Chawlas2

INDIA 🇮🇳

COVID-19 UPDATE: Chawlas2 is takeout only for the moment, but there is a triangle park on the same block with convenient benches for would-be outdoor diners. You can also order online through their website.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Written by Joseph Gessert, photographed by Liv Dillon.

Chawlas2 is not the second of two restaurants, as you might guess from the name, but is rather the first US outpost of a chain that started in 1960 in Uttar Pradesh, a province in northern India near Punjab. The location is somewhat inauspicious, at the far edge of Queens near JFK. Despite the cars whizzing by on Rockaway Boulevard, the restaurant draws repeat diners from the neighborhood and across Brooklyn and Queens.

Chawla’s signature dish cream chicken ($11.99, below) is a variation on butter chicken, with the gravy bolstered by cream and green cardamon, and all the red parts omitted. The seasoning is sublime, and a nice contrast to the usual over-the-top fireworks of Indian flavor profiles. It goes best with plenty of naan or rice.

Speaking of naan, keema naan with gravy ($7.49) is a real standout from the sides menu. The naan is stuffed with seasoned ground chicken and served with a container of mutton gravy. There’s no chunks of meat in the gravy, but the flavor leaves no doubt that sheep were involved in the preparation.

Also on the sides menu are several chaats, Indian and Pakistani snacks that combine various contrasts: hot and cold, sweet and tangy, soft and crunchy. Chawla’s samosa chaat ($6.49, not shown) is a strong rendition of a great dish, with chopped-up samosas topped with chickpeas, potato, yoghurt, and the dueling chutneys of mint and tamarind. Pani puri are off the menu for the moment, presumably because they lose their crunch in takeout form, but papri chaat ($6.49, below) fills in nicely, with the samosas replaced with fried crackers.

There is a range of tandoori items, and both meat and vegetable curries, though vegetarians in the neighborhood might be better off down the block at Satguru Sweets, which has a full menu of veggie items. Chawlas’ chili mushrooms ($10.99, above) reflect Uttar Pradesh’s proximity to the borders with Nepal and Tibet, with the chili gravy more reminiscent of familiar Chinese dishes than most Indian food.

Chawlas2 is just off the Van Wyck Expressway, on a three-block stretch of businesses that includes four Indian restaurants, a Guyanese restaurant, a Guyanese-Chinese restaurant, two Jamaican restaurants, a Chinese-Thai-Indian restaurant, and more. Stop at Chawlas2 for the cream chicken and keema naan, and then maybe add a dish or two from one of the other restaurants down the block. The connections built between peoples by geography and immigration are present in the menus, and we very are privileged in New York to have access to all of these cuisines in such close proximity to one another. Maybe dropping your friend off at JFK doesn’t have to be such a chore after all.

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SOUTH OZONE PARK Queens

131-19 Rockaway Blvd.

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Bikanervala

INDIA 🇮🇳

You would not know it when you see the bright colors and modern logo, but Bikanervala has over 100 years of history all going back to a simple shop that sold sweets and namkeen. That shop was just east of the present-day border with Pakistan in the small city of Bikaner in Rajasthan. The company now has almost 100 stores around the world and ships everywhere.

After expanding to Delhi in the 1950's and blowing up through the next few decades, the shop has stuck to its principles for the most part, still excelling with a good selection of sweets and namkeen. The menu has expanded somewhat, with more filling meal options, and the next time you are in Hyderabad, you can even stay at the boutique hotel that the company opened in Banjara Hills.

Pea samosa plate ($2.99, hard pass)

Despite its gloss, Bikanervala still sticks to an informal format. Small portions are served on disposable paper plates. Plastic cutlery is provided nearby. Place your order at the counter and wait for the robotic voice to call your number and say "Please take the meal."

While waiting, browse through their packaged goods section, just a taste of what you can have shipped just about anywhere in case you ever find yourself long distances from a branch.

At a normal dinner time, the bird's nest-like wonder tokri chaat was unavailable but the cashier recommended raj kachori ($7.99, above) as a stand-in. This worked pretty well, with all the flavors and crunchy textures you need from chaat. While in other parts of India, kachori is a spicy snack on its own, in Delhi it is usually served as a chaat dish, the namesake on top as a sweetened wet bread to add another layer than usual.

