Saravanaas

To many people, Indian food means dairy-based curries and tandoor cooking. Delicious though they may be, they're only a small part of the vast Indian culinary repertoire, one originating in the northern reaches of the country. If you want North Indian food in New York, you can go to virtually any neighborhood Indian place or, full the full immersion experience, to Jackson Heights, in Queens, which is predominantly North Indian. If, however, you want to sample the glories of South Indian cooking --- largely vegetarian, based around lentils and rice combined in myriad forms --- you have to go to Curry Hill, the stretch of Indian restaurants bordering Lexington Avenue in the East 20s. For whatever reason, this micro-neighborhood has become the hotbed of dosas, idli, vada, utthapam, and other irresistible treats.

One of the most celebrated restaurants in the area is Saravanaas, a branch of a hugely successful global chain based in Chennai. There recently, we started our meal with idli (cakes made from fermented lentils and rice) and vada (crispy lentil donuts) served with sambar, the ubiquitous South Indian vegetable soup. The idli were soft and savory, and the vada was some of the best we've ever had, thick and fresh with a great peppery crunch.


We followed with two different types of dosas: vegetable, stuffed with thinly sliced and subtly spiced cabbage and onions, and masala, the most popular variant, filled with a soft potato curry. Both had great flavor and fillings, though the dosas were a little more well-done than we would have liked. (Only one side --- the exterior --- of a dosa is cooked, so the perfect balance of crispness and softness is difficult to achieve.)

In any given year, we pretty much eat our weight in dosas, and while these aren't our very favorite, Saravanaas is a corner of South India we will definitely revisit.