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On a slightly gritty Midtown block shared with stores selling discount electronics, Judaica, and rug repair items, Dimple does a good morning and lunchtime business with area workers. Inside, past a counter with steam tables and boxes of Indian sweets sold by the pound, is a row of no-nonsense wood tables and booths (there's more seating upstairs). If you think you know Indian because you've had a few curries at some joint on 6th Street, it might be time to broaden your palate and sample the spicy, multidimensional vegetarian and kosher dishes here. Dimple emphasizes chats, the spicy snacks that began as street food in Mumbai (Bombay) and elsewhere on India's west coast. In samosa chat, savory fried pastries are split open and covered with a piquant, slightly sweet sauce with chickpeas and yogurt. The various chats with bhel in their name, such as bhel puri, have in common crispy fried-bread containers used to hold beans and legumes in a tangy-but-sweet sauce with notes of mint. In addition to its chats, the vast menu here also finds room for paneers, vegetables cooked with a mild cheese, and many varieties of dosa, enormous puffy, cone-shaped crepes stuffed with spiced potatoes and made of lentil and rice flour. — John D. Rambow

If you want to get a broad sampling, head for the $7.99 buffet, available weekdays 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Saturdays until 4 p.m.

Patra, $4; samosa chat, $5.50; dahi puri, $5.50