The okra retains its bright green color and firm texture, and the filling is plenty flavorful thanks to purple onions and a tangy spice mix that adds a little bit of heat. The tender, flaky paratha wrapped around the veggies makes the whole thing work—why would anyone eat sad lunch 'wraps' when there's another option this delicious? More

Thelewala on MacDougal Street specializes in Indian street food, and we're huge fans of their kati rolls and other offerings. They makes several dishes that are hard to find in other Indian restaurants in New York, like lesser known chaats and uncommon variations on kati rolls, which they call nizami rolls. More

In Kolkata (which you may know better as Calcutta) there are street vendors with pushcarts selling snacks and meals on the streets, known as thelewala. In the West Village, the restaurant Thelewala aims to reproduce that same experience here in New York, only "with better hygiene" (as the manager joked to me during my visit). That means casual, unpretentious, and cheap food. Yes, there are kati rolls, as Carey wrote about earlier, but there's a lot more on the menu. More

Joining the Kati Roll Company on MacDougal Street food strip is Thelewala, a smart-looking takeout shop selling nizami rolls made to order. Crisp, flaky parathas are topped with various fillings and rolled up for slim and portable snacks. More