Kati roll junction
Two restaurants become competitors while three become a trend: a new NYC restaurant confirms Bleecker and Macdougal as kati roll central. (The other two are Kati Roll Co. and Indian Bread Co.) Sangam actually boasts more about its fresh-ground spices, low-oil cooking and biryani:
When Ansari, who also owns Caffe Vivaldi on Jones Street, enlisted his substitute-teacher wife, Rafat, to cook for a couple of special events, her biryani–a family recipe for the Mogul pilaf that layers meat with intricately seasoned basmati rice–caused something of a hullabaloo. “We started getting calls: ‘Where is that food? Where is the biryani?’ It was getting out of hand. We had to put it on the Caffe Vivaldi menu as a special.” [NY Mag]
The poet-voiced owner plays Hindustani classical. Sangam’s mango lassi was subtle and tasty, and the aloo roll was greaseless, but a touch bland for my taste. Total: $8 point something.
I circled back for the biryani at lunchtime the next day, but it still wasn’t ready at 12:30 in the afternoon. Authentic!
on Thursday, June 12th, 2008, 11:12 pm in Food › 
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touche. i guess manish never got to try it - but did anybody else?
i don’t know if the indian bread co has changed much in the last few years, but i stepped in one day when the line at kati roll was too long. the atmosphere was pretty cool - and they have a great collection of books to browse through as you eat. but the food was completely disappointing - too much naan, bland, and stuffed with the cheaper fillings like lettuce and tomato.
AK,
I agree, the food at Indian Bread Co. is rubbish in my opinion, Kati Roll is much better, and the new midtown location on 39th between 5th and 6th seems less crowded.
IBC is great, just inconsistent. The paneer naanini is delish some days, bland others. Give the naanwich a pass. The aloo parantha is huge, delicious and cheap - comes with raita, ask for achaar.
KRC is inconsistent too. Downtown does paneer rolls better, midtown’s aloo rolls are tastier (ask for extra spice). Even then the midtown aloo fails me on occasion.
Must try the aloo parantha when I am there next, have any of you tried Sukhadia or Dimple? Any feedback?
Dimple was sloppy, cheap, hot, ok. Sukhadia was clean, midrange, half good and half cold. I’m talking veg stuff only.
I checked out the Kati roll on 39th between 5th and 6th thanks to manish blogging about it , it was not crowded both times I went, the alu roll was very good, didnot like the paneer roll that much, same here too both alu and paneer roll werent spicy enough for me..
I liked the place, lots of amitabh pictures , it was unique..
Thank you for the feedback, still looking for decent chaat.
Had some good chaat in Iselin. In the Bay Area, Vik’s Chaat, or Dana Bazaar for fiery pani puri.
they’re all amitabh! clearly, i’ve spent way too much time at the 39th street location. but i agree about the 39th street location - it’s not great, and the spices aren’t as fit as the one in the village. the paneer was terribly disappointing. the chicken was grilled well, though.
i’ll def. try the aloo parantha at IBC - it’s so hard to find a good one!
you have to try sangam’s nargisi keema rolls — i haven’t tasted anything that good — even in india!
The chicken biriyani was second to none and I enjoyed my aloo roll. We will definitely be heading back.
I liked the veg biryani quite a bit- it was fresh and spicy…and I didn’t find the aloo roll bland at all, though they are very different from the Kati Roll/Indian Bread Co/Roomali rolls…mine had a delicious tomato base.
Partly it was that I forgot to ask for extra hari mirch. But it tasted the way something tastes when you leave out some critical spice. I’m not sure what it was but the absence was glaring.
out this whole kathi roll thing I.B.C takes the crown and for thos who are not convince yet try having chicken seekh kebab or egg chicken tikka they not only hit the spot it leaves you wanting for more and if you are not full yet I highly recommend the lamb vindaloo naan sandwich