Having noticed the nightly special of a paneer kati roll, and many other dishes including cheese, this dairy product seemed to be a theme of the offerings. In this spirit and as a reason to get some naan ($2.99, below back), a bowl of paneer butter masala ($9.99, below) was added.

The butter masala had a nice and proper amount of heat to it and hit the spot, although the thin naan was unfortunately a bad companion. It will probably be a more wise move to stick to namkeen dishes on future visits and supplement these with orders from the large sweets case.

After all, this is the bread and butter of Bikanervala.

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JERSEY CITY New Jersey

815 Newark Avenue

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Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

You can Venmo me @JAREDCOHEE or click here to send PayPal donation, no account is necessary. Thank you!

EggMania

INDIA 🇮🇳

In some parts of India, you will spot stacks of egg cartons at the stalls of street vendors, denoting they are making one or many types of egg-based dishes. There are spicy scrambles, sandwiches, pancakes, or simple hard-boiled eggs dressed up with various things. It seems to be these vendors that the creators of EggMania missed from their lives in India, and thus a restaurant was born focusing almost entirely on the types of quick egg meals cooked on the streets.

On this day, the walk from the PATH station was full of glimpses of TVs showing the same cricket match. It seemed like everyone was involved in something very important, including EggMania which had the sound on. It turned out just to be a common friendly match between India and Afghanistan, but a national passion is a national passion.

The interior is painted with one bold color, what could be described as "yolk yellow." Otherwise, things are pretty bare and the only focus is the menu made up by three televisions and a long list of egg options. The people in the kitchen and all the customers seem to be a younger generation than your standard Indian restaurants around town.

Fans of hard-boiled eggs might want to order the boil fry ($4.49, above), eggs topped with masala spicing and sauce. For another dollar, some shredded cheese can be added. Please note that only a few items have chili peppers next to them on the menu, denoting a spicy dish, but some things like this that do not are still quite full of kick.

One of the feature items seems to be the volcano biryani ($9.99, below), the popular rice dish that has been cooked full of egg and topped with a spicy gravy that warrants it one of those chili peppers on the menu and does get hot. Shredded white cheese is added to the top and makes the whole mix quite melty and fun.

Bombay-style grilled sandwiches seem to be popular here as well and were a part of the order of the other tables we saw. Cheese again plays a major roll in these, making options like the chicken masala sandwich ($9, below) seem like grilled cheese fusion cuisine. My experience with these is very small, but other times the cheese was only a tiny part of the sandwich. I am certainly not adverse to it and the crispy triangles are tasty, it just seems less related to Indian food than other options. It is also one of only a small amount of non-vegetarian items available here at EggMania.

If you are in the mood for more masala, try the homemade masala soda ($2.49, below), a mixture of club soda and spices. These all go to the bottom quite quickly, so give it a good stir before every sip. Not quite refreshing, this is definitely a unique drink, and to me seemed like what chaat would taste like if it was liquified. Did I sell it well?

Open since late 2012, EggMania has also opened a location in Edison, New Jersey. The mania is real.

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JERSEY CITY New Jersey

14 Liberty Avenue

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Kailash Parbat

INDIA 🇮🇳

Kailash Parbat expanded its empire to New York City about four years ago, bringing its famous chaats and Sindhi cuisine. These are the two things that immediately jump out from what might appear like another vegetarian Indian restaurant on Lexington Avenue in Kips Bay. Their chaat bar is heavily promoted from outside, and what catches your eye first when entering, but the small portion of the menu dedicated to Sindhi foods is as much or more interesting. More on that later.

The empire that slowly expanded throughout India from Mumbai has made leaps as far as Singapore and London, and eventually New York City and now has a location on Oak Tree Road in Iselin, New Jersey. That first location in Mumbai, still a landmark in its own right, started in 1952, shortly after its founders were forced from Sindh in present day Pakistan after partition.

As with many chains that make the jump internationally, things inside the restaurant are spruced up. Neon lights sparkle off bottles of alcohol and colorful photos adorn the walls.

