Dosai or Idli for Breakfast

I'm not accustomed to Dosai or Idli for anything other than breakfast. Unfortunately, my two favorite spots for these dishes, Woodlands and Udupi, don't open on the weekends until 11:30. Can somebody lead me to a South Indian restaurant that opens earlier?

Thanks,

Alex

BTW - If you're eating dosdai or idli at Woodlands, whatever the time of day, ask for the tomato chutney. Much spicier and more savory than the coconut.

Hi,

You may consider exploring the Indian-Pakistani taxi hang-outs as possible sources for your Dosai or Idli. I cannot guarantee they are served, however they are typically open 24 hours.

Earlier this year, I had one of my dead early breakfasts at Baba's Palace. I have linked to the original discussion so you get a feel of what is available. Baba's is at Chicago and Orleans, if you go just further north on Orleans there are several more Indo-Pak restaurants.

Gary and I recently had lunch at taxi hangout Hyderabad House. Another Indo-Pak taxi hangout is on Ridge Road in Chicago. If you follow it (from Evanston into Chicago) along to the area where you turn left under a viaduct, then just before this intersection (maybe 1/4 mile back) the very last business against the railroad embankment is another restaurant oriented toward taxi drivers.

Unless someone can advise better, you will have to do some personal investigating because breakfast at Indo-Pak taxi restaurants is largely unexplored. I do hope as you make your rounds and explorations, you will keep us advised. We want to learn with you. Even if it is not what you desire, we love adding more information to the body of knowledge called LTHforum.com.

I do not thing any of the cabbie places would have iddli (a very bland rice pancake used to scoop up some very not so bland sauces) and dosa's, very thin-crisp pancakes stuffed typically with onions/potatoes. Iddli and dosa's are southern Indian, and the focus of the cabbie places is Northern/Punjabi/Hyderbadi (meaning Muslim Hyderbadi). The neat breakfast at these places is the halwai puri, orange cream of wheat with puffy bread, often also served with chick peas. A fine breakfast but different.

I would think any of the chat shops on Devon would be open early enough for you, and the ones of Gujarti/Bombay origin like Sukhadia, Kamdar and Amarit have iddli and dosa on their menu's. I think you would be less likely to find the dishes at the Muslim chat shops like Tahoor or Sabri.

Rob

as rob mentions the pakistani cabbie spots don't do dosai/idli, they do do halva puri, but really that stuff is better at the muslim snack/sweet shops like Tahoora, where it is only served on the weekends.

I'm not a big fan of the dosai at the chaat places that I've tried - I think you are better off going for other bread products, like mouli,gobi, or alu parantha (flat breads stuffed with radish"mouli" or cauliflower "gobi", and potato "alu")

Zim,

I was shopping at Patel this past Sunday at 10:00 a.m., and the street was sound asleep. Mrs. Hava and I stopped in at the Chat Shop next door to Patel, Annapurna, and had a dosai. It confirmed my feelings that Chat shops make lousy dosais. No crispiness at all. Maybe a little shop like that, turning over one dosai every 60 minutes, hasn't got their griddle fired up. Ever make crepes at home? The first one is always the worst. The best dosai I ever had were in Madras, at stand-up restaurants pumping out hundreds per hour at rush. I couldn't see the flame beneath the griddle, but they use what looks a wok for making uttapam; it's perched on a ring above one live gas jet. When they pulled the wok from the ring, the flame shot 2 feet up in the air.

Thanks for the help, and I'll keep looking.

Alex

Gary and I recently had lunch at taxi hangout Hyderabad House. Another Indo-Pak taxi hangout is on Ridge Road in Chicago. If you follow it (from Evanston into Chicago) along to the area where you turn left under a viaduct, then just before this intersection (maybe 1/4 mile back) the very last business against the railroad embankment is another restaurant oriented toward taxi drivers.

BTW, this place used to be "Blue Diamond". I think it is now "Bismillah"?
(It used to be very much a cabbie joint, decent food but really quite
unconcerned about heath or hygeine. A good buddy of mine, or so
we always teased him, was responsible for the poor guys being shut
down Basically what happened was this - friend, Indian chap, was a
grad-student at NU. The two of us were doing something on Devon one
early evening, and we rolled up to this spot and tried it. The bihari kabab,
I think it was, was really pretty good. So this guy goes to school the next
day, and some professor asks him if he knows any good authentic Indian
spots. He says "oh yeah, I ate at Blue Diamond yesterday, very authentic".
Silly chap. The professor notes down directions, promises to try it out
the next day... and three days later, when we go back there to get some
more Bihari Kabab, its been closed by the Health Department My friend has
never lived it down - every time we eat at a good cabbie-joint-type
restaurant since, *someone* has made it a point to warn him not to
tell his professors about the place or they'll have it shut down too

Unless someone can advise better, you will have to do some personal investigating because breakfast at Indo-Pak taxi restaurants is largely unexplored. I do hope as you make your rounds and explorations, you will keep us advised. We want to learn with you. Even if it is not what you desire, we love adding more information to the body of knowledge called LTHforum.com.

BTW, I disagree that the breakfast at the cabbie joints is unexplored - Ive had
dozens of breakfasts at em myself

I dont really know of a cabbie joint that does dosas or idlis anyway - thats
veggie stuff, and anathema to any good cabbie joint. There are times when
there is literally no veggie item on the menu (I know, Ive been there with
vegetarians sometimes - and on the bad days all they had to eat was the
watery daal thing that came as a side to my meat-entree Ive never
seen anything like idli or dosai at any of these spots (though, thinking
about it, the one "cabbie joint type" place that might have something
like this may well be Ghareeb Nawaz - they are beginning to put a few
more veggie-style items on their menu. Though I really doubt they have
idlis or dosas either. But they are the only cabbie joint that one might
have any chance of getting something South-Indian).

