Three South Asian Food Stops Within a Few Blocks of Jackson Heights
Each kitchen here does one thing better than the block around it, charred skewers in a tandoor, a sour-hot snack eaten standing, dumplings swimming in broth. The walk between them is a quarter mile.
Three stops on three streets
Kebabs at the 73rd Street end
A Pakistani tandoor at the 73rd Street end of 37th Road, a minute from the 74th Street station stairs, and the room makes no claim to decor. The takeout menu the shop posts on its site lists a quarter tandoori chicken leg at $5.50, naan at $1.50, and beef Bihari kabab at $13.99. Order the quarter leg with a naan and eat standing at the counter. The Bihari is the plate to split between two.
Chotpoti on 73rd Street
Two minutes north, Nabanno keeps a Bangladeshi counter and party hall on 73rd Street, open around the clock. Chotpoti is $6.00, yellow peas and potato in a tamarind broth that sharpens with chili, and the samocha is $2.49. Add a couple of peyazu at fifty cents each and share them. This is snack food, eaten standing, and the sour heat builds as you go.
Jhol momo on Roosevelt Avenue
Three minutes east, the walk crosses the car-free stretch of 37th Road the neighborhood calls Diversity Plaza, then reaches Nepali Bhanchha Ghar on Roosevelt Avenue. Momos run $10 a plate for vegetable, potato or chicken and $11 for beef, goat, paneer or shrimp. Take them in jhol, the lightly spiced broth the shop describes on its site, and add sel roti at $2.00. The kitchen has won the Momo Crawl three years running.
