Dosa paradise on Devon: Udupi Palace

Udupi Palace
2543 W. Devon Avenue
Chicago, IL

Forget the decor, forget the service (both of which were fine) this place is all about dosa. Outrageous, gigantic, gut-busting dosas. We knew we were in the right place when we walked into a restaurant on a Wednesday night and it was absolutely packed. Udupi Palace is a vegetarian restaurant, but there were enough options to please us carnivores just fine. The menu offers a wide range of South Indian dishes including dosas (giant crepes stuffed with filling).

To start out with we had the Udupi Special Assortment with medhu vada (Fried lentil donuts), vegetable samosa,  aloo bonda (potato dumplings), chilly pakora (deep fried chili peppers) (all this for $7). L ordered the  Paper Masala Dosai, filled with potatoes and onions ($6.50). Always on the hunt for spicy foods M ordered the Mysore Masala Dosai ($7.50) filled with hot chutney, potato and onion.

Upon arrival, our outrageous dosai that completely dwarfed the plate. Both wre delicious, though M could have handled a little more spice. But that was quickly fixed with the addition of the array of sauces provided on the table including hot pepper and Matt’s favorite – raita.  Though M and I were wolfing down on dosai, one of our party even veered from the dosai and got some mattar paneer, which also got the thumbs up.

Udupi Palace provided a huge amount of the food for the price – which lasted us 2 meals apiece – and they even packed the sauces to bring home with us. You’ll never look at the simple crepe the same way again.