Jessica and I are both not feeling great. I stayed home from work and she is trying to relax — her triathalon is this weekend! After being couped up inside all day, we took Ice for a walk and headed down Fifth Ave. We ended up circling half way around Washington Square Park when we ran into “the dosa man”, more formerly known as N.Y. Dosas N.Y. Dosas.
After hearing so many wonderful things about this street cart that only sells vegetarian Indian choices, we had to pick up a snack. We asked for his suggestions and we got the Special Pondicherry Dosa and a Samosa. We found a bench, sat with Ice, and starting munching.
Honestly… it just wasn’t that great. Nothing wrong here, fairly fresh dosa (a crepe of rice and lentil) filled with raw, fresh veggies (onions, carrots, peppers, etc.) and lightly curried potatoes. The vegetables were crisp and enjoyable, but basically this was a tiny salad in a crepe. The sauce he recommended didn’t add much flavor. And for $6 this is no steal. It does include a small cup of soup, but we both agreed its spice overwhelmed its mediocre taste and we didn’t finish it.
The samosa was a different story. It was as good as any vegetarian samosa we’d ever had. It was so NOT oily, it almost tasted baked. The included mint chutney was a nice refreshing taste (almost like it had cucumbers in it), and we felt it was a perfect snack for those NYU students looking for a quick fix between classes. Especially since they were 2 for $3. Ours was $1.75 (since we only bought one). While we waited for our dosa, everyone else who stopped by the stand seemed to already know the score, since they all only bought the samosas.
We probably won’t be back, but if we do, we’ll know the score too and stick to the samosas.
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I didn’t think the Samosa was that great either but better than the dosas. It was nice that it wasn’t oily but it wasn’t hot enough either, just slightly above room temperature.
No matter how awful, I would KILL for some Indian food anywhere near me in this wasteland. I miss being able to critique food!! Dosas are really fun to make though–do you folks ever make Indian food at home??
Hope you guys are feeling better and Jessica…all the best for the triathlon. I think you must be the most active foodie ever. The combinaation was quite interesting as dosa is South Indian dish while samosa is more of a North Indian one. The real samosa should be oily as the potato is stuffed in the flour sheet and deep fried. Dosas can be crisp as well as soft. Depends on which part of South India you are in…but yes a soft dosa does taste quite close to a dosa. the classic dosa combination is a sada (plain, no stuffing) dosa with sambhar (a tamarind based lentil soup) and ground coconut chutney
Dr. Food, we don’t make Indian food often but I’ll try to get that going when the weather gets colder. I always think of Indian food as winter food.
Thanks Knife, I think I would’ve probably liked a plain one with just dipping sauces because the dosas itself was a nice texture but the filling was really bland, and I thought that was odd since I’ve never thought of Indian food as bland before.
Have you tried Sarvanaas Bhavan(81 Lexington Ave)? Its the closest I have come to authentic South Indian food here. I have heard about the Dosa man too, wanted to try it for a long time but I need to go hunting for the baked potato guy first. Any idea where he is?Hope you feel better soon Jessica.
I love Samosas–so yummy!
Manasi, I’ll have to try Sarvanaas Bhavan and I didn’t know about the baked potato man but sure sounds good.
Asianmommy, samosas, what’s not to love?
I don’t know if you are referring to Sarvana Bhavan. I think this is a chain based at Chennai (earlier Madras) which is the capital of tmail Nadu in South india. I had eaten there almost ten years back. They have got an assembly line like set up where they serve celan, wholesome South Indian vegetarian food. I have eaten their food recently during work trips to Chennai where they would serve executive lunch boxes. i won’t be surprised if they have branches in NY
Knife, how interesting, I’m so curious now.
the samosas he sells actually come from “delhi palace” in jackson heights. if you want ‘em hot and fresh, go to the source on 74th where they’re only $1 a piece. they used to be 2 for $1, but the rising cost of flour has forced them to raise their prices. it’s still worth it.
Thanks Anonymous, good to know, but I don’t like them enough to travel for them.