I dont think there are actually any South Indian places that open so early
in the morning - thus leaving Chicago with no idli-dosa for breakfast
at all. The earliest, I think, that one can get that sort of stuff in Chicago
is probably about 10 or 11am if one is lucky.

This is also, sadly, the case for "non-veggie Indian breakfasts". One of
the best breakfasts Ive ever had is "Nalli-Nehari" and "Kheema" - in
India. Nobody does Nalli-Nehari in Chicago at all, a few places do
Nehari - but they dont open till about 11am or so either. The cabbie
joints *sometimes* do Nehari too - but it is often not as good, and its also
done as a menu-item for dinner, and they might have some leftovers
for breakfast. Nobody does a "nalli-nehari and kheema" breakfast
per se.

c8w

Zim,

I was shopping at Patel this past Sunday at 10:00 a.m., and the street was sound asleep. Mrs. Hava and I stopped in at the Chat Shop next door to Patel, Annapurna, and had a dosai. It confirmed my feelings that Chat shops make lousy dosais. No crispiness at all.

Absolutely! And you dont know how lucky we are nowadays... because, there
was once a time (back in the Dark Ages), when Annapurna's dosa was
*the best in Chicago*! This was before Udipi arrived - they arrived only
in about 1994 or so I would think? Before that, if one wanted idlis and
dosas, the only option was the Chaat Shops. They were ok with idlis
I suppose - its hard to screw up an idli, really. But the dosas were of the
soft, foldable type - quite terrible. Then Udipi arrived, and for the first
time Chicago was introduced to the "Paper Dosa" - huge, and crisp.
And nobody I know has had dosas at a Chaat Shop since

(This is why when Udipi first arrived, they had an hour or two of waiting
on weekends, sometimes - South Indians would drive in from far-off
burbs to make a pilgrimage to the shrine. Then two or three other
spots opened up, doing similar things to Udipi, and also did fine
business - Woodlands and Dasaprakah and the rest. South Indian
food in Chicago today is incomparably better than it used to be).

Maybe a little shop like that, turning over one dosai every 60 minutes, hasn't got their griddle fired up. Ever make crepes at home? The first one is always the worst. The best dosai I ever had were in Madras, at stand-up restaurants pumping out hundreds per hour at rush. I couldn't see the flame beneath the griddle, but they use what looks a wok for making uttapam; it's perched on a ring above one live gas jet. When they pulled the wok from the ring, the flame shot 2 feet up in the air.

Congrats - thats someo f the best dosas anywhere, that youve sampled
Last did it 3 years ago myself, on a trip to Madras (dosas, wadas, and
idlis for breakfast).

Thanks for the help, and I'll keep looking.

Alex

Let us know if you have any luck. I suspect you wont, however - you'll
find some excellent dosas and idlis in Chicago nowadays, but they
just arent available that early in the morning as far as I know. At least
not near Devon. (Maybe the best bet for this, maybe in the future,
will be Schaumburg IMHO - there is now a huge population of South
Indians in Chicago, and a large percentage seem to be concentrated
in the NW burbs. Maybe the first "breakfast with idlis, dosas, wadas
and Madras kapee" will be in Schaumburg, or Hoffman Estates, or
Hanover Park. Or maybe in a kiosk on a sidewalk right outside Motorola -
now *that* would be cool

c8w

zim wrote:as rob mentions the pakistani cabbie spots don't do dosai/idli, they do do halva puri, but really that stuff is better at the muslim snack/sweet shops like Tahoora, where it is only served on the weekends.

BTW, the only place Ive eaten Halwa-Puri has been Tahoora - it was very
very good and very cheap there, and have never found a reason to
try it elsewhere. However...

Ive heard that King Sweets does a decent version of this too. Iam not
sure they are limited only to weekends - they *may* also do weekdays.
Khan BBQ also does it for breakfast, and I think they also do it every day
of the week (and they also do Nehari etc I believe) - however Khan is
not open that early in the day, which is why Ive never actually been
able to eat there. I think they probably dont open before 9 or 10 at
the earliest, on weekends (and maybe later during the week)?
(Tahoora, BTW, opens no earlier than 9am on weekends anyway, even
for their Halwa Puri,a nd serves it until 1pm- not really a "dead early
breakfast" type spot).

Finally, there is Ghareeb Nawaz - which also does a Halwa-Puri breakfast,
and does it every day of the week. They are also still open 24 hours a
day, I think? So if one has a early craving for Halwa-Puri breakfast,
they are probablyt he spot to try (though Ive never had Halwa-Puri
there so I have no idea if its any good).

As for the cabbie joints - at least Daata Durbar and Hyderabad House dont
do Halwa-Puri at all (or at least Ive never seen them offer it at breakfast
time when Ive been there - Ive ended up doing omlette-paratha or
something for breakfast there, usually). Daata, at least, has a quite
informal breakfast thing going - their "scrawl board" rarely has anything
on it, other than leftovers from the previous night, all of which are
available for breakfast too. Ive often just ended up asking them what
they have for breakfast, and they've provided something - sometimes
omlette-paratha like I said, sometimes khageena-paratha etc. But so
far at least, never halwa-puri.


c8w

At least on the day long ago, when things like that happened, on the 24 hours of chow, Shan, on Sheriden near Foster, served a very good halwa puri. It was Saturday morning, so I do not know if it is always on their menu.

I have seen halwa on the steam table at Kabbabish but never eaten it there.

Rob