Samuel C.
Yelp
More fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Of course, I have never spent any significant time with a barrel of monkeys.
I imagine the bottom of the barrel would smell pretty foul.
But Chatpatti Chaat is still just a whole lot of fun.
Never mind how many primates you have climbing around your living room back home.
* * *
Chatpatti Chaat is a Mumbai style street food truck.
You are not here for dinner.
You are here for snack-a-toodies.
Chatpatti Chaat is in a very very cool food court at the corner of Anderson Mill and Pond Springs.
Nearly all of the food trucks here serve non-US cuisine .
They are generally staffed by entrepreneurs from the appropriate nation.
The menus all around look absolutely fantastic.
I have been big on the food courts at 5000 Burnet and at the corner of South First and Dittmar.
However, in terms of getting interesting cuisine from around the world,
The food court at Anderson Mill and Pond Springs looks hard to beat.
* * *
Technical Geographic Note:
The Anderson Mill Pond Springs food court is divided into two halves.
The court runs on either side of a gigantic Brazilian capoeira studio.
You can't see Side B from Side A.
You can't see Side A from Side B.
It is therefore kind of easy to think that your truck is not here and it must have moved.
Do not despair.
If you can't find your truck on your side of the Capoeira studio,
Just go around the studio and look on the other side.
The studio is huge so this will be a bit of a hike.
The other side of the studio probably has everything you are looking for.
* * *
The star of the food court is Chatpatti Chaat.
Lots of the trucks get business and customers.
But the biggest crowds by far are at Chatpatti Chaat.
While we were there, carload after carload of Indian families pulled up to the truck.
Six or more people would pile out of each car and order.
There was Mom.
There was Dad.
There were the kids.
There were Mom's friends and the kids' friends.
Some of the cars also had Grandma and Grampa.
Amazingly, Chatpatti Chaat serves all of these people fast.
No one had to wait long for their food.
In the middle of this customer deluge,
Food was on our table about five minutes after ordering.
We were the only Anglo family there.
* * *
Their website says they do dosas, but there was not a dosa to be had on the menu.
They do do puris. They do do samosas. They do do chaats.
They do do yogurt drinks, and Indian milk tea.
THE DISHES ARE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY TO DIE FOR.
My wife had smashed samosa with ragda.
Nearly everything here has ragda.
Ragda is a combination of peas, tomatoes, chutney and onion.
The stuff is insane.
If I ran a food truck, I would put ragda in everything too.
In this case, dump two samosas in a bowl, add a ton of ragda, stir it until it becomes smoosh, and serve it like oatmeal.
I could eat that stuff all day and all night.
I had puri - another house staple.
These are hollowed out fried bread balls.
They look like someone made miniature brandy snifters out of breakfast cereal.
They look like cereal but they are addictive like popcorn.
The house fills them with ragda ... a fine idea if there ever was one.
You dip these into flavor sauces.
How did it taste?
OH
MY
GOD.
The three sauces are tamarind, onion dal, and clear-hot.
Tamarind sauce makes everything good.
You could put tamarind sauce on sandpaper and sandpaper would be good eating.
Tamarind with ragda and puri?
All three of life's essential food groups all in one dish.
The onion dal is almost as good as the tamarind.
It wouldn't cover for sandpaper.
But it is still fine fine fine eating.
The clear-hot sauce cleared the palate from the other two items.
It couldn't compete with those other all-star wonders.
* * *
Just for the record,
Serving sizes are small - but sauce sizes are big.
My wife and I finished our dishes in no time flat.
But I still had 2/3 of my sauces left.
I took all three sauces home and have been putting them on pita bread.
I have found true pita bread happiness.
* * *
Sitting here at night by the food trucks
Having one fantastic treat after another
I felt like I was at the food carnival on the far side of the world.
I have always wanted to go to the food carnival on the far side of the world.
It is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.