Cafe Spice
Chain or no, Cafe Spice is one of my favorite Indian restaurants. It has an open kitchen, too, so while we waited we watched them cook, roasting meats on skewers, scooping thin dosa off the cooktop. Their lunch is a pretty good deal. Yesterday Todd and I ate and had drinks for $31 with tip. I had the South Indian lunch special, which had some familiar and some not-so-familiar items on it. One of the most pleasant surprises was the idli.
Idli are fairly bland cakes (almost like cornbread) shaped like little UFOs and made from ground rice, dal and water. I was actually pretty sure I wasn't going to finish them until I dipped them in the bowl of sambar, a spicy broth that had chiles, tomatoes and eggplant in it. It soaked the flavorful juice right up and turned out to be a great way to eat it.
The special also included a mini potato dosa, a crepe-type bread filled with curried potatoes, onions and cashews. The coconut chutney, a smooth puree, had this wonderful, milky-watery coolness, like really freshly made mozzarella has (it was awesome with the dosa).
The third item on the platter, my least favorite, was uttapam topped with onions and peppers. It turned out to look kind of like little pizzas made out of pancakes. Still OK, but not as great as the other two.
read this article about idli
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/11diary.htm
It was my first idli but, like the author, I am definitely now a fan. I think the idlis were my favorite thing at lunch Sat. I was afraid that I was eating them "wrong" by soaking them in sambar, but how can something that tastes so good be wrong.
There must be some kind of idli mold to make them that shape. Then they're steamed?
Those ribs were still good regardless of the gristle. The spicy sauce was great (a little toooo hot) and would be good to try again with a leaner meat.