Vatica, love of my heart, protector of my stomach!

Vatica is an Indian vegetarian eatery located on Terrell Mill Road. To the countless Indians working in GE, Coke, Manhattan Associates and other parts of Atlanta, Vatica is a godsend, an example that Grace exists AND that great Indian food can be served at decent prices even in the heart of the South. Vatica is run by a Gujarati couple, Dhirubhai and Sadhanaben. They have practically lived all over the world before moving to Atlanta. Aunty is the official cook, Uncle runs the place and a bunch of friendly Mexicans serve the food. Together they have managed to push Vatica up the charts as far as Indian food in Atlanta is concerned. There is no menu at Vatica. You get to eat whatever Aunty chooses to cook that day. The thali system is followed here. The food is Indian, totally vegetarian and as sattvik as it can get. The dal is a standard fixture on the menu. It is a smooth blend of toor dal and tomatoes with a tadka of mustard seeds. Sounds rather drab, doesn’t it? As far as Pinch and I are concerned, it is comfort food. In fact, Pinch polishes off the entire meal and asks for dal refills nearly every time. Then there is the humble potato sabzi. Not so humble at Vatica because Aunty keeps revealing newer avatars of the potato every day. Potatoes with a tadka of mustard seeds, an interesting combination featuring potatoes and yogurt with cumin seeds, potato masala etc… Now come the variants. Every day, a vegetable sabzi is served. It is amazing how Aunty has integrated non-Indian vegetables into traditional Indian cooking. She has rustled up some amazing dishes out of turnips, yellow squash and zucchini. On other days, she serves the usual Indian sabzis eg. tondli fry with potatoes, bhendi masala featuring tomatoes and onions (Yum!), eggplant bhaji, alu gobi, cabbage-potato bhaji, palak paneer, saag ki sabzi and countless others. Then there is the daily dish featuring pulses of some kind. Chowli, chana, mooth, moong and many other pulses that I have NO clue about… Lastly comes the cucumber raita that is replaced with Guajarati kadi or beetroot raita on some lucky days. Carrot pickle and green chilli pickle is served alongside. Initially Uncle used to keep Pachranga (a traditional North Indian pickle) out but of late, that has disappeared. Some hungry Indian programmer must have polished it off! These days, you can ask Uncle for sweet lime pickle and he slyly looks around before bringing it out…:-)

Of course, piping hot rotis are served, as many as you want and as fast as you can gobble them down. Some rare days, Aunty makes pooris and chhole. Post-lunch sessions at work are done for, as far as anyone is concerned! A couple of days back, vegetable koftas were served and they were fabulous!

Guess I had it the luckiest since Vatica was walking distance from our old apartment. Many are the nights we have comfortably burped after polishing off a nice, hearty meal at our own Vatica!

X-posted to desifood