Dosa

There is a place called Panchavati in Sunny vale on Persian Drive, close to FairOaks (near the SunnyVale Hindu temple) that I think serves up better dosas than the places you listed.  In addition to the usual Dosa fares, they have what is known as a Set Dosa which is like a Dosa Sandwitch with Potato on one side and the Coconut chutney on the other.  Quite nice...

Regarding your other questions,

- A combination of Idli, Vada, Dosa is a very typical.

- Obviously people get creative and use whatever they like as a side to Dosas.  My
  personal preference would be to just have the coconut chutney (white) and
Sambhar
  with the Dosa.  In India, it is quite common to use chilli powder with
Oil as a standard
  accompaniment to Dosas (among other things).

- Not a big fan of Andhra masala dosas.... So, not sure about this question... Regards,
-Sri "I am hungry now" Raju

Andrew L. wrote:

> Someone wrote:
> :       It appears to me then that what you are interested
> : in is North Indian cuisine. Pasand is not the best for that,
> : but for South Indian food, I haven't found a better place
> : than Pasand around here yet.
>
> :       It is probably more correct to call it Tamil/Andhra
> : vegetarian food than South Indian. Pasand doesn't have a lot of
> : variety, but the quality of what they have is good.
>
> I think I'm a South Indian food lover.  First of all, a dosa is South
> Indian, right?  OK, so who has the best dosa in the south bay?  I've
> tried them at Shilpa, Pasand, Sarovar (Santa Clara), Sarovar
> (Milpitas), Swagat (Mountain View), Swagat (Milpitas), and few others
> that I've forgotten.  Some I've tried only once, others multiple times.
> Based on my samples, I rank them as follows:
>
>         Shilpa (also the only one with a spicy Andhra masala dosa)
>         Pasand
>         Sarovar (Milpitas)
>         Swagat (Mountain View)
>         Swagat (Milpitas)
>         Sarovar (Santa Clara)
>
>  *  dosas have either been masala dosas or Andhra masala dosas
>  ** being last on the list does *not* been it was bad.  I would go
>     back and order a dosa at any of these places.
>
> Now some questions on dosa etiquette:
> - At <$4 for a dosa and sambar, is this typically an entire meal?  I
>   know that idli is also common with dosa/sambar but do you also order
>   anything else?  A side of dal perhaps?
> - Some places bring out three chutneys (red, white, green) while
>   others bring out only two (red and white).  Is the green chutney
>   only for somosas or is it used for dosas as well?
> - Does anyone else make a spicy Andhra masala dosa other than Shilpa?
>
> --
> Andrew "dosa lover" Lee
> [email removed]