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| Udupi Palace, 2543 W Devon Chicago |
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Please give me some Indian
That doesn't smell like poo
Now that I have un-whetted your appetite and alienated every female reader, let's talk about Udupi Palace. Named for a town in Karnataka in Southern India along the Arabian Sea, it's also the namesake of a type of cuisine cooked in India's Vedic tradition. Udupi cuisine typically brings together a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and grains and excludes onions, garlic, and all types of meat. The venerable masala dosa is indigenous to the Udupi cuisine, and it is very representative of the Pure Veg South Indian food I have come to know and love.
I wanted to try the avial, a unique concoction of carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, and coconut that I hadn't eaten before, but my waiter talked me out of it. "I do not like", he cryptically explained, making me think he wanted to steer me in a direction he believed more suitable for a western palate. Instead he recommended a starter of the Udupi Special Assortment appetizer and a Masala Dosa. I explained that I'd just eaten a dosa and wanted something else, and settled on the Dal Makhani, a dish that was not South Indian in origin, but from the arid Punjab region in the Northwest of the sub-continent, sharing its geography with Pakistan. Punjab food is often heavy on the beans and features fewer vegetables than its South Indian counterpart.
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| Udupi Special Assortment |
The waiter-recommended Udupi Special Assortment appetizer was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever been offered in an Indian restaurant. Thick layers of haphazard deep fry covered possibly frozen vegetables, and there was no flavor whatsoever. Composed of a vada (fried lentil donut), an alu bonda (fried potato dumpling), a vegetable samosa, a vegetable cutlet, and an onion pakora (more deep-fry in chickpea batter), this basket direct from the bowels of hell nearly made me sick to look at. There was no artistry or craft whatsoever in the food, and all of the fried turds appeared to have been sitting in a ziplocked bag in some freezer, waiting to be deployed in a murky vat of boiling oil. My companion and I were unable to finish a single piece, and expectations vastly diminished, we awaited our bowl of beans.
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| Avial |
In the meantime, the waiter returned with a tiny sample of the Avial, which he wasn't too keen on. "Want to try?", he asked. I sure did! The dish had the most curious flavor and texture, a mix of coconut oil and fiery chiles, with a whiff of Indian eggplant. There was also some stringy vegetable I couldn't identify, and it was both weird and memorable, but probably better as a side accompaniment in a thali than as a main dish (in fact I think I saw it included in several thali combos).
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| Dal Makhani |
The Northern Indian Dal Makhani dish ended up being the star of the show. Garnished with chopped coriander, the dish was moderately spicy and filling, with the classic Indian flavors of fennel, turmeric, chilli, and cumin, as well as ginger and garlic. My companion and I found the dish rich and hearty with a tiny bit of cream, and I think it would be especially tasty on a cold winter's evening by the fire. The texture was rich, and the array of sauces brought out with the dish added a tremendous complement to the flavor.
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| Assorted sauces |
All in all, this was an ok place that was redeemed by a tasty bowl of beans from Punjab. I would never order the appetizer again, and the Avial was curious, but not quite what I'd want for a main dish. I will return, and hopefully get some dishes from the Udupi region next time to check out the specialty.
6/10
Udupi Palace
2543 w. Devon ave
Chicago, IL 60659
Chicago, IL 60659
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