Many restaurants, with their deep fryers and cream sauces, heal your appetite but hurt your waistline. Uru-Swati, which translates to "Morning Star of Peace," promises genuine healing through food with a menu of flavorful vegetarian dishes, many of which aid in the digestive process.
Disregard the absence of a greeting; you'll notice that the regular diners get much the same treatment. Seat yourself beside a 3-D city poking from the wall, with high-rise apartment buildings and pigeons fluttering through a clear sky. Or, grab a table before the plasma televisions broadcasting the more provocative side of Hindi culture.
On weekends, the space provides a home-away-from-home for area residents. Young couples stop in, accompanied by watchful chaperones. Families congregate at community level while their children pinball around the restaurant or use forks as drumsticks against marble tables; nobody really pays them mind. You can also expect to see a surprisingly vast number of non-Indian couples and groups of friends looking for something new.
With everything on the menu under $7, take advantage of the opportunity and sample a range of North and South Indian dishes like the paper dosa: a two-foot long, crispy, paper-thin crepe made of ground rice and lentils served with vegetable soup for dipping. Samosa (triangular pastry shells stuffed with potatoes, onion, cilantro and peas) and palak paneer (spinach cooked with tomatoes and onions added to cheese in a curry gravy) equal a deliciously spicy tag team. Out-of-towners can replicate their experience; Uru-Swati ships orders anywhere in the U.S.
Average cost: <$10
Centerstage Reviewer: David-Anthony Gonzalez
