Dosa Reality

Philadelphia Chutney Co. streamlines the Indian street food experience.

by Adam Erace

Neal Santos

REAL WRAP: The dosas at Philadelphia Chutney Co. come stuffed with all sorts of ingredients, from turmeric-tinted potatoes and savory dal to American cheese and spinach.

[ review ]

The front door at 1628 Sansom swings open, swings closed. Frost-bitten buyers bustle in, bandaged like late pharaohs in long spools of scarves, entering empty and leaving with tall white bakery bags tucked like scepters in the crooks of their arms. In Center City it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but on this block of Sansom, it's beginning to look a lot like the 11th Arrondissement. Except inside the custom-made, neatly creased paper sleeves, you won't find French baguettes, but aluminum-foil envelopes containing sourdough crêpes called dosas, a specialty of Southern India that until recently were rare here.

A black awning runs the length of the storefront, once home to Remedy Tea: "Philadelphia Chutney Company," it reads, the middle word spelled out in blocky blue letters, a pair of curry leaves perched on the tip of the Y like an emerald butterfly. In just three months, owners Nirav Mehta and Baldev Singh have amassed quite the congregation. The youthful, candy-colored joint's 100 percent meat-free — and vegetarians are, if nothing else, loyal.

"There aren't many vegetarian fast-casual places out there," Mehta, an attorney by trade, explained during an interview, "and though dosas have been around for many years, we thought, why can't we modernize them by developing a variety of offerings?"

"Modernize" means instead of filling dosas (and their thicker, pancake-y cousins, uttapas) with traditional Indian goodness, they get a red-white-and-blue omelette station of mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, peppers and cheeses in various combinations. Though none of Chutney's offerings include animal protein, carnivores shouldn't stop reading. Prepared on two 48-inch crêpe griddles by chef Lokesh, who goes by one name, the dosas and uttapas are hearty enough that they'll never miss the meat.

Carry-out business is brisk, but a smattering of tabletops and stool-lined bar rails make the shop a welcome respite from holiday hordes. Order at the counter and have a seat. One of the lovely, well-informed cashiers will call your name at chow time.

For such a young operation, Philly Chutney runs so smoothly you'd think its cogs were lubed with ghee. A big part of the reason is Singh, the hospitality side to the Chutney twosome. Like Mehta, he has a law degree, but Singh has spun the restaurant roulette wheel before. Currently, his portfolio includes his Aman's eateries in East Norrington and Chalfont, and he tapped his network of Indian cooks to find Lokesh, who hand-grinds lentils and rice (basmati, jasmine and long-grain) into a flour that, when mixed with water, forms the batter base for the crêpes. The mix then ferments in the fridge for 24 hours, where it develops a coquettish tang, the baseline for the supporting flavors.

Generally, the dosas were better than the uttapas, but only because the latter's thicker centers were pasty on two occasions. That wasn't a problem for the former, spread thinner than a magazine staff on the griddles. Toppings marched a line down the center of the 14-inch rounds, each side folded over like arms across a chest. Though fusion is Philly Chutney's aim, the one traditional dosa — the "old-school" masala, with fluffy turmeric-tinted potatoes and dal laced with chili, cardamom, fennel and mustard seeds — was my favorite. (There's a "premium" version that adds American cheese, tomato, spinach and onion, too.) It might be old-school, but it could teach some of the less successful new-school pairings a thing or two.

I'm not convinced balsamic-roasted onions, wilted spinach and Jack cheese, fossilized in uttapa No. 13, belong with spice-smoked house-made paneer (something I'd have loved to try on its own). Meaty portobellos, spinach and two kinds of cheese (chèvre and American) made for a more natural combo (No. 6), while roasted corn, peppers and onions gave the No. 9 a faint Southwestern drawl.

Be warned: The dosas and uttapas don't play in the same expertly spiced sandbox as the curries we're used to, though the house-made chutneys, packed in individual cups like fingerpaints, added oomph. There are six flavors — the mango and curry are the best — but Mehta expects to offer up to 15 soon, including a rotating seasonal (currently a mega-magenta cranberry). You get one complimentary with each dosa or uttapa, while the lush, spicy sambar, another traditional sidecar, runs $1. I'd pay 10 times that for this intoxicating insta-thaw, a blend of lentils and dal equally satisfying as a soup or a dip for the dosa's crunchy Baked Lay's-like ends.

There are potato samosas, too, big as grapefruits and bundled in pastry, making them flakier than most. And the General Tso looks of the gobi Manchurian, a popular Indo-Chinese snack of fried cauliflower, proved a red herring. The rice-flour-battered florets fried up so crisp that not even the thick sweet-and-sour sauce could hold them down. "We wanted to put them on the menu from day one," Mehta said, and I understand why. They're addictive.

So is the fire-extinguishing mango lassi. Neither too thick nor too thin, too sweet nor too tangy, this buttermilk-and-yogurt fruit shake is the best in town. As for hot beverages: The Malabar coffee and chai tea were watery enough to be served at the complimentary continental breakfast at the Mumbai Red Roof Inn. And I watched them get heated up in the microwave.

Mehta and Singh won't let weak coffee slow them down. The pair has big plans for Philly Chutney, beginning with a campus blitzkrieg that'll see locations at Temple (under construction), Penn and Delaware (in negotiations) and Yale and Rutgers (floated). "We'd like to be the Baja Fresh or Chipotle of Indian food," Mehta said. Judging from the bustling Sansom Street crowds, they're well on their way.

(adam.erace@citypaper.net)

Philadelphia Chutney Co. | 1628 Sansom St., 215-564-6446, phillychutney.com. Open Mon.-Thu., 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Appetizers, $2.50-$6.50; entrées, $5-$8.