Whip-In whips up more Indian food choices

By Addie Broyles
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 20, 2008

As if the extensive beer and wine selection at the Whip-In isn't enough to entice you to pull off Interstate 35 on your way home from work, now the South Austin establishment is offering quality Indian food dishes to go or to eat in a newly renovated section that feels more like an Indian pub than part of a convenience store.

A dozen dark wood booths and tables now greet customers when they walk into the store, which opened in 1986 on the southbound frontage road of I-35 at Mariposa Drive. At the counter to your left, a line of customers forms, some carrying beer or wine for purchase and others poring over the menu trying to decide what to order.

The menu, which premiered this summer with to-go entree items, has grown from a handful of rice bowl entrees. From 5 to 11 p.m. every day, you can order entrees such as the traditional dal and spinach saakh or eggplant and potato stew or the not-so-traditional Indianized Texas beef and beer chili made with Independence Bootlegger Brown Ale. Owner Dipak Topiwala now offers a dozen naan sandwiches, aptly named for locations in the area. The sandwiches, which are served from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., include The Woodland (lamb meatballs with swiss cheese), The Travis Heights (samosa-style with provolone & cilantro chutney), and The Periwinkle Delight (bacon, manchego cheese and truffle oil).

By this time next month, Topiwala hopes he'll have cleared the legal hurdles to serve beer and wine by the glass in-store. (It's silly, but you can't buy adult beverages there and then drink them there.) However, you can sit down and enjoy espresso, house-made chai tea or Sweet Buddha, a combination of Sweet Leaf Tea and the locally made Buddha's Brew kombucha, while you wait for your food.

Breakfast naan sandwiches, many with local farm eggs, will be available before the year ends. The store will then open at 7 a.m. instead of 10 a.m., which might mean you're inclined to stop in before work as well.

Open 10 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. 1950 S. Interstate 35, 442-5337,www.whipin.com

A sampling of Indian food in Austin

Bombay Bistro

10710 Research Blvd. No. 126. 342-22552, www.bombay-bistro.com.

Home to `contemporary Indian cuisine,' Bombay offers spicy vegetable samosas, paneer tikka (homemade cheese in a zesty sauce) and a shrimp vindaloo curry.

The Clay Pit

1601 Guadalupe St., 322-5131, www.claypit.com.

The menu is peppered with fantastic house-created dishes such as curry crab cakes, coriander calamari and khuroos-e-tursh, with spinach and mushrooms stuffed into chicken breast wading in cashew-almond cream sauce.

Indian Palace

3616 Far West Blvd., Suite 113. 241-1732, www.indianfoodaustin.com.

The lunch and dinner buffets are worthwhile, with beef in a homemade curry sauce, saag paneer (chunks of homemade cheese in creamed spinach) and chicken tikka masala (chicken in a tomato and butter sauce).

Madras Pavilion

9025 Research Blvd., Suite 100. 719-5575, www.madraspavilion.us.

A good choice to taste South Indian food. Some highlights are avial (mixed vegetables cooked in a coconut milk gravy), kootu (a lentil and coconut dish) and pongal (a risottolike dish).

Sarovar Indian Cuisine

8440 Burnet Road, Suite 100. 454-8636, sarovar.net .

An extensive menu of vegetarian and nonvegetarian options from North and South India. It's one of the few places in town where you can get goat curry and lamb biryani.

Shalimar

9310 N. Lamar Blvd. 719-3700, www.shalimar-austin.com.

The biryanis - plates of meat mixed with rice - have a loyal following at this Indian-Pakistani hangout. So does the chicken tikka, soaked in a yogurt mixture and grilled.

Swad

9515 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite 156. 997-7923 .

This Gujurati vegetarian restaurant is the only place in Austin with an extensive chaat - or snack - menu, including dahi puri (crunchy wheat flour discs filled with onions, potatoes, yogurt, tamarind chutney and behl or puffed rice).

Taj Palace

6700 Middle Fiskville Road, Suite 406. 452-9959, www.tajpalaceaustin.net.

With a pleasant ambience, mild sauces, wine and beer lists and a well-explained menu, it still holds up as a good introduction to Indian food for first-timers.