Heritage India (DC - DuPont)

I have been enjoying the food at Heritage India's DuPont Circle location ever since it opened. The two-sided menu (labeled "Traditional" and "Contemporary") has always been an interesting gimmick - if for no reason other than the excitement it creates in the dining room when someone inevitably knocks over a water glass while trying to flip over these billboards.

Normally I am a straight-down-the-middle Chicken Chaat, Lamb Vindaloo, Nan and Raita guy. All of which are excellent, by the way. After a few meals at Heritage, I began dipping my toe in the "Contemporary" waters with the highly theatrical "Golgappas" - little pockets of dough (think of papadams in the shape of a tiny bowl) filled with potato and a sweet/hot tamarind-based sauce, each resting on its own spoon. The dish is finished tableside, as your server pours a bowl of "spicy water" into each pocket and encourages you to eat them each "in one bite." The result is a crunch of shell followed by a torrent of spicy water, which subsides to reveal the delicious sweet/hot potato mixture within. But I digress.

Saturday night, we mixed it up a bit and ordered exclusively from the "Contemporary" side of the menu. The result is similar to tapas, though I am loathe to use that term.

[NB: unless you are in a smoky bar, swishing warm Cruzcampo back and forth in your mouth to choke down that bite of hard bread and rotting ham you just took - and wiping the crumbs on the floor - it isn't "tapas," OK? It might be very good, but it is "small plates," "bites," or even "mezze," but not tapas, please.]

We tried Channa, the aforementioned Golgappas, Calamari in a delightful tomato-based sauce, Lentil dumplings, Baba Ganoush (I know - weird, right?), Cauliflower Pakora, Smoked Mozzarella (really), Meat Samosas, Raita and a flurry of breads (including a Parmesan Naan). Everyone took a bite or two, then passed the dish and by the end, we were (rather, I was) lunging across the table to soak up the last bits of sauce with whatever scrap of naan I could find as a conduit.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was really a blast to witness people trying such a dizzying array of flavors and textures in such a short period of time. They've got Benetton advertisements beaten by a mile.