Good Indian Food in Jersey City?

[paul brown]

Two of my students who hail from India reccommened Raison for regular Indian and Kadai for Indian- Chinese cusine. Any thoughts on either of these two or on any other of the restaurants on Newark Avenue. We've never been to Jersey City as we live in Manhattan but we would gladly take the PATH for a good meal as we are constantly disappointed by Jackson Heights.

[Brian Yarvin]

Paul:

If you're vegatarian,Jersey City is a big step up from Jackson Heights in Indian Food quality, it's well worth the trip. However, Indian meat restaurants rarely reach the levels that the veg ones do.

As for choices,I would also reccomend Chowpatty while you were in the neighborhood.

Link: http://www.brianyarvin.com/blog/blog1...

[Paul Brown]

Brian,
Have you tried Raison or Kaidai and if so what did you think? Also what do you reccommend ordering at Chowpaddy.
Thanks a bunch
David

[Ike]

I haven't been to a place called Raison, but I did visit a restaurant called Rasoi on the advice of an Indian acquaintance. Perhaps that's what you're referring to. However I thought it was merely good, not fantastic, and not worth going out of your way for.

I've been meaning to try Chowpatty. And I've walked past Kadai many times and wondered if it was good. I'm in Jersey. If you live in Queens I bet there are some good places hidden in Jackson Heights somewhere but you have to seek them out--Jim Leff wrote about a great-sounding lunch buffet a while ago that I kept meaning to try but I couldn't get over there. Being out of work means that when I'm in Jersey City I often eat at Dosa Express, a very cheap, extremely run-down looking little place on Newark Ave. I'll bet there are lots of similar little South Indian places in Queens. The Village Voice recommended one a year ago called Dosa Hutt (not to be confused with the Dosa Hut in Jersey City or the million other Dosa Huts in other places) in Flushing at 45-63 Bowne Street. I haven't been there.

[dgh]

Rasoi is amazing, my wife and I order from there prob. 2 times a week. They deliver, but it takes a while (plan on ordering an hour in advance). Try the Chicken Korma (sp?), the Garlic Naan, or the Tandori Chx. All the vege selections are great (wife is a veggie).

Goos Luck!

[Brian Yarvin]

David:

I've never tried the two places you've mentioned. At Chowpatty, I suggest ordering anything with the word "super" in the name. Try the "super dosa" just to find out why they call it that. The "super thali" is about the best thali (south Indian Combo plate) in NJ.

If you quality baseline is Jackson Heights, any Indian restaurant in Jersey City will blow you out of the water. People coming from other parts of NJ might be better off in Edison, but the debate over which of the two has better food is nothing more than the NJ version of the Queens Chinatown vs Brooklyn Chinatown thing.

Remember...all these raves are reserved for South Indian Vegetarian places, meat here won't be one drop better than it is in the Big Apple.

[jen kalb]

Brian, the only time I am in Jersey City is travelling between the Holland Tunnel and Rte 1-9 or the NJ Turnpike. is a stop for Indian food in JC even conceivable going into NYC and if so how (generally)?

[Brian Yarvin]

Jen:

I would say not, you would be driving into a neighborhood similar to Jackson Heights.

If you're heading down 1-9, the Indian section of Edison is just a few blocks off the main road. Exit 131 of the Garden State Parkway will also take you to the same general area. (this is just two miles up the Parkway from its junction with the Turnpike at exit 11)

Keep your eyes open at the 1-9 split and turn right at the Staples store just past it on the southbound side. The street there will be called "Green Street" but follow it for a mile or so (Indian food and culture fans might need a few months to cover that mile) and it will become Oak Tree Road - the South Indian center of NJ.

BTW...another two miles or so down Oak Tree will take you to the Hong Kong Supermarket with a great selection of Chinese street food and cheap, interesting 3 dish plates.

Another BTW...If you're heading south on 1-9 looking for food, I'm not sure you can even make it that far without stuffing yourself silly. Between Elmora Avenue in Elizabeth, the great dim sum at the 1-9 Seafood Restaurant in Avenel, and that Polish strip in Rahway, you'd have to have serious dedication in order to reach Oak Tree Road with an appitite.

[jen kalb]

Unfortunately, I drive east from Morristown to the Holland each evening, so a side trip to iselin would not be convenient - I need to find excuses to visit our Iselin office more frequently, and at a convenient time of day (have had only one shot at Oaktree so far)
Have you made it down to Dakshin/Deccani and is the hyderabadi part worth a visit?

I guess you are saying that there isnt an easy way to get off the highway and pick up something in Jersey City, right?

[Brian Yarvin]

Jen:

I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I'm just saying that I can't do it. My feeling would be that a fifteen minute detour on the Garden State Parkway would be far more pleasant than being stuck in a nightmarish urban traffic jam.

I suggest you save the stopover in Jersey City for a day you're traveling by train. All the famed places are a short walk from the PATH station and easily accessable by public transit.

Back to Route 1 - I ate at Dakshin/Deccani a couple of times when it first opened and liked it very much, but it's not the only game in town. Atithi (on Green Street) is also very good and is one of the few small places with meat on the menu. (Moghul serves meat too, but is fancy enough for a wedding)

[piney]

chand palace's vegetarian offerings are hard to beat, there is plenty of parking, and it is close to morristown in nearby parsippany.

Link: http://www.chandpalace.com/

[Dave Feldman]

I agreee with Brian about the logistical difficulties of getting into the Indian area of Jersey City, but it is worth a trip when you have the time. Parking can also be a major hassle.

[jen kalb]

Thanks, you verified my daily impression of Jersey City as one big traffic jam, tho I am sure a parking strategy could be found with time as for Jackson Hts (park on Roosevelt on/just east of the BQE overpass).

