Whole Foods sells traditional south indian food inside stores

 

Dosateria, a 25-seat dosa bar, opened inside the blocklong Whole Foods in TriBeCa in Manhattan.

The Indian Scene, as Seen From New York

Diners sit around the tawa, or griddle, where these savory rice crepes are cooked. With Dosateria, the natural foods supermarket chain is expanding a relationship with the Indian restaurant and catering company Café Spice, which provides Indian cuisine in 150 of Whole Foods’s hot buffets across the country.
Indian food offerings like saag paneer and chicken curry, which mostly come from the country’s north, were already tremendously popular with Whole Foods customers, said Michael Sinatra, public relations manager for Whole Foods Market in the northeast, so it made sense to branch out to South Indian cuisine. Dosas “cater to all kinds of diets including vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free,” he said.
Dosateria is run by 37-year-old Hari Nayak, a chef and cookbook author from Karnataka who has worked in the kitchen of Daniel, which has three Michelin stars. The menu he has created reflects his dual backgrounds: for starters, customers can choose between a white rice and whole grain batter. And while they can order the traditional masala option, a spiced potato filling, they can also go for more unusual picks like butter chicken and brie, tofu masala, coconut shrimp or meatball with avocado and jack cheese.
The chutneys include the standard coconut and cilantro mint but also mango-fennel and tomato-mustard. A bowl of sambar comes with the dosas, and the average price of a generously sized plate is $10.
If Dosateria is a hit with customers the way the Café Spice hot bar has become, Whole Foods will expand it to other locations