Tinasbeen

Menendez and Chaat in Jersey City

Bill and I just got back from an interesting evening in Jersey City, just a couple stops away from us on the PATH. We had signed up last week for a night of phone-banking for the Menendez Senate campaign. Though we were sorry not to be able to take part in the anti-Santorum activities in Pennsylvania, it looks like the race between Bob Menendez and Tom Kean Jr. is actually going to be a lot more competitive - so much so that the National Republican Senatorial Committee just gave Kean half a million dollars to spend on campaign ads:
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/politics/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1161008980129380.xml&storylist=politics

So we were glad to be able to help out (as newly registered NJ voters), and spent a fairly productive evening making calls to voters in Jersey City - most people we talked to supported Menendez, but with a couple undecided people I got to have a brief chat about how important it was to vote Democratic this year. If you're interested in learning more about the campaign, volunteering, or donating, check out its website here: http://www.menendez2006.com/home/

After phonebanking we took our newly acquired Menendez poster for a visit to Jersey City's "Little India" neighborhood, where we went out to dinner at one of the many restaurants along Newark Street. After consulting Google and finding this tantalizing article - http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/dining/09chat.html?ex=1161403200&en=66d382c7378d9589&ei=5070

- I had decided we might like to check out one of the chaat restaurants in the neighborhood. Chaat is Indian street/snack food, and tends to be a little harder to find in the U.S. than curries and other types of Indian food. I had tried it once in college, but hadn't really seen it since.

Based on the article's list of places, we ended up at Satkar (806 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, (201) 963-6309), an informal place with a reasonably priced menu and friendly service. I don't remember the exact name of the dishes we tried, but two were what I think of as traditional chaat - mixes of unsweetened cereal (like rice crisps and puffed wafers made of wheat and corn) with spices, potatoes, beans, and, in one of them, delicious yogurt sauce. We also tried a dhosa - a round of flat fried crepe-type bread with vegetables and warm chutney. The one we ordered was about 15 inches diameter, full of lace-like holes about a quarter-inch wide, flavored with spice powder and hot green chilies, and filled with spicy sauteed onions. Yummy, but impossible to finish after our chaat-feast. Anyway, all of that and two bottles of mango juice came to about $22 with tax and tip - not bad. And yet another place we can bring vegetarian visitors!

After popping into a grocery stores for garam masala, lentils, mango jam, and some ready-to-serve Indian meals (who needs Trader Joes?), we headed home - but I think we'll be back to Little India soon!

posted by Tina @ 7:06 PM