Pansaari Indian Grocery

[LauraB]

Does anyone have any information on this potential Indian grocery that is supposed to open at 17th & Q NW? There was a kickstarter campaign that ended successfully in January and there are several photos on the website that seem to indicate that construction is well underway. I haven't been by that corner in awhile, so haven't seen for myself. If it happens, this would certainly be a great addition to the neighborhood.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/934396646/indian-grocerychaicooking-classesin-dupont-tis-tim

[LauraB]

We were walking by this place earlier today and noticed that it was open -- apparently it opened last week.  It's quite a large space and it's a bit of an odd mixture of cafe, Indian cooking school, bazaar, and Indian 'grocery.'  The 'cafe' is really more of a counter where you can order, as far as I could determine, mostly beverages -- chai, teas, coffee, watermelon juice, etc.  They do have 2 frozen dessert items: Mango Ginger ice cream and Kulfi.  Javier, the point man behind the counter, was very friendly and eager to provide information.  The 2 chais we ordered were served in small glass mugs and were pretty tasty, especially the Adrak chai which has a nice ginger flavor.

I was most interested in the 'grocery' because it can be hard to find Indian spices and other ingredients in DC proper.  Along one wall is a very large selection of bulk Indian spices and dals, each labeled with both its Indian and English names. The cooking school will begin at the end of the month, or so I was told.

The bazaar is selling all kinds of items from clothing to cookware to decorative Indian boxes to books on Indian culture and foodways and a number of other things.

It remains to be seen how useful this place will turn out to be.  However, for anyone living in DC who likes to cook Indian food and can't get to the suburbs easily, it's probably worth stopping in to see.  The website hasn't really been activated yet, but they do have a Facebook page.

[Barbara]

Thanks so much for posting this! I didn't see this until this morning, so planned on walking over there this afternoon. I needed the ingredients to make panch phoran, an Indian five-spice whole seed mixture that is nothing like Chinese five-spice powder, and couldn't find some of the seeds except online. This place is located where the old "Chaos" nightclub used to be--underground at the northeast corner of 17th & Q. Rather than having to buy five different products, I found the house-made mixture already to go and bought that.

I supposed there may be some Indian spice they don't carry, but i don't know what that would be. They are still working out the packaging; but, at the moment, you need to buy a minimum of 4 tablespoons, which are slipped into envelopes and sealed. Also, the proprietor is urging people to bring in their own glass bottles to be filled. They are promoting reuse as much as possible. Works for me. Now, I can buy a 1/4 cup of Nigella seeds and not a pound (which never gets used up before going stale).

I was told that they will soon start selling prepared food at their counter; but, it was described as "not restaurant" type food (no butter chicken, for example) but "homemade" kinds of a vegetarian dishes.

I hope they succeed because my walk home up 17th Street took me right to the Hana Japanese market. I remembered we were almost out of the low-salt Soy Sauce that we like from there, so also picked up some more miso and Nori sheets. They have the best prices I have found anywhere on that stuff.

[KeithA]

Stopped by yesterday and had a great time chatting with the owner about different spices. She is very friendly, down to earth and knowledgable. One thing that is a bit quirky is all of the spices are only labeled with their Indian names -requiring you to ask so what is cardamon or fenugreek, etc which are the anglicized names one usually sees in Indian recipes for western audiences. But like I said, if you can catch the time of the owner she is happy to explain everything. I was very happy to finally get my hands on amchur (sour dried and ground mango powder which you can't find outside of indian groceries).  They also have a really big selection of spices and grains including many varieties of spice blends.  At their bar, they are now serving several chais and other teas and drinks and some small snack foods. I tried the cardmon kulfi ice milk (she explained it is only whole milk, no cream, cooked with spices for 5 hours and then frozen) - it was well-spiced and tasty, but the texture wasn't my favorite (I missed the cream ;-) ) Definitely worth checking out. 

[LauraB]

I made the best Roghan Josh I've ever made last night, all with spices purchased at Pansaari. (MrB ate 3 servings!) The spices were incredibly fresh and aromatic -- it was a real treat just to breathe in their aromas. Everything is authentic and imported directly from India. I stopped by a couple of days ago and had an absolutely delightful conversation with Rano, the owner.  She is so warm and friendly and really knowledgeable.  She knew immediately what I was planning to make from the spices I asked for.  It's true, as KeithA mentioned above, that help is required to retrieve the spices from their jars and package them.  I found this a very pleasant experience; but, perhaps this is not a place to shop if you're in a real hurry. They will soon be offering carryout prepared food items and Rano gave me a sample of what she had just made (at no charge) -- it was a potato and pea (I believe) concoction similar to a crabcake in form and size (I can't remember what she called it) and it was sauced with a tamarind chutney.  It was fantastic.

Rano told me that the Indian cooking classes will begin after Diwali (October 23rd).  I'm really looking forward to those.  Yes, with the arrival of Pansaari in the neighborhood, there is a lot more home-cooked Indian food in our future!

[Torshi]

Rainy day and craving chai- it made me very happy  The spices look wonderful- I plan a return trip.  Got some chutney, kewsick yogurt, spiced chickpeas, and some tomato salad.  They do not sell the chai tea though.

Why to go- grab a cup of chai, look through the beautiful books, get some spices (you scan get premixed curries that will do you well), grab some keswick yogurt without dealing with dupont market- just take a moment in a peaceful space.

Hope this space treats you as well as it treated me today.

[porcupine]

fyi smell before you buy.  As a rule I distrust bulk spices unless I can be sure that the turnover is very fast.  At Pansaari I got some fantastic fenugreek leaves and coriander seed, but the bay leafs were utterly scentless/flavorless.  I threw the rest away.

[turbogrrl]

I really really want to like this place but OMG does it trip all of my introvert issues. There are no clear signs to tell you how anything works. (do you sit down whereever? do you pay first, or can you open a tab? will they bring you your drinks/food? are the items on the shelves all that is for sale, or do they bring you a new one of the floor model? what are all of these spices? can you get chai to go? do the sell the chai mixture?)

the answers (i *think*): 1) yes, 2) yes (pay at the end if at the bar, pay first if sitting elsewhere) 3) if you aren't at the bar they don't bring it to you, you have to listen for them to loosely shout what you ordered at you when its ready 4) whats on the shelf is it. 5) who knows, I never ran into anyone on the spice side. 6) not really 7) no

Can you get the chai to go is a bit of an unsolved mystery-- they sell a travel mug for $17, but it's about 3x the side of a typical chai order. I have no idea how full they make it, or if they'd serve you chai in your own to-go mug.

That said, the chai is delicious. And I guess I'll have to research all of the indian names for spices to see what I might need. I figure I'll just need to work on my introvert issues. It is very much like another world; I felt like I was a foreigner in a strange land, completely unfamiliar with all of the customs.

[The Hersch]

On 1/3/2015 at 3:48 PM, turbogrrl said:

I really really want to like this place but OMG does it trip all of my introvert issues. There are no clear signs to tell you how anything works.

All of my life I've been an introvert masquerading as an extrovert. I have no problem speaking up at meetings (often so much that I become annoying, I fear), cracking jokes, giving a speech in public, singing for an audience, things like that. But from your description of Pansaari, I'd find it totally intimidating, and would probably turn around and walk out. That kind of environment turns me into an introverted, timid neurotic.

Quote

I made the best Roghan Josh I've ever made last night, all with spices purchased at Pansaari.

Isn't Roghan Josh the simpery pop singer with the dreamy brown eyes? Oops, sorry, that's Josh Groban.

[Tweaked]

Pansaari starts tiffin meal service (although you have to pick it up at their store as opposed to being delivered to you)