ROTI ROLL
994 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10025
(212) 666-1500

Have you ever been eating Indian food and thought "man, this tastes great, but it's just so inconvenient!"? Have you ever just wished your Indian food could be eaten en route between point A and point B without the need for all those pesky forks? I know. Happens all the time, right? Well, cherished readers, your dreams have come true thanks to Roti Roll, Indian food's answer to the burrito.

Roti Roll's menu is primarily made up of their "Frankies", the Indian burrito I mentioned, though there are a few other items available on the bottom of the menu. Roti Roll is a tiny place, similar in size to the Luke's Lobster in the East Village. No tables, just some bar stools at the ledge that rims the walls. Mr. Dogz introduced me to this place, explaining that it was his go-to place for cheap, late night snacking, and we took our seats on some of those stools.

Mr. Dogz is kind of a quasi-vegetarian, which is one reason he likes this place so much. The menu is mostly vegetarian. I'm about as vegetarian as a grizzly bear during salmon season, but I like everything as long as it tastes good, so I made a point of trying to try as many things on the menu as the thirty bucks I had on me would allow. Lucky for me, Roti Roll is pretty cheap, so that wasn't hard.

First, the vegetarian ones: Aloo Masala Frankie: potatos and sweet peas, Unda Aloo Masala Frankie: potato and sweet peas with egg, and Aloo Gobi Muttar Frankie, potato with cauliflower and peas. If you paid attention, then you probably noticed a theme. These three were very similar. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they were virtually indistinguishable, with the last of the bunch taking a slight lead because the cauliflower gave it a bit more depth. So how was it/them? Very good. Very very good. I can absolutely see myself here again. But I won't care which one I pick randomly from the pile.

My choice for having some protein in my diet was the Lamb Roti Frankie, lamb marinated in spices. This was the weakest of the lot, in large part because the lamb was too tough. It wasn't bad, but I'd skip it for something softer like any of the above. I also wanted to try something off the non-Frankie menu and was about to go for their spiced french fries when Dogz warned me of. So I ordered the Chicken Lollipop, what they call "Bombay style" chicken wings. I don't know that I'd call them wings, as they were nothing like what I've usually eaten, wing-wise. They were tender, like a mini-tandoori dish.

Everything here averages about $5 per, give or take a buck or two.