Review: House of Dosas in Hicksville
The Thali meal comes with spicy pickle, yogurt, carrot, dal, spinach curry, rasam, cauliflower, sambar, sweet potatoes and lemon rice at House of Dosas in Hicksville. Credit: Jeenah Moon
As plant-based diets become increasingly popular, vegetarian and vegan diners crave venues where meat-free selections are not exercises in compromise and privation. House of Dosas: That’s your cue! Completely vegetarian (and predominantly vegan) this eatery helped to jump-start Hicksville’s South Asian dining scene when it opened in 1997.
House of Dosas
Range of entrees: $9.95 to $14.95
Handicapped accessibility: No stairs
Attributes: Good for vegetarians, Family-friendly
Reservations: Suggested
416 S. Broadway, Hicksville
House of Dosas doesn’t have to "do anything" to the Southern Indian cuisine it serves — the Hindu-majority population of that region largely eschews meat. "Even without it," noted co-owner Selvi Jeyasri, "there is so much variety in our cooking." Get a delicious overview in the ever-changing daily "thali," which comprises vegetarian curries, chutneys and pickles served on a platter with rice and bread.
Malgudi Rava Masala, a semolina crepe made with spices, chutney, ghee, onions, chillies and cheese, at House of Dosas. Credit: Jeenah Moon
There is tremendous diversity, too, in the restaurant’s eponymous dish: the menu lists more than 30 of them. The dosa is a huge, griddled crepe — crisp on one side, porous on the other — made from a fermented batter of rice and lentils. A cheat sheet: Paper dosas are superthin and even bigger than the regular ones. Any dosa described as "masala" is folded around a heap of silken potatoes mashed with onions and spices. Rava dosas are made with a wheat-rice batter that is not spread evenly onto the griddle but drizzled on, Jackson Pollock-style. Whereas dosas can approach the diameter of a manhole cover, uthappams more closely approximate the size of a dinner plate and, while they are crispy on the bottom, the tops are tender and spongy, the better to embed flavors into.
Notable dishes
Thali lunch, onion-chili rava masala dosa, mixed vegetable uthappam, lemon rice, bisibila bath
Tip:
Got a bitter tooth? The "healthy salad" features karela, the distinctive warty-skinned gourd that may be the bitterest food on earth.
Rice is the dominant grain in South India and two remarkable examples here are lemon rice, a refined golden bowlful of citrus-perfumed basmati, and bisibila bath, a soupy-savory-spicy mixture of short-grain rice and lentils and vegetables. Another palate-opener, the super-bitter "healthy salad" karela (bitter gourd) with onions, tomato and lime. Chase any spicy dish with a refreshing-sweet mango lassi.
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