“You must have the Masala Dosa,” instructed our wise host, co-owner G. P. Reddy, as a friend and I pored over the fascinating menu at Pasand, a small restaurant in Irving (with another location in Richardson) that produces some of the best Indian food in the Dallas area. A huge lentil-flour pancake that manages to be both moist and lightly crisp, the dosa arrived on a platter with three thin, fragrant chutneys—coconut, hot tomato, and mint—and a cup of sambar, a saucy lentil-and-vegetable “soup.” Tucked inside the dosa was the masala, a spicy mixture of potatoes, onions, peas, carrots, and mustard seeds. We spooned on the condiments and argued good-naturedly about whether a dosa is an Indian burrito or a burrito is a Mexican dosa, finally deciding it all depends on where you’re coming from.
