Masala Art

Masala Art – 4441 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016

I deliberately ignored Masala Art for the first few months it was open. I must have walked by at least a dozen times, but the place just didn’t catch my interest. I didn’t know what  “Masala” meant (a mixture of spices found in South Asian food according to Wikipedia) and the prominence of the word “Art” made me think it was a gallery of some sort. Eventually, the place’s good Yelp reviews resolved my confusion, and when I learned that the owner used to manage Heritage India in Glover Park – some of the finest Indian Food in town – I decided to give it a shot.

Masala Art is in the space that once housed Kuma, a mediocre sushi restaurant where I attended an awkward office luncheon several years ago. Visiting the same space in two separate incarnations is strange – it makes me want to defiantly recall how the place used to be. It also calls attention to all of the new business’changes, making them seem both endearing and contrived. I spent the first 5 minutes at our table describing the old sushi place to T, yet somehow I forgot the place’s strangest feature: the single person bathroom with two toilets facing one another. It’s as if they were positioned so that you could play cards or drink tea or carry on a serious conversation with a friend, all while relieving your bladder.

When T returned from the bathroom, holding his iPhone as if to show me a photo, he said, “You won’t believe what they’ve got in there.”

“Two toilets facing each other in a one person bathroom?” I asked.

For a split second he looked at me as if realizing his girlfriend had psychic abilities.

Tea for Two

In addition to their bathroom, Masala Art is notable for their creative menu. Their cilantro and rock salt naan is amazing – buttery without being greasy, with big grains of salt and pieces of shredded cilantro on top. They also serve potatoes with pomegranate seeds as a vegetarian option. The dish was delicious, but truth be told, I don’t recall seeing (or tasting) any pomegranate. In fact, it wasn’t until after we finished the dish when T said, “Weren’t there supposed to be pomegranate seeds in that?” It was so good that we forgot about the ingredient that made us to order it in the first place.

To me the measure of an Indian restaurant is how well they make saag paneer (spinach curry with cheese, my favorite Indian dish) and Masala Art passes with flying colors. It was rich and flavorful, not at all oily or heavy feeling. The restaurant also allows half portions of vegetarian entrees, which lets you try a number of dishes without breaking the bank. My only complaint was the chana masala (chickpea curry). I’m not bashful when it comes to spicy food, but the chana masala had a shallow kind of heat; it was eye-watering without the flavor to back it up.

A word to the wise, avoid the Indian candies at the host station as you leave. Rather than the usual sweet licorice flavor, this stuff is distinctively floral – similar to potpourri. I spit mine out on the street two doors down, in front of Neisha Thai.