Chili’s South Indian Deli and Mart

Another very special guest this week for our readers – another guest blogger!

This week’s guest AveEater is Kristi. 

Kristi is AveEater Mike’s wife of more than 10 years.  Which is a feat in and of itself if you know Mike.  Kristi is a sophisticated modern woman, as well as mother – who enjoys potty humor, swearing like a drunken sailor, and occasional dick jokes after a few glasses of wine.  She’s always up for an adventure. She has many pairs of boots.

Jealous of all of Mike’s AveEating, Kristi has been eager to guest blog with the eating up the ave crew at one of her favorite restaurants in the city – Chili’s South Indian Deli and Mart.     

Guest AveEater: Kristi

Before I jump right into the food and experience, a little background…

For those who don’t know, Mike and I spent a year traveling the world – with a large stint of time spent in India. To be completely honest, we didn’t initially go to India for the culture, people or history: we went for the food. Touring the western portion of the continent from tip to toe, we essentially ate our way up and down the coast indulging ourselves in a ridiculous adventure in dining.

Before our trip, my experience with Indian food was similar to the majority of people in the states who have had Indian food. Plates filled primarily with dishes focused on the northern style fare influenced by the British featuring tandoori type cooked meats, naans, tika masalas and curries. While these familiar dishes are still extremely tasty, southern Indian food differs greatly from its northern cousin and since our trip, has become my comfort food.

Fortunately for me, Chili’s Deli and Mart, at 5002 University Way NE, is a close refuge when craving thali, dosha, idily, sambar or the coveted delicate flakiness of a Kerala parotta. Sadly however, these items are pretty much absent from the majority of Indian restaurants in Seattle so I’m lucky to have found this place.

Now onto the food!

• Service: The quiet and extremely friendly staff at Chili’s go out of their way to make your experience a good one. Our severs warm smile and forthcoming coaching on certain menu items were both welcome and greatly appreciated.
• Ambiance: Despite the plastic tables I’m pretty sure they purchased at Costco and the funky blue walls decorated with European castles taken from old calendars, I give the place a “C” for effort. I did however appreciate the absence of the typical Ganesh carving nailed to the wall like most other Indian restaurants trying to convince you of their authenticity so that was refreshing.
• Music: A small TV mounted in the corner was playing music videos from MTV India. Fun fact, MTV India was launched in 1996 and features fresh music, the latest in Bollywood news, exciting television, and get this… it has actual music videos! And, according to Wikipedia, MTV India happens to be one of the most popular channels across the Indian subcontinent. Just look at what can happen when you actually play music on MTV, but I digress.

•  Cleanliness:  Would pass a health inspection. I also appreciated the Jasmine scented car freshener in the bathroom.

• Colon consequences: Nothing to report here. All is well.

• Originality/surprises:  If you haven’t had Southern Indian food before then it’s quite a delight and surprise. Pretty much everything on the menu is delicious. I’m a vegetarian and since much of India is veg as well they have a very generous selection of items to sample. For the meat lovers, everyone at the table was raving about Tim’s mutton dosa, so apparently that’s a must-have. The mango lassi was refreshing as well.

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  Dosas and Mango Lassis. Yes please!

• Taste:  I got the veg platter after having been told the veg thali was not available for some unknown reason. I was pretty heartbroken at first as I had my heart set on a thali, but after my plate arrived I was not disappointed. The veg platter was similar to a thali, but with a few small differences, so in the end it was close enough.  For those not in the know, thali is a typical meal made up of a selection of little side dishes. Placed on a large round tray the sides are placed in a number of small little cups positioned around the outside of the tray and in the center is your blob of rice and some type of parotta, nan, puris, chapatis, rotis or other Indian type tortilla thingy depending on the region. My favorite little side is and always has been the cabbage thorin. In this case it was great and probably my favorite thing on the plate. The other star of this meal was of course is the Kerala parotta. Flakey, sweet and salty, this little guy is a specialty to Southern India. We’ve been known on occasion to whip up a batch of egg curry on the weekend and then place a special order of just Kerela parotta for pick-up from Chili’s cuz it’s just that good. On a side note, one thing I do have to mention is that I can’t seem to find is double boiled rice in any of the other Southern Indian restaurants in Seattle, so if any of you readers out there have any leads, pass them my way.
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Note: The only thing I didn’t like was the okra side. Done right okra can be tasty but in most cases it’s just slimy and gross, as was in this case, but I don’t hold that against them.

• “Ave factor:”  Chili’s has ave factor in spades.  It looks like a place where you used to buy cigarettes before they were $20 a pack or whatever, and the new owners have poured their hearts into the food, and worried less about the décor.  I appreciate that.  Given that it’s a hole in the wall, not flashy and extremely low key and unassuming, I’m giving this place an “A” for fitting in with the majority of other establishments on the Ave.   
• Value: I don’t ever remember paying this much for a hotel, let alone a meal while in India, but the market dictates I suppose and my US $ got me a full belly at a decent price. By the look on everyone else’s faces (and bellies) I can only assume they were satiated as well.

I give it 10 out of 10 cabbage thorins – even urbanspooners love it!

Lastly– the awkward photos:

a bib is necessary occasionally.