New Bhimas' Spring Dosa: What to Eat When Celebrating Spring in Artesia

What should you eat to celebrate today's arrival of spring? A spring dosa, of course. It's the dish of the season at New Bhimas, a South Indian vegetarian restaurant in Artesia's Little India. Dosas are big, crisp pancakes that come with all sorts of fillings, most typically spiced potatoes, as in masala dosa.

New Bhimas has lots of dosas, even a pizza dosa with tomatoes and American cheese. But forget that one for now. You want to lighten up with the spring dosa, which cuts down the amount of masala potatoes to make room for shredded cabbage, sliced red and green bell pepper, carrot strands, onions and an occasional small dried chile. The dosa itself is smeared with spicy red paste, because New Bhimas cooks in the style of Andhra Pradesh, an Indian state notorious for hot food.

Some dosas are folded into immense triangles. Others are rolled into long crisp tubes. The spring dosa is a tube cut into large sections that are overlapped on the dish to show the filling. It comes with the usual dosa chutneys — red (tomato), white (coconut) and green (mint) — and a cup of the lentil stew called sambar.

New Bhimas is the new incarnation of Tirupathi Bhimas, which used to be upstairs in the Little India Village Food Court. That restaurant is closed, and New Bhimas has taken over a large space downstairs in the same building.

spring dosas at New Bhimas; Credit: B. Hansen

exterior of New Bhimas; Credit: B. Hansen

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.