| rev:text
| - Before having my first Bollywood-in-a-theatre experience in good ol' Tempe, I ended up here at Little India upon the recommendation of one of my colleagues.
Little India, like many Indian shops in the Valley, also moonlights as a chaat house. "Chaat" is basically snack food - dozens of different dishes, all with a bit of a kick and real tasty (it's hard to screw up chaat, and if you do, then you REALLY suck and shouldn't be in business).
At L.I., you go to the back of the store, pick up a slip which is printed out sushi-order style, pick what you want, and hand it through the open door to one of the girls scampering around in the kitchen. None of the dishes is more than 5 bucks (the majority being below $3), all of them vegetarian (which doesn't mean healthy, but whatever). It was 8:30 or so, and I hadn't eaten since lunchtime, and I'd worked out, so I was starvin' like Marvinder.
I ordered the pav bhaji (curried potato dish with a bun - think of it as a Sloppy Joldeep), the puri chaat (hollowed thin dumplings filled with tamarind chutney, mint chutney, yogurt, chopped onions & cilantro, and other spices), and the chole bhatura (warm bowl of spicy garbanzo beans with what I can only describe is REAL Indian fry bread). So, well, not a healthy dinner, but I've been doing so well all year (almost three weeks long) that I thought I could indulge this night.
Seating is limited here. You gotta remember you're in a grocery mart moonlighting as a snack house. Weekends can get really busy as the local Indian community fills in for some pre-Bollywood grubbin'. Water was self-serve with a stack of puny Dixie Cups next to a cooler (to be fair, there are fridges stacked with soda, etc).
We waited for about 5 minutes before we got a table. Once we sat down, the food quickly appeared. All my dishes before me, I didn't even know where to begin. It was a LOT of food. I started tackling each of them, and they were all great: really tasty, aromatic, and mouthwatering, albeit maybe I'm feeling nostalgic for mom's food, but still. Good stuff all around. I enjoyed my meal - the three dishes together equaled $10 plus change, and I was about to burst (and I can shovel in a ton of food before saying mercy).
So this chaat factory in the back I'd give 4 stars, but the place as a whole I'd give 3, as the selection of goods in the store part isn't nearly as plentiful as some other places in the Valley. That said, if I ever find myself on the corner of McClintock & Baseline again for whatever reason, I know my salivary glands will lead me here once again. And again. And again.
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