South Indian Street Food Restaurant Pochys Wraps Crispy Manchurian Cabbage and Butter Chicken Into Rolls | Eater SF

"In a quiet corner of Berkeley in the former Lulu’s space, a new fast-casual spot brings South Indian street-food rolls to the East Bay. Founded by first-time restaurateur Aravind Pochiraju, who immigrated to the United States 23 years ago, the concept aims to recreate the street flavors of Bangalore, Mumbai, and Tenali so authentically “people from that place” will feel transported. The compact menu centers on rolls (what most Americans would call wraps) in three varieties: Tenali kura, which starts with an onion base and can be filled with egg, chicken, or paneer; a butter masala roll based on Bangalore street food with onions, tomato, and butter, also available with egg, chicken, or paneer; and Manchurian rolls, the restaurant’s take on Indian Chinese with gobi, or cabbage, battered, fried, and tossed in a garlic-ginger sauce, plus chicken or corn options. Customers can add roasted onions, bell pepper, cilantro, and lime (with spinach and avocado available for an extra fee), and rolls can be converted into bowls using the same proteins served over bagar rice or fried rice with two pieces of roti. Prices generally start under $10 and drop when you order more; beverages include a lime juice drink, a mango milkshake, sodas, and water. Though he lacks formal chef training, Pochiraju has obsessively refined the recipes—drawing on his mother’s family recipes, including the bagar rice used to feed hundreds at their village church—to get closer to the flavors he missed, and he hopes to expand Pochys into a Chipotle-like chain, with funding secured for two more East Bay locations in the next 18 months and a five-year goal of 20 locations. Pochys is at 1019 Camelia Street in Berkeley and is open for takeout from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, with plans to open the dining room soon." - Dianne de Guzman