Dr D.
Yelp
I know my Indian food, longtime vegetarian eating at the vegetarian places in Los Angeles. Friend of mine was staying with me and he might know more. Went to college at Reed, best friend is Indian. Currently doing his residency in internal medicine in the Bay Area living with said friend's parents actually. Couple years ago we tried every Indian place in Culver City to decide on which one had the best dosas. Answer- none. One had better sambar, another the crepe, another the filling, yet another the coconut chutney, another the spicier one.
Today I went to this place for the first time despite it being the closest of all of them to my house. And I was blown away. Easily the best. Avoided it before because the ambiance is simply terrible- there's none. And it never seemed welcoming, you didn't see people entering. In fact you didn't see anyone inside hardly at all.
As soon as I got the dosa it just smelled different. In a better way. Went with a friend who I introduced to dosas a couple months ago. He too noticed the difference right away. Everything tasted more complex. The crepe seemed to have a little something extra, almost like buckwheat. The potatoes were more interesting, more spices and ingredients. The coconut chutney was more enticing, now I suspect the other places just microwave the frozen shit they sell. Only one I wasn't sold on was the spicier red chutney, could have been bolder. Sambar was more lentilly, and just better.
I'll be back. It's about a mile walk. I don't need ambiance to enjoy authentic food. Chatted up the only other customer while I was there, nice Indian gentleman who told me it's his favorite place.
Only four stars because you gotta have SOME ambiance for the 5th though. The place is drab, actually drab might be an improvement. Don't ask me why they're not interested in making the place more visually appealing, maybe some nice ambient music, a paint job, some pictures on the walls.
But this place had better food than the places with said ambiance and noticeably higher prices, at least as far as the dosa goes. We're talking Annapurna and Mayura and Samosa House.