If a loaf of San Francisco sourdough married a French crepe, they’d bring a bouncing baby dosa into the world. Dosa is a favorite Indian street food, a slightly sour fermented rice and lentil pancake, made a la minute and used to bundle all manner of savory fillings. Spongy like its Ethiopian cousin, injera, dosa is also gluten free and can easily accommodate vegan diners.
Dosas are at the center of Tava, chef Manish Patel’s new restaurant in the CBD, a follow up to his successful food stall of the same name at the now shuttered Auction House Market. Tava opened in mid-March along a strip of eateries including Willa Jean and soon, District Donuts.
Patel followed his heart and his father’s footsteps to make cooking his vocation. The 34-year-old is the first generation in his family to be born in the U.S. From Day One, he knew what kind of restaurant Tava would and would not be.
“Indian food isn’t just butter chicken, biryani and lamb curry,” Patel says. “That’s not what I want to do. Dosa was always something special in our home, and not too many restaurants make it.”
His new space has a long chef’s bar, an open kitchen and a bold color scheme, including an eye-popping mural from local artist Rebeka Skela. The heart of the operation is the dosa station, which has two large portable crepe grills.
To make dosas, rice and lentils are soaked overnight. Then the mix sits on top of the oven for about four hours, encouraging fermentation. The mix is spread over the hot grill and cooked until the edges are just crispy.
Dosas are served with either masala potatoes, shredded lamb vindaloo or garbanzo bean curry, a serving of lentil soup and coconut chutney on the side. “Rip it and dip it,” Patel says.
At Auction House, Patel had a much smaller space, so his menu was concise. Besides dosas, he made kathi rolls — a flaky laminated dough wrapped around chicken tikka masala or lamb vindaloo. He’ll add them to the new Tava menu once he gets a little more kitchen help. He also will add thali, a platter of many small Indian dishes served family style.
For now, he’s offering small plates like street corn spiced with dried Kashmiri chilies, cumin, ghee and cilantro. Fried Brussels sprouts are glazed with chili vinaigrette and citrus. Stir-fried noodles are tossed with vegetables in a mild to spicy peanut sauce and is available with or without chicken.
Fried nuggets of potato are topped with chutney, a drizzle of yogurt and herbs. His signature chicken 65 sandwich features marinated and fried thigh with a crunchy coating of Kashmiri chili and curry leaves bound with yogurt. It is dressed with garlic aioli slaw and bread-and-butter pickles on a sesame seed bun and served with house-made chips. Chicken wings are prepared with the same burnished crust.
Patel makes all his own house-ground spice mixes, a side business he hopes to grow with time.
Sliders are made with spiced potato, onion, tomatoes and roasted peanuts. A Bombay sandwich takes the masala potatoes used with dosa and adds mint chutney, red onion and tomatoes on Texas toast. There’s also a kid’s meal created in honor of his two nephews: a grilled cheese sandwich with a side of tikka dipping sauce and a mango juice box.
A creative bar program incorporates ingredients like curry leaf and Limca (an Indian soda similar to Sprite) into drinks like the curry mule, a Masala old fashioned and the Limca paloma.
Patel’s father, Dalpat Patel, worked his way up from a steward position at a Mumbai hotel to executive chef for Marriott in India and the Middle East. He transferred to the New Orleans Intercontinental in 1985 with his wife Bharti, and the family grew to include Manish, his brother and sister.
Although he went to school for graphic design, Patel always cooked with his father at home and helped him with catering jobs, such as elaborate Indian wedding feasts. His father cooked all the food for his sister’s multi-day wedding for 400.
Currently, Tava’s hours are abbreviated due to a staffing shortage, but Patel expects to add lunch next. Patel is already accustomed to the restaurant business’s challenges. When the pandemic started, Auction House closed for two months. Instead of closing operations, Patel ordered more supplies for curries offered in family size portions.
“My girlfriend and I delivered them to people’s doors,” he says. “We sold enough to keep things going.”
