[Menlo Park] The Dosa Point mystery

[sck]

The other week when Killiney Kopitiam first opened I was deterred by the Saturday lunch line, I ended up getting a dosa at Dosa Point in Menlo Park. I previously got a biryani from Dosa Point a few months ago (don’t ask me why I decided to get a biryani from a dosa place- I guess I really wanted a biryani that day.) and found it alright. This time I did the proper ordering and got the item that the restaurant is named for.

The masala dosa was great, much better than their biryani. The dosa was slightly crisp on the outside and had an potato / onion filling inside. Its mildly spicy and came with two chutneys and a sambar. The chutneys were great- the tomato chutney was bright and and the cilantro chutney was fresh and cool.

Overall I thought the dosa was very good. I was quite surprised that Menlo Park’s getting a proper dosa restaurant. I guess the Facebook campus is somewhat nearby even though few are working on site these days. It really reminded me of Dosa Paratha in Mountain View. So I made a mental note to visit Dosa Paratha soon so I could compare.

And a few weeks later, I did. I tried to call Dosa Paratha up to place an order. And I was bummed to see that they were reported closed on Yelp. I always liked Dosa Paratha and thought they did a proper job of dosas. I looked up their web site. Guess what, its showing up as Dosa Point. Aha! I guess that’s why the dosas tasted so much alike! Mystery solved!

@bbulkow I think you have been there? What else do you like?

[bbulkow (Brian Bulkowski)]

Erra thoku mali, chicken 65, special chicken curry, and you already found the dosas. it looks like the menu expanded greatly.

That location was jonathans fish and chips for a long time, very good taste, owners retired. next up was a middle eastern place, i didn’t like them, and apparently the neighborhood agreed. That location is pretty good, there is very little decent casual food without going into one of the towns or into epa for tacos. incompetant places like mardinis and menlo bbq can survive. good food, like dosa pt, like the taqueria in el rancho, like back a yard, thrive easily, even before Facebook.

[psbanerjee (psb)]

in re: the ABHIRUCHI thread …

BTW, did you ever make it to Dosa Paratha in Mountain View?

I havent been to DP yet but I have now had 8 or so DOSAS from ABHIRUCHI and maybe 2-3 UTTAPAM … and they are batting in the 90-100% range. Encourage you to try theirs unless the time from restaurant to eating location is not reasonable for you … clearly a “togo Dosa” comes at a price, so to speak, even if driving 5-10min.

I usually get the SPRING DOSA.

[sck]

I will. Only because of your rec.

[dlobo (Donald Lobo)]

oh I definitely need to try abhiruchi Hows their filter coffee?

I’ve been doing to Madras Cafe on Bernardo and ECR for years now. Its quite solid and reliable, and we do enjoy our dosas there. But maybe we should venture out and try something different.

Its a relatively long drive from the city, so need to make It worthwhile

[psbanerjee (psb)]

I havent been to MADRAS CAFE in a while … the ~5 times I went there, I seem to remember the DOSA being decent – better than the places phoning it in/variable quality control. So I’d agree with “solid and reliable”, but not “worth a detour”.

After the GANESH TEMPLE BASEMENT CANTEEN, ABHIRUCHI the best USA DOSA I can think of … at a “no frills” place. TBH, I cant remember how good the DOSA was at the “eponymous” DO$A RESTAURANT … I again remember it being decent, but also being flabbergasted a DOSA could be >$10 [I believe the cheapest DOSA I have had was 12cents].

The SAMBAR at ABHIRICHI is also way better than anyone else’s I’ve tried in the SFBA.

Er, under current conditions of “togo only” I’m not sure I’d recommend driving down … there is no outside seating there and it would be kind of ugly trying to eat DOSA/SAMBAR out of the togo box in your car … so unless friend’s dining table is near by …

I recommend the SPRING DOSA, GHEE MASALA DOSA, MIX VEG UTTAPAM and SAMBAR. Do not recommend the CHOCOLATE DOSA

Have not tried COFFEE there … dunno if it is “real deal” or “phoned in”. I believe LASSIS were “good but not top tier”.