[Brian S]

Five years have gone by since this thread was written and a lot has changed. Chowpatty and most of the Gujarati places are gone and a lot of new places, many South Indian, have opened up. The Village Voice says it's the best place in the tristate region, including NYC, for Indian chow.
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0...

[Brian S]

The Village Voice description was so glowing that I more or less ran to the PATH train. Newark Avenue, about 3 blocks from the path, is a street of ramshackle old houses which have been turned into Indian shops, about 4 short blocks of them. Quite nice, but the Voice said the nabe was far more vibrant and vital than Jackson Heights' street of Indian shops, and it isn't. It looks more or less the same as it did five years ago.

There are quite a few new Indian restaurants. Most are south Indian vegetarian places serving dosas, etc. Some try to be trendy, with placards like "Friday Fiesta! Free dal!!!" There are two interesting places. One serves meat entrees from Hyderabad from a steam table buffet, including Hyderabad's famous dum biryani. Another is the place Sietsema described. It was closed!! Apparently it is closed till 5 or 6 PM (and all day Monday). So if you go, phone ahead. I could have gone to the Hyderabad place but I had my heart set on Udupi, so I got on the train and had a Basque meal in Newark. (stewed rabbit)

[isaacji]

I am still glowing about Newark Ave and go there from NYC almost every other weekend to eat for the past 6 years. First impressions may be that its a little tumble down, but if you begin to enter shops, like Patel's cash and carry for every single spice you could want, fresh vegies, etc., or the beautiful sari stores where fabrics are quite affordable, the incredible jewlery shops, the storefront Hindu temple, you start to get really attached to the place. For for food, I always go to Sapthagiri, a veg place with both north and south Indian specialties. I love the thali platters and my kids are addicted to the golab jaman (kind of like warm donut holes in a sugar sauce) and mango and pistachio kufli (ice cream). The waiters are super nice and get to know you and you feel very much at home. I loved being their while the proprieter was blessing all of the carvings and icons with whispered prayers, incense and spices, he was very discreet, but it was lovely to watch. Dosa house is a second runner-up, if you go enough you get to know the counter staff and you can watch the cricket championships while you eat, also I think its great that they now have a Mexican cook in there with the old lady South Indian cooks, viva la rasa! I'm a major Newark Ave fan, for better or worse its a place you can come to love a lot.

[sixelagogo]

Though i'm not at all familiar with train transit from Manhattan to NJ (i'm a bus gal), i really suggest a trip to Iselin (Edison), a true little 6 block strip india if there ever was one...Chowpatty, metioned in the article, has it's base there and it's as good as ever...if you're in the mood for walkin, a short walk will bring you to indian supermarkets, and, travel agents, sari shops, and other restaurants....
Definately a trek worth a train trip (or in my case, an hour long drive fromt the north)

[isaacji]

Absolutely! Oaktree Road, as the area is called, has a website where you can get parking tips and other ideas about what to do there. In addition to Chowpatty, there is a fun food court kind of set up in a corner store about 2 blocks up. You can just go from stall to stall and pick out inexpensive foods to try- also a bakery for trying out "chum chum" and other treats. My impression is that if you want food and groceries, Newark Ave is great, but the really georgeous couture indian clothing, bangles, music and some other great stuff, Iselin is super. Urban is an upscale restaurant in Iselin recently mentioned in Saveur, which I might like to try if I wasn't so addicted to street food.

[sixelagogo]

i never heard of urban before...can you give more of a description ...?
BTW: it's such a haul to go out that way for me and my pals that, lest we have inferior food somewhere else, we keep going back to Chowpatty...it's just that good. ...
Are you talking about the food court down the road from Chowpatty on the other side of the road with the green painted exterior?

[isaacji]

Urban is about one block away from Chowpatty if I recall, on the other side of the street, set back a little with a parking lot in the front on the street side. Its on Marconi Avenue, it looks kind of fancy in a way that makes me wonder if the food is any good, maybe its just a going out to a fancy place type of restaurant. I just quickly googled it and it has two really bad reviews about how expensive and not great the food is! Glad I never spent the $ to go there and stayed on the sidewalk! And yes, the food court is the one you are talking about. The little bakery stall is at the front on the street side. If its too much of a haul, then why not just go to Jersey City on the PATH and go to Newark Ave? Its so easy with out parking or driving.

[sixelagogo]

i live in north jersey, hence car dependant whillst within jersey...
i too googled urban--doesn't sound so great....yelp slammed it pretty hard...think i'll stick with chowopatty

[Brian S]

They certainly have an ambitious menu that reaches out to all regions of India. For instance their fish dishes include

FISH MALABAR CURRY
A South Indian Speciality, tender fish cooked in a rich coconut gravy with onions, tomatoes, curry
leaves and a special blend of spices.
JINGHA MASALA
Jumbo shrimps cooked in our special grated coconut sauce, a perfect indian-portuguese fusion
JINGHA KADAI
Fresh shrimps cooked to perfection with onions, bell pepper whole red chili and a combination of
rich aromatic indian spices.
GOAN FISH CURRY
A traditional goan fish curry cooked to perfection with a taste of coconut milk.
MACHLI HARA MASALA
A speciality from the Eastern parts of India, boneless fish cooked in a special green masala of
corriender, mint, green chili and curry leaves

But it's easier to put a dish on a menu than to cook it properly. Still, I don't put much credence in something I read on a website like Yelp.

http://www.urbantadkausa.com/UrbanTad...

[isaacji]

Photos of a dosa masala at Dosa House in Jersey City's Newark Ave, one of my all time favorites.