Now in New York: Delhi\'s Moti Mahal and a \'Dosateria\'

Courtesy of Christina Nuzzo/Life Mosaic PhotographyThe Dosateria, a dosa bar in Manhattan, New York City.

Indian restaurant openings in New York City aren't always newsworthy, but the two new eateries this fall stand out - they're neither the typical nondescript corner curry joint, nor are they the new breed of Michelin star-aspiring, high-end boîtes.

Call them Indian food for every day.

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

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 mo re 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, Mr. Sinatra said. (Whole Foods is at 270 Greenwich St., phone: 212-349-6555)

Meanwhile, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which was sorely lacking in palatable Indian restaurants, a legend has opened: Moti Mahal Delux. The restaurant is a branch of the famed Delhi-based eatery, which started in the 1970s with a fast food outpost in Old Delhi. A few years later, a “Delux” version opened in south Delhi with proper table service and became known for its Mughlai cuisine like kaali daal, kebabs and butter chicken, which it claims to have invented. There are more than 100 Moti Mahal franchises around the world, but this is the only in the United States.

Courtesy of Moti MahalButter Chicken served at Moti Mahal.

The chef and owner of the American branch, Gaurav Anand, 30, who is originally from Delhi, said he replicates these specialties using the same cooking techniques that are used in the original Moti Mahal.

Mr. Anand, who also runs two Indian restaurants in the Curry Hill neighborhood, said that he and a team of four other cooks spent five months perfecting the dishes to meet the standards of the brand owners. “They were adamant that we use nothing canned and only antibiotic-free farm-raised chicken and lamb to get that really tender taste,” he said. “We have no pastes and nothing frozen.”

The only butter used is the Amul brand, imported directly from India; the daal is cooked for 18 hours in six-layered Indian copper pots; the meat is sourced from local farms, and the velvety butter chicken starts with a base of tomatoes, ginger, spices and cilantro that's boiled for several hours before it's pureed into a curry. A meal of an appetizer, entrée, a side and either bread or rice runs about $25 a person. (1149 First Ave., at 63rd Street, 212-371-3535)