Three Decades of Dosa in Jackson Heights

Recommendations from the People & Food Universe for New York and Philly

Hey, Rob Martinez here. Here are a few things I’ve been liking around the food world this week:

• Tony Tastes discusses the backlash around ElizabethEatsNYC, the Meta-Glasses-Wearing TikToker who some have compared to Anthony Bourdain.

• Matt Rodbard’s conversation with Danny Meyer on This is Taste was fascinating for a lot of reasons—did Union Square Cafe popularize dining at the bar? This is Taste remains the only food podcast I listen to.

• Jonathan Nunn has launched a column called Acid Reflux on Vittles. It spills all of the British tea on restaurants and restaurant-adjacent folks throughout London. I particularly enjoyed the anecdote about one restaurateur declaring he’d drive a Prius into Top Jaw.

• Alvin Zhou has gone ahead and released another classic, this time about Milly’s Pizza in the Pan in Chicago.

• Silvia Barban opened Tortelli, a pasta shop in Brooklyn. My frenemy Julian Mu loved it, but BT Parsons had some issues with service. Silvia’s LaRina in Fort Greene remains my favorite Italian restaurant in New York.

• I am very invested in David Nguyen’s journey to becoming a chef, from Disney to Vietnam to Benu and The French Laundry. This is an artfully done series.

• Time Out Market is opening in Union Square with some familiar faces for fans of my channel: Lori Jayne from Bushwick, Anthony’s Paninoteca from Staten Island, and my current #1 taco in NYC, Taqueria el Chato from Greenpoint and West Village. I heard from a reliable source that at least one of my videos was used in an introductory email.

• Palace Steaks from Philly is popping up in Ridgewood on the 14th. They’re collabing with Mama Yoshi’s Mini Mart and Decades Pizza. I might gotta pull up on this one.

• New York Nico made a better video about Dolly’s Ices than I did, but owner Nicky Rago’s videos are still the king.

• Without further ado, let’s start this round of recs off with the great young food writer, Lindsay Paulen:

1. Three Decades of Dosa in Jackson Heights

After spending $18 on arguably-bad chicken tenders at Citi Field last year, I promised myself that I’d only buy beer and soft serve at Mets games. Luckily, there’s no shortage of incredible food nearby, as Jackson Heights — notably one of the best food neighborhoods in the whole city — is just a few stops away on the 7. That’s how I ended up at Dosa Delight, a no-frills spot that specializes in vegetarian South Indian fare, and, of course, dosas.

In the age of borderline out-of-control reservation culture, it’s always a relief to dine somewhere like Dosa Delight, an inconspicuous spot that’s been around for three decades — long before Resy even existed. Here, it’s the complete opposite: Within moments of coming through the doors, we were seated with menus and had two crisp Diet Cokes in front of us.

All the food we ordered — samosas, chole bhature and pondicherry dosa — was delicious, but it’s no surprise that the dish the restaurant is named after was the best. The dosa itself was crispy perfection, and I loved that I still got hints of tang from the fermented batter. I’m no dosa expert, but this one was phenomenal.

The Pondicherry variety was cut into quarters and filled to the brim with an addicting filling of deeply-spiced masala potatoes, red onions and various herbs. Although the dosa was killer on its own, it also came with sambar, a lentil-based vegetable stew, and a coconut chutney. I preferred the coconut chutney, which added a really nice textural contrast against the otherwise soft dosa thanks to all the grated coconut.

I left stuffed, and the whole meal was around the same price as the two beers and water bottle I bought at the game. Despite a Mets loss, the meal at Dosa Delight made the whole night feel like a win. - Linday Paulen

📍 Dosa Delight
35-66 73rd St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

Lindsay Paulen is a self-proclaimed food person and writes Lindsay’s List, a twice-monthly Substack that recaps her monthly favorites and chronicles her adventures eating through NYC, from A to Z.

2. Beacon’s Most Prolific Restaurateur is Palestinian

Today, Beacon, NY, has the seductive power to draw hordes of weekenders from the city and coax so much money from their pockets that a marshmallow shop and a world-class chocolatier stay in business. That said, a Palestinian man named Kamel Jamal once told me that when his family operated a gas station in the city, he used to tremble with fear as he walked the day's cash earnings to the bank at the end of the night.

As Beacon changed, Jamal began opening restaurants—a pizzeria nearby, a taco shop, a vegan restaurant, a bakery, a brunch spot, a cannabis dispensary, and, most recently, a barbecue spot. He now operates more food businesses in town than anyone. His best, however, is still Ziatun, where he prepares food from his home.

Jamal was born on the floor of a kitchen in a refugee camp in Jordan. His large family arrived in Beacon before the boom by way of Manhattan and Westchester. Now, they are a fixture in town not just as restaurateurs and friends, but as leading activists against the genocide in Gaza. At city hall meetings, on the street, and in social media, Beaconites hear about how deeply and personally it has affected them. The culture they so fiercely want to protect from annihilation is expressed in the wood-carved benches, the painting of a woman in a field, the music, the instruments, the flags, and above all, the food at Ziatun.

ziatun.beacon

A post shared by @ziatun.beacon

For years, I’ve been ordering the basics – shawarma, kebab, and hummus - but in the last few months, I have ordered two dishes that have carried me away with every bite. First, the mansaf: a dried fermented yogurt sauce, which you pour from a long-handled tin cup, gives tang to savory, tender lamb chunks, landing in a bed of rice and toasted almonds. Next, the bamia: a warm, bright tomato sauce with chunks of tender okra over rice. You can also add lamb to this. The bamia may be a seasonal menu item, and indeed, it would be best right now, during tomato season. - Mike Diago

📍 Ziatun
244 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508

Mike Diago is an award-winning food writer, home cook, and High School Social Worker living in the Hudson Valley.

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