heat. They’re a wedge in the spice pantheon.
You have been informed. Reach out and preach to the unwashed masses.
Gautham (#47):
I’m as brown as they come, and I. Am. A. Wuss. Yet I keep going back to the Punjabi Dhaba for more!
(#49):
My mouth has been watering since I started thinking about it…
Nina P. (#50):
That’s the thing though – I don’t think they are banana leaves. But since my mouth is watering and I’m going to Chennai this weekend, I’ll try to check it out and get back.
Please help: where can I get some good English in Chennai.
Very bland, ok, I need it very bland. And don’t worry, I can handle it…
Please help: where can I get some good English in Chennai.
Taj Chola Hotel. Full-on “English” breakfast 🙂
I really don’t understand this perception that “Americans” can’t handle spice
Americans can definitely handle spice, they can’t handle anything new. I’ve brought hummus and couscous – bland as anything – to potlucks at work and people just gaze in curiosity at that. Meanwhile, there’s a Filipino rice and chicken dish that is depleted in minutes. I made a pasta dish with a little bit of red pepper flakes and got only one comment about the ‘kick,’ others ate it up without a fuss. So, it depends.
I just had my first kati roll recently and loved it! It’s the next falafel! But, wait.. I live in the suburbs. We don’t even get falafels here! (just refrigerated section at Whole Foods).
But, I liked what someone said — add cheese and ketchup and people will eat it.
Sing it, hairy_D!
Essactly. Siddhartha can handle spice, Amardeep can handle spice, Ennis can handle spice…don’t know what kind of Merkins y’all are hanging out with…
He’s a blue-eyed American. As for mediocre – the indian restaurants of the same level are way below mediocre, bordering on horrendous. Except for one I ate in in L.A. (apparently closed now)which was better than anything I’ve ever experienced in India or anywhere in the world.
Anyway, I’m definitely in the bland camp so perhaps that’s why I loved HCC. If Indian food is to go mainstream, they need to cut the spice (and grease) and HCC is a good start.
I propose a task-force meetup at Dosa Hut (Lexington @ 27th) to discuss this important issue.
kobayashi, i’m not sure there is such a thing in chennai or anywhere else. i thought that was half the point of empire — the quest for better food….
The only good dosa place, I think, in Curry Hill is Saravanaas.
Indian food definitely lends itself to fast food — just see the abundance of street vendors in India. I think the reason it hasn’t caught on in the US is that people think of Indian food as an exotic treat, not a quick bite. While I don’t remember seeing this in London, I bet somewhere there they’ve got Indian food stands just like the falafel/shwarma stands in Amsterdam.
where can I get some good English kobayashi, i’m not sure there is such a thing in chennai or anywhere else. i thought that was half the point of empire — the quest for better food….
It was a jokey ref, of course.
But seriously, good English does exist. Against all odds. Have you heard of the Fat Duck? And I bet they can make it extra bland if you want…
oh wait till they start reproducing. i lived in a roach infested apartment once. they thrive in thedark. i would switch on the lights and the little creepers would be everywhere. i didnt want to use chemicals in the kitchen so got those sticky papers. sometimes i would get lucky and catch a female with the egg sac hanging down its butt. in one case she dropped the sac and ran free. but the sac popped open and it was very satifying to see the little critters all stuck on there. the key is getting the females. each one of them is worth twenty. i did try to be humane about killing them so i would fold the paper and whack it with all my might. hopefully it went to goo painlessly. the think about roaches is, they are everywhere. they were inside the oven door. i found out when i opened the door and saw a whole stream of them flow out skittering all over the floor before diving into the nearest crevices. i took to putting my mugs upside down and washing everything twice before cooking. even so, anything that brushed against me, it would set my teeth on edge. i had a vision of being devoured at night by the critters. remember the scene in that movie where the bugs crawl out of this guy’s eye socket. yea. that.
i gave in my notice around then.
Oh, wow. Now I know Morningside Heights has changed since my undergrad days. Not so long ago, kiddies, there was not a bit of desi food to be seen above 100th and Broadway… and we had to go to 98th to find a taco truck! Shocking, shocking, I know…
English people have become so acclimatised to Indian food that they frequently eat even hotter khaana than most of us can handle. Some of the more boisterous types have competitions with each other in Indian restaurants where they eat something called “phaal”, which is a type of thermonuclear-grade hot curry.
I haven’t seen any here in London for a very long time. A few years ago there used to be roadside pav-bhaji stands on Ealing Road in Wembley (North London — big Gujarati area although a lot of South Indians also live there these days) but I believe they were shut down due to health-hazard concerns (that street has a lot of traffic).