Take the hint and order some of their chaat options, starting with the KP chaat platter ($15.99, above), which combines three types and gives the maximum flavor and texture on one plate.

Lassis are good here like the salty lassi ($5.99) below. The mango lassis ($6.99, not shown) use real Indian mangoes, making the price well worth it.

After a bite or two of the Punjabi samosas ($11.99, below), you start to feel like most of the food here is of high quality. The vegetable and potato interior is full of spice, while the accompanying chickpea curry offers a sharp tang.

Don't be shy to order more from the chaat bar if you come here with a decent group. The sev batata puri ($7.99, below) is also full of numerous enjoyable tastes and textures.

Usually something you eat from a cart on the street, the paani puri ($7.99, below) is excellent. They prepare the crunchy bowls and serve the tamarind spiced water on the side to pour as you are ready. This almost makes it just as fun as getting these one by one by a good vendor.

Leave room on your plates and in your stomachs to enjoy the Sindhi cuisine that is found on the menu, like the special Sindhi chapati ($3/each, below top left), which complements the other dishes so well in addition to rice.

Sindhi curry ($14.99, below) is described on the menu as "a must for every Sindhi household." The vegetables float in a gravy of gram flour that also takes on the tanginess of tamarind. Of all the dishes, this is the one that distinguished itself most from dishes you might try in other northern regions of India.

This is a special meal eaten mostly on Sundays when families get together, but available any day here. It is cooked in a unique large round aluminum vessel that is perfect for slow cooking.

Seyal paneer ($15.50, below) uses a special cottage cheese preparation from the "heartland of Sindh."

Judging by the reactions of the table, sai bhaji ($14.99, below) was probably the most popular dish. Spinach and lentils form the base.

Bhugal bhee aloo ($14.99, below) is a tomato-based masala with potatoes and lotus.

There are also many Punjabi-style dishes on the menu, a cuisine that is not a complete opposite of Sindhi. Most of these are very good as well, some of which can be seen below:

After three large meals here, it is safe to say that Kailash Parbat is one of Lexington Avenue's best. Ingredients and cooking techniques are important and it shows.

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KIPS BAY Manhattan

99 Lexington Avenue

Hyderabadi Biryani & Chat

INDIA 🇮🇳

In between a fried chicken joint and a westernized Chinese takeout, sharing the rest of the block with a diner, Walgreens, a dollar store and many other generic shops, small Hyderabadi sticks out like a sore thumb. The awning offers biryani and chat, but in reality the menu is loaded with most of the pan-Indian favorites you can ever imagine, a range of vegetarian and meat options.

On the first visit, the chat section was visited with an order of dahi batata puri ($5.99, below), a street snack originating in Mumbai but like all chat is now popular throughout the subcontinent.

Instead of eating one by one like pani puri, dahi puri is served on a plate all at once. Similarly, a hole is punctured in the crispy puri shell and in this case, potato is added. The balls are topped with yogurt, spicy chili powders, salt, tamarind, chutney, tomato, onion, and crushed sev, amongst probably many other things. It is a very satisfying chat, and it can be assumed that all their other versions are just as good.

On a second visit, the biryani was the name of the game. An order of the chicken biryani ($9.99, below) comes with the question of "On the bone or off?" This is a question that usually is best answered with "on" for more tender bits. This seemed to be no different, as under the rice I found nice hunks of well-seasoned and juicy meat.

The dish is served with two cups of chutney, yogurt-based and curry-based options. This was new to me, receiving chutneys with biryani like you do with dosas, but I sampled bites with both and found them pleasing.

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FLUSHING Queens

44-27 Kissena Boulevard

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Taste of Cochin

INDIA 🇮🇳   (KERALA)

Taste of Cochin has been on my list of places to try for years, but it lives in the far eastern reaches of New York City, a pocket of Queens with road names in the high 200's. Three sides of this pocket are neighborhoods of Long Island's Nassau County, leaving Glen Oaks as somewhat of a peninsula into different area codes. Having previously enjoyed a Keralan meal at nearby Taste of Kerala Kitchen, a return trip was long overdue.

