‘Taste of Mount Pleasant’: Indian restaurant receives warm welcome on campus
Idli Dosa's Indian cuisine has been receiving support from Central Michigan University students and faculty ever since it opened Jan. 24. The average customer count per day is from 200 to 250 people, according to Deverick Houston, marketing manager for CMU dining.
Idli Dosa can be found at the Bovee University Center dining location, Central Eats, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and after spring break.
Tyson Dubay, district manager for dining services, said he is hoping to have Idli Dosa in Central Eats for the rest of the semester after spring break, which is from March 4 to March 12.
He said it is an opportunity “for students that come to campus in Mount Pleasant to get a taste of not just CMU, but to get a taste of Mount Pleasant.”
“It makes our students a little adventurous with foods (and) introduce them to different things,” Dubay said.
Sagar Manilal Satra, a CMU graduate student and president of Indian Student Association (ISA), said that the food at Idli Dosa tastes good, is authentic and has dishes that Satra would cook at home.
“I miss my mother's food,” Satra said. “But when I taste it here, it reminds me of that (mother’s food).”
Udaya Dasari, one of the owners if Idli Dosa, said the restaurant received an “awesome” response, crowds of visitors and a warm welcome.
“If they (students) want to enjoy something different … with a lot of flavors, spice, then Idli Dosa will be their destination,” Dasari said.
Dubay said CMU dining is happy to collaborate with Idli Dosa. The idea of a partnership between CMU and an Indian restaurant came from Vice President of Student Affairs Renee Watson. Dubay said Watson helped CMU dining to make a connection with Idli Dosa's owners.
Dubay said he was expecting the restaurant to get a lot of positive feedback and engagement because students like Indian food. There is a big population of Indian students on campus and a lot of them work for CMU dining, he said.
Houston said CMU dining wanted to have Indian food inside of Central Eats made specifically from an Indian restaurant.
“We want to make sure that we are providing an authentic experience,” Houston said.
CMU dining “tested” how students would like Idli Dosa on campus in December when operating a station in “Dine and Connect,” a dining hall east of campus.
According to a survey Houston provided to Central Michigan Life, 140 out of 143 CMU students said they would like to see Idli Dosa on campus.
In the same survey, students were asked which cuisine they want to see more on campus. In response, 97 students out of 143 said Indian food.
After a successful week, CMU dining partnered with Idli Dosa to have a permanent location for this semester in Bovee University Center.
Dubay said it is important to partner and maintain good relationships with local businesses in order to bring opportunities for CMU students. For example, CMU also partners with Ponder Coffee, Pizza King, and local kombucha and hummus makers.
CMU dining is looking for new partnerships, Dubay said. He said students can find more information on the next cuisine in Central Eats on CMU dining social media and website soon.
“We can partner with somebody else, and it'd be a win-win on both sides,” Dubay said. “At the end of the day, whether that's customers or vendors or anything else to it, it makes me happy that (customers and vendors) are succeeding.”
Why CMU?
Dasari said he wanted to partner with CMU to have a second restaurant location. The original Idli Dosa is in Midland and has been operating since 2018.
“A big thank you to CMU for giving us this opportunity, because it really helps us, it opened a lot of doors for a lot of more opportunities in the area,” Dasari said.
Dasari is planning on opening a new location in Mount Pleasant soon, he said.
One of the reasons for Idli Dosa’s success at CMU is that people like spicy food, Dasari said. However, during the four years of managing Idli Dosa, Dasari learned the spice preferences of local people.
That’s why Idli Dosa offers mild, medium and spicy options, according to Idli Dosa Chef Sunwesh Kumar.
“Everybody thinks that Indian dishes are very spicy, but the truth is that we can make them spicy if you want … (and) If you don’t, (we) can make it mild,” Kumar said.
Kumar was very excited for people to come in, try Indian food and understand Indian culture.
Chef Kumar recommends trying the chicken combo.
Jay Vallabhaneni, CMU graduate student and Dasari's brother, said his favorite dish to get there is biryani. He said what makes it so delicious is flavor and spice of fried onions and cinnamon.
“It's just the food everyone has to enjoy,” Vallabhaneni said. “It's not like only Indians enjoy that. I think other countries' people also can enjoy the flavors.”
Gustav Verhulsdonck, a faculty member at the business information systems, said that his friend, Vishal Shah, who is also a faculty member at the business information systems and an ISA advisor, showed him Indian culture through food. For example, Verhulsdonck said he learned that Indian people share food while eating.
“Food unites people,” Verhulsdonck said. “If you want to get a group of people to talk, start talking about food.”
Sai Teja Bestha, CMU graduate student, went to Idli Dosa on Feb. 9 to get chicken biryani and dessert. He said it was his second time visiting the restaurant. The thing that made him come back was good food and affordable prices.
According to the CMU’s website, students can use their FLEX dollars in Idli Dosa.
However, Bestha said he would like to see more options on the Idli Dosa menu, such as breakfast and snacks.
Angel Villegas, CMU graduate student, said he doesn’t come to Central Eats often, but he has been to Idli Dosa once. He said he enjoyed the chicken and desserts, but he would also like to see more dishes, for example, chicken korma.
“(I hope) they get more selection or more variety,” Villegas said. “But it sounds like they're (off to) a good start.”
Shah and Satra said they would like to see “Idli and Dosa” on the menu. Idli and Dosa, also in the name of the restaurant, are South Indian breakfast dishes according to Dasari. Idli means rice. Dosa means pancake.
Kumar said Idli Dosa’s menu items in Central Eats is limited. The full menu can be found at the Midland location.
However, according to Dasari, the menu items have changed this week in order to create diversity and show students something new.
