Cheap Eats - Chopaati hottie
Saucy eats, sassy folks in former Indian Delights locale
“Ohhh, Indian vegetarian is the best meatless food in the world,” my boyfriend moans as he leans across the table for another hunk of puri, a fried, puffy disc of bread. We’re both on the brink of utter food exhaustion, having arrived famished at Chopaati half an hour before and eaten ceaselessly since then. We’re one of a handful of non-Indian diners in Chopaati on a first Sunday lunch visit. The restaurant’s bright, clean, nondescript interior and good-value, fast food-style service has drawn a number of Indian families. A few feet away from us, a young Indian boy lifts a clean thali (a large, round metal plate divided into compartments) off the table, placing it on his head.
But I love eating too much: At Chopaati, diners can select old favorites from a long menu filled with excellent descriptions for those less familiar with Indian dishes, or saddle up for the buffet, which could serve as a good introduction. The cashier is quick to make suggestions and tell you that the bread you’ve chosen doesn’t complement the dishes you’ve picked. Or, in my case, gently inform you that there’s no way you’ll be able to eat everything you’ve ordered. “But I really can eat a lot,” I offer. “No, no, no,” she counters, “that’s simply too much food for you today.” She isn’t budging. I follow her advice and save a dish for the second visit. I’m glad I had enough space and appetite to enjoy a cup of Kadhi ($2.50), a light, refreshing, yogurt-based soup thickened with gram flour and redolent with cumin, fennel and tumeric. The chole bhature ($4.99), curried chickpeas heavy on ghee and onions served with crusty fried bread, is rich, dark and complexly spiced with tamarind, cumin and chili.
Indian cheese, please: With such liberal use of paneer cheese, who has time for meat? The paneer kaas ($4.99) is a thick cashew nut and cream gravy, heavy on the garlic and light on the chili with chunks of seared paneer. Scooped up with bits of roti ($1.50), a baked flatbread, it makes for a filling, satisfying snack. Eternal favorite paneer saag ($4.99), a spinach and paneer curry, is in fine form at Chopaati. Paneer makes another star turn on the buffet table ($6.95, all you can eat) in the form of mutter paneer, an oniony, saucy curry of English peas and paneer.
Fire in the hole: The rich dishes on the buffet are balanced by a lovely, fluffy biryani (aromatic steamed rice with vegetables) and a puckery cabbage salad. Gujarati dal — a tomato and lentil soup spicy enough to steam your glasses over — gets the juices flowing. Dum aloo is heady with coriander, cumin and masala, with potatoes that have caramelized into sweet, golden nubs in the curry. Maru bhujiya, blisteringly spicy fritters of boiled potatoes dipped in a chickpea batter, bring you back to life should the feasting overwhelm you. Two meals at Chopaati were just the beginning of a long, satisfying relationship. I’ll definitely revisit to extend my knowledge of Indian cuisine past the pedestrian and for a helping of sassiness, should my eyes be much larger than my appetite.