Thanks to a tip from @CitySpoonful, I learned about the harvest festival of Onam, celebrated in India's Kerala state. Wednesday, September 14th was Thiruvonam, the most important day of the 2016 festival (which is following the Malayalam calendar, not ours), a non-religious celebration that acknowledges the return of a revered king from the underworld.

Festivals like these are usually wonderful opportunities in New York City to see expat groups gathering to celebrate their holidays. Taste of Cochin advertised a 28 item traditional Keralan buffet known as Onam sadya. This Keralan feast is something that every person in the state either makes or attends, so I grabbed a friend who visited Kerala years ago and made the drive out to Glen Oaks.

We found a subdued yet celebratory mood, with rows of tables set up for diners all facing the same direction. This made it easy for the servers to walk down the other side of the table and ladle out portions of each of the feast's 28 items. There is a tradition for this holiday of buying and wearing new outfits, some of which we saw on proud display.

By the end of our meal, the place was quite crowded and some percussionists had started playing in the front of the restaurant to offer even more festivity. We also could hear that music was coming from the basement and later found some sort of party going on down there, but were shy to stay.

The sadya itself is traditionally served on a banana leaf, here replaced with a disposable version. We were the only non-Indians there and were very kindly guided through the list of foods as each came to our "leaf." Banana chips, pappadam, various vegetable curries, pickles, rice, chutneys, a couple desserts, and a small, wonderfully aromatic banana all eventually made it in front of us.

I watched a couple others while this was happening to see if there was any order or best practice, but it all seems like a free for all, with each diner steering the course of their own meal. If you run out of something you particularly like, you can ask for more, as everything is unlimited.

We were offered spoons, but declined, feasting the same way as everyone else in the room: with our right hand. This of course is important to most Indians and South Asians, a way to taste the food better they say. When I have traveled in South Asia I can start to feel this as well during daily rhythms, a natural way to experience food without anything foreign entering your mouth with it.

The rice here is quite fluffy and does not stick together at all, which is where the curries come in good use. Squeezing yourself a small fingerful, picking it up, and shoveling it into your mouth with your thumb all becomes second nature quickly.

The only problem with this type of meal is when you come across the curry you love the most and realize there is only a bite or two. You can ask for more though, but don't expect a larger dollop unless you are very insistent like the man who was sitting next to us.

By the end, the leaves are completely annihilated, with just some remnants of each dish mixed together. It feels somehow empowering to see this progress made, and since the meal is completely vegetarian it all does not feel that heavy in the belly.

Taste of Cochin is offering the Onam sadya for the next three nights as well, Thursday the 15th through Saturday the 17th of September, for anyone interested in this beautiful and festive occasion.

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GLEN OAKS Queens

248-08 Union Turnpike

Rajbhog Foods

INDIA 🇮🇳

Rajbhog is a well known name in South Asian groceries, with other locations in New Jersey, some in Queens, and as far away as Duluth, Georgia. The packaged goods always look like they are made in house, but must come from a wholesale importer. Some of these shops also have attached cafes or sweet shops, which are run by a local proprietor.

The proprietor of the shop in Iselin, New Jersey is a pushy man, he kept trying to upsell us, and then did the "just thinking" routine you see all over India. It was almost like traveling! We were really only here to sample a couple things though, as we had our eyes on so many chaat vendors up and down Oak Tree Road.

A sign in the window declaring "Today's Special" to be chole bhatura ($6.99) was what we listened to, and were rewarded with a wonderful rendition. It is a simple snack usually served for breakfast in India, consisting of fried bread and chana masala. It also comes with a plate full of bonus flavors you can add to your mix, sweet, pickley, sharp, and spicy.

In addition, we also chose the ragda patice chaat ($4.99, below), which uses potato patties (patice) as its base. Combined with all the usual suspects of chaat, there are flavors for all sides of your tongue and textures for all your teeth. To be frank though, on a future visit I might lay off the chaat here and focus on some of the other items that are unfamiliar.

Some of the groceries seem quite expensive while some seem very cheap. The racks are definitely worth perusing. Let us know if you try something of note!

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ISELIN New Jersey

1373 Oak Tree Road