Satori at the Square

A Much Needed Dose of Dosa

The beloved dosa man has played such a crucial part in rejuvenating my own creative energy this week that I just have to throw him in here before a full report on the promised Creative Little Garden.

On Friday I enjoyed a day off of work and made my way to the NYU library, attempting to make some headway on my Medbh McGukian paper (the one that should have been handed in a few months ago...) At about 2 PM I decided to break for my all-time favorite part of paper-writing: NY DOSAS.

Emerging from my workstation and re-establishing myself among the living, I walked out into a day that gave the city a "kind of light-heartedness" to quote McGuckian, a breezy August day, partly sunny, autumn subtly creeping its way into the air. On my way towards Sullivan and Washington Square South, I was caught up in thought, grappling with the female embodiment of space, metaphor versus metamorphosis...and when exactly was Mister Softee promoted to Captain?

But musings dwindled when I saw the quirky little cart of one hundred posts and its energetic Sri Lankan owner in a dance of order-taking and dosa-making, maneuvering his elastic body up, down, left, right (I was reluctant to break rhythm by asking for a picture), splattering what looks like pancake batter down on a griddle, tossing, chopping, flipping, spicing it up.

Thiru Kumar, Dosa Man Extraordinaire, is an icon of Washington Square and has gotten plenty of media attention over the years. He was the winner of the 2007 Vendy Award and has appeared in everything from the Times to Gourmet Magazine, and probably numerous other NYC blogs.
I think the cart may actually be Zagat rated.
(Ha! Although, really, it may actually be Zagat rated....) So much for just street meat. But then again, there's no meat to be had at this healthy Southern Indian jem, which as you may already know, is 100% vegan. I will not attempt to play food critic here, a) I am no connoisseur of this cuisine, I know far too little about it; I just know that his particular dosas are heavenly.



In fact, I hadn't the slightest idea of what a dosa was the first time I visited (during the composition of The Double Sorwe of Criseyde last December), although the cart plainly states, "CREPE MADE OUT OF RICE AND LENTIL."

And also, b) I have not sampled enough of the menu to give a full report. I have only had the samosas (okay, in this case I can say that his may possibly be the best in town--including those had in Jasckson Heights--plump, fresh curried potatoes, peas, nice and hot to the bite), the Masala dosa (pictured with samosa above), and the Jaffna lunch, which is a whopping $6 combination of the two. Oh, and the cool coconut chutney and vegetable-ish soup served alongside. I am not even sure if I eat this stuff "properly"; I usually just down the samosa as a starving urchin would an apple, and then hastily conglomerate the thin and slightly crispy dosa, which envelops the wonderfully yellow potato filling, with the chutney, periodically dipping it into the soup. It works.

I'm actually surprised that on this particular day there are only about five people in front of me. I have seen over twenty dedicated customers trickle down the sidewalk in the past; in fact on one of my prior visits, entrees ran out by 2 PM. So I am served quicker than expected and wander to find a bench, noticing random people scattered about en route, all of them eating dosas out of their Styrofoam containers (packaging being the one downside of the cart). I tried to subtly photograph these well-contented patrons in an effort to illustrate communal love of the dosa, but only dared glimpses of a few for fear of appearing voyeuristic.

So I find my bench and dig in. And on this fine August day in Washing-
ton Square with a muffled cacophony of trumpets, bongo and howling in the backdrop, aaaah, total peace. That is, until I was rushed back into the library due to a sudden influx of aggressive pigeons.

So be wary, this is far from the last time that the dosa man will fragrance these pages. My goal is to have everything on the menu.

But now, once again, onto The Creative Little Garden....