veggieburgh

Udipi Cafe is often cited as the best Indian restaurant in (greater) Pittsburgh. If you haven’t come across it, that may be due to its unlikely location out in the woods of Monroeville. Housed in a squat brick building next to an abandoned quarry, much of the clientele come from the nearby Sri Venkateswara Temple. Udipi is named after a temple town on the southwest coast of India, and it is the only expressly South Indian restaurant in Pittsburgh. Though some of the signature South Indian dishes, like dosa, can be found elsewhere, North Indian and Western dishes tend to be the focus in most Indian restaurants.

We made the trek out to Udipi for a Saturday dinner in a group of seven. We were seated right away, which might have been luck because the place was busy, with people constantly entering, leaving, and milling about. The decor is that of a run-down diner: vinyl booths, checkered floors, and terse service. The plastic cutlery is annoying, but you’ll be happy for the tall stack of paper napkins at each table once you start pulling off pieces of fried bread with your fingers. Our large group allowed us to get a lot of dishes and share them around, which is a good strategy at this restaurant. Since everything was vegetarian, we were happy to let our Indian friends who were familiar with the menu and cuisine do the ordering.

We started with an Appetizer Sampler plate and Potato Bonda. The sampler plate was dominated by battered and fried bits (onion, potato, jalapeño) which also describes the Bonda and were not any better than the deep-fried fare at most Indian restaurants or markets. But there were high points: the sambar (sort of a lentil soup) was truly excellent, with a deep, savory flavor and insistent spice. The coconut chutney, which you might expect to be cooling, started creamy and a little sweet but had spice that crept up on you, leaving you running for the water glass. These sauces make appearances in many other dishes, so there is no need to get the sampler to try them. Also good was the “vegetable cutlet”, a purple, starchy, deep-fried morsel than none of us could identify. The best item for sopping up the delicious sambar was probably the idly — a small, fluffy rice patty.

For us, the real draw of Udipi compared with other Indian restaurants is the incredibly dramatic presentation of their signature fried bread dishes, like the Channa Batura. The bigger-than-your-head puff is served right out of the deep-fryer, overwhelming the platter it sits on. It’s a little sad to tear off the first piece and destroy the perfect golden roundness of it. Alongside on the plate is a very tasty chickpea (”channa”) curry for grabbing with the pieces of bread. Similarly impressive, the Paper Masala Dosa is a crispy crepe made with rice and lentil flour, probably two feet in diameter and rolled up with a generously-spiced filling of potato and onion.

We also tried the Dhai Vada, which is a donut made with lentil flour soaked in a yogurt sauce. The sweetness of the doughnut contrasts with the tangy, cool yogurt for an interesting flavor and texture combination. The Pav Bhaji (served only on Saturday and Sunday) is classic Mumbai street vendor food: essentially a toasted hamburger bun served with spicy tomato curry. The curry had a surprising tangy flavor, but the bun was not exciting. However, this dish was a repeat favorite of more than one person at the table. The onion and potato uthappam is a thick rice and lentil pancake offering yet another texture experience. Though the pancake is light on flavor, it comes with chutneys for dipping, as all the bread dishes do.

We finished our meal with masala tea. It’s a black tea with spices boiled in milk (what you might call chai). It was served in a small steel cup in a shorter, wider steel cup. You can pour the tea from one vessel to the other to cool it down and add foam (a process called “pulling”). I was not a fan of the flavor of the tea and had to add sugar to counteract the bitterness.

Overall, Udipi is an experience everyone should have. The prices are low — we walked out for $12 per person after appetizers, beverages, and tip — reflecting a no-frills approach to serving tasty, authentic dishes. Many of those dishes you won’t find anywhere else in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, we didn’t any try of the curries, but I hear that these are comparable in quality to some of the better Indian restaurants in town. The main drawbacks are the location and the predominance of fried and deep-fried foods. You surely don’t want to have a batura or dosa to youself (or even half of one); you’d be overwhelmed by the grease. Our meal was also very light on vegetables (though that may be fixed with different menu choices). On the other hand, nothing we had wasn’t tasty, and some dishes were very good. Udipi makes up for the less-than-healthy options with spectacular fried bread feats.

[4 veggies]

Recommended dishes:

• Channa Batura
• Paper Masala Dosa
• Anything with sambar or coconut chutney