Speaking of Wembley, I recently visited an excellent restaurant there called Tulsi. It has an unusually extensive dosa menu, ie:
Sada Dosa, Butter Sada Dosa, Cheese Sada Dosa, Masala Dosa, Butter Masala Dosa, Spring Masala Dosa, Paper Sada Dosa, Butter Paper Sada Dosa, Paper Masala Dosa, Butter Paper Masala Dosa, Palak Sada Dosa, Butter Palak Sada Dosa, Butter Palak Masala Dosa, Mysore Sada Dosa, Butter Mysore Sada Dosa, Mysore Masala Dosa, Butter Mysore Masala Dosa, Cheese Mysore Masala, Rava Sada Dosa, Butter Rava Sada Dosa, Cheese Rava Sada Dosa, Onion Rava Dosa, Butter Onion Rava Dosa, Cheese Onion Rava Dosa, Rava Masala Dosa, Butter Rava Masala Dosa, Cheese Rava Masala Dosa, Onion Rava Masala Dosa, Butter Onion Rava Masala…..
Along with fusion-style “Special Dosas”: Paneer Manchurian Rava Dosa, Paneer Manchurian Sada Dosa, Paneer Sezwan Rava Dosa, Paneer Sezwan Sada Dosa, Sezwan Noddles Dosa.
I’d never seen anything like this, at least not in the UK. Staggering amount of choice.
extra bland? dreamy. will check out the fat duck next time in england, though they do seem a bit uptight — did you read their “terms and conditions“? (er, what restaurant has terms and conditions for their website??) kobayashi, you and i have now both violated clause 3.1.6:
and clause 3.1.7:
I can think of 5 Indian restaurants between 100th and 120th. Of which the maligned Indus Valley (blaberus aside) actually has the best food.
Hairy_D,
I’m sure there was an MTV-produced comedy film a few years ago about this guy and his apartment which was infested with talking cockroaches which were all his buddies. “Mike’s Place” or something like that…..
Well, someone made the mistake of telling them they were the best restaurant in the world.
“The Fat Duck…topped a list of the world’s 50 best restaurants which was unveiled in London last night.” (link)
Shoot, I’d be uptight too. There’s nowhere to go but down.
Inexpensive: Saravanaas, Kati Roll Company Moderately Priced: Chinese Mirch Expensive: Tamarind, Bukhara
Avoid: Bombay Talkie
(All of these are in Manhattan, BTW)
Chhola and Dawat are really good for Non-veg but they are expensive. A cute little new place YUVA has the best variety of chutneys. Baluchis is for lunch and ofcourse there is kathi rolls. One more thing you should do is check out platters Stay away from Tabla (so overrated!)and Ada if you dont like fusion
You can check out cholas also, on 59th I think.
indian bread factory in manhattan – i htink bleeker st. – serves spanking hot parathas. they dont give too much raita though… but great snack and not oily at all.
Wegeterian: Watan (31st and 3rd, or thereabouts).
And I also find Cafe Spice (a chain, but a realy good chain) worthy of respect. Though they rarely give you enough rice. Very tasty food though. Try the one just South of Union Square, 10th st or 8th st something like that.
Word. Don’t fuck with Baluchis. If you get there one micro-second after 3pm, they will happily serve you, but the bill will be double what you were expecting.
Take it from someone who knows.
But otherwise, yes, they’re pretty good value for lunch.
everytime i read a reference to the place, i am reminded of “i am rajeev kumar from vemmblee”, and it cracks me up.
Hairy_D Cockroachwalla,
Are you referring to Sanjeev Kumar (ie. Sanjeev Bhaskar) from “The Kumars at Number 42” ?
dooh…
yes of course Jai… I knew it rang a little off… “I am minnie driver from hollywood”. and our man simpers and says, “I am sanjeev kumar from vemmbleee”. kills me everytime.
Gautham – I like Dosa Hut, and its neighbors Madras Mahal and Pongal. All South Indian, vegetarian, kosher. As others have mentioned, Saravanaas is good too. But the best dosas I’ve had here were at Dosa Hut. If your stay includes a weekday, try the lunch buffet.
Does anyone know if the Dosa Cart Guy is still around? The last few times I looked for him in Washington Square Park he was nowhere to be found.
The most recent season of The Kumars just finished on the BBC here a few weeks ago, so hopefully you guys should be picking it up in the States sometime soon. Watch out for Felicity Kendell (Shashi Kapoor’s sister-in-law — she used to be in a famous 70s British sitcom called The Good Life) cheerfully reverting back to desi mode (she grew up in India) and bobbling her head from side to side instinctively while chatting away in Hindi.
Everytime I hear something about “bland English food”, I think of the famous sketch from Goodness Gracious Me and Kulwinder Ghir cockily saying to the waiter “Vat’s the blaaaandest thing on the menu ?”.
sigh I thought I was making a very pointed reference…
Apologies, my previous post was addressed to Hairy_D the Cockroach Guy.
You’re right about the meat element, but Punjabi food is often extremely spicy. Maybe it depends on where you go and who is doing the cooking, I guess.
exactly. living in the punjabi-centric UK perhaps you don’t know full range of american indian spicey food. i think it is a mistake to lump all brown cuisines into a generic “spicey” category. my saying punjabi food is “less spicey” is not an assertion of superior or inferior, but simply one of average differences between regional cuisines. 8=)
thanks jai… and it’s cunnaiddahh… as they call it in the pind. we arent the 53rd quite yet, probably because the ground’s frozen and the women more so (as the godless one would say).
Jai,
In Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, I recall British diners ordering chicken “julfreezi” with “chips” in a 1970s restaurant in London’s theater district. Do Englishmen fire up a side of fries to compliment their curries?
Razib,
Before someone on SM decides to stalk me any further and single me out as a target for some kind of misbegotten “cuisine-obsession” jihad just because I have mentioned the matter a few times, can I just clarify that I am basing my comments purely on Punjabi food in the United Kingdom, which is obviously influenced by the local cold climate and the somewhat-unrepresentative background & combination of the chefs involved. Mentioning that Punjabi food here can be very spicy does not automatically imply an unspoken caveat of such cuisine being more appetising than its less spicy cousins from other parts of the subcontinent, even though it may not be representative of Punjabi food back in India or in other parts of the world, and of course we know that in India and internationally there is an embedded bias towards spicy food (and a prejudice towards blander food) which many people are extremely sensitive about.
And, of course, the fact that Punjabi food may often be closer in taste and composition to Iranian or Mughlai cuisine does not mean that it is not actually Indian or that any statements asserting this fact are an attempt to insinuate that Punjabi food is somehow inherently less Indian than food from other parts of the subcontinent.
Innit ?
Hairy_D,
Hijack the Latin Lover/Colombian Drug Baron look if you can manage to pull it off and that might help to de-Apufy their perspective of you 😉
Desitude,
Fries, omelettes etc are available in “Indian” restaurants which are in an area where there aren’t many South Asians (some restaurants in high-density desi locations also have these options although they’re usually tucked in the back of the menu, along with “Vegetarian Pizzas with Special Masala Sauce” etc).
I don’t think the average 21st-Century Englishmen is so uncouth that he order wildly-incompatible “traditional” British food to supplement the more typical Indian fare. They do drink beer with their desi cuisine a lot though, although these days that frequently involves Cobra, Kingfisher etc.
I agree. Saravanaas is d-lish, and Bombay Talkie is ridiculously expensive for the quality of food.
I also used to like Chennai Gardens (run by a Maharashtran) but since discovering Saravanaas, I’ve never been back.
I don’t think the average 21st-Century Englishmen is so uncouth that he order wildly-incompatible “traditional” British food to supplement the more typical Indian fare. They do drink beer with their desi cuisine a lot though, although these days that frequently involves Cobra, Kingfisher etc.
Oh, I thought it might be worth a try. Second silly question: Do you consider yourself an Englishman? Or does that term refer to whites only? If so, how do Asians categorize themselves in a national context, for example, when travelling overseas? Britishers?
I’ve had the opposite experience. I’ll ask for it hot and the server will look at me, eyes narrowing, corners of his mouth turning up slightly. What’s delivered is often so spiced that it has become red in color. There’s some kind of code that if a brownie customer asks for it hot, he must mean super hot. After experiencing this phenomenon in desi restaurants repeatedly, I’ve learned to ask for it “Hot but not too hot” or “hot but don’t kill me, ok?”
Here’s the other phenomenon that’s interesting. If I go to an indian restaurant, they’ll almost always seat me up front or better, at the window. My guess is that by putting me in the window seat, they hope to get more business from passers by who see a brownie eating the food as a stamp of approval. I found this more prevalent in NYC, or other places with lots of foot traffic.
Anybody else experience this?
just a side note… serving frites with the meal is common in french bistros… not that i’ve ever been in europe… but once, when dining at a local restaurant (bistro tournesol on dupont street), i was so informed by the waiter.
segue… the reason i landed at bistro tournesol was because i’d heard good things of the indian rice factory on dupont street and i went over. the maitre d’ ignored me. i asked for a menu while waiting and he pointed me to the bar where there were some resting on the counter.. i tried to sound him by making chit chat and he wouldnt look me in the eye. the whole affair was so lackadaisical.. i kind f lost it. stepped out. luckily there was bistro tournesol next door. french restaurant. i was a little underdressed (sandals), but no probs… and i had a fabulous meal.
my point… a restaurant is more than food. in order for a chain to be successful there is more than customer tastes to be considered – customer service is a critical consideration. the biggest gap i see in most indian restaurants is really shabby service. i have a feeling all the ny restaurants pointed to above are the pick-up-at-counter types. In some places i’ve had these guys be so chummy, they’re asking about my antecedents, my profession. paincho*. i want a good meal, clean cutlery and prompt service. i’m not prowling restaurants loogking to find some long lost distant cousin. of note… in toronto Little India (hi neha) is exceptional although i’m sorry they stopped making dosais. The guys there are genuinely considerate.
As I side note, I think this thread illustrates perfectly that the best way to a desi’s heart is through his/her stomach. I love it.