By Liz Steen

The Junction has a Classic Breakfast with South Indian options that we didn’t know we needed. I’ll get to the food at Taste and Best, and the cocktail pitchers arriving next week as the liquor license is approved.

(Spoiler, premier noshing in a comfy spot). Just please indulge me in a little digression on what makes a good breakfast to me. First must have: I’m cheap. My ideal portion size has me waddling away from the table with a plastic bag of leftovers for at least one lunch the next day - even better if there’s enough for some late night snacking.

I make my friends go with me to dim sum so I can pack the remains of sixteen super-cheap side orders into takeout bags, and I’ll take their bags if they’re too embarrassed. I have zero shame in the leftover game.

Taste and Best delivered here.

My dosa wrapped around a spicy filling quite literally hung over the plate edge, on both sides. I ate until I was full and still carried out so much food that the waiter had to give me three to-go containers.

The larger to-go containers were delivered with additional small, lidded containers for the sauces (you have to have the sauce) and a neatly folded plastic bag. The lidded sauce containers and the neat presentation was a touch that I think sums up the character of this spot. They care about the details. They’re ready for you to take home leftovers from their huge portions. They get me.

Taste and Best also has the kind of assortment of low-priced small sides that I can usually only find at a dim sum brunch.Taste and Best’s menu of side dishes under $10, with most in the range of $3-5, covered a whole page of their breakfast menu.

I could order a single hash brown to go with my pancakes, a side of ham or bacon, or other cheap options to accompany the already reasonably priced dishes on the main menu.

Taste and Best also has a menu for kids on this, my favorite page of their menu.

Overall, Taste and Best’s menu of sides was perfect if, like me, you don’t want to order a whole entree for a small child who will insist on ordering many things, only to eat a single strawberry. Or if you have a small child who hates food of any kind and so requires you to order six different things because maybe a bit of one of dish will be eaten, or at least keep them off their tablet for a bit.

The selection of sides is also great if you crave a bit of affordable variety, an extra few strips of bacon or hash browns, maybe, with your breakfast order. Which brings me to my second breakfast must-have: a good breakfast needs potatoes. Soft, warm, with crisp edges… and spicy enough to make my eyes water. As a life-long wimp, this takes very little and Taste and Best was exactly right - although they had spicy sides for anyone who wanted hotter.

For warm and spicy potatoes, I usually drag people to a Mexican spot.

Fried potatoes, wrapped in a breakfast burrito, is very much my jam. I like to increase the potato-joy-factor with an extra side of hash browns with every breakfast entree. Surprisingly, the potato options is where Taste and Best really started to shine. I was unaware of how important spiced potatoes are to many South Indian dishes, which are often vegetarian-friendly in comparison to North Indian or other cuisines.

The traditional dosa?? delivers spicy potatoes wrapped in a crepe made from fermented batter and cooked on heat high enough that it almost tasted fried. It’s like a delicious mashup of an Ethiopian injera, a Mexican tortilla, and a French crepe. Wrapped around potatoes, with the extra oomph of multiple sauces on the side.

There’s a tomato sauce, a coconut sauce, and a Sambar. The dosa adds flavor and convenience - you can use a knife and fork or grab it like a burrito. The potato filling adds the comfort-food factor.

Then you can mix and match the sauces to adjust the spiciness and the flavor. It made me realize my midwestern corn-raised self never thought to try an Indian spot for breakfast. Taste and Best’s potato options, paired with the Indian sauces on the side, make for a perfect breakfast experiment.

Mixing and matching is little like Pho where you can customize your flavor profile with the dish of side sauce. Finally, the best breakfast, to me, has something fried. This is where, I discovered, South Indian cuisine knocks it out of the park. Bhatura is a side dish very similar to the elephant ears you get at the state fair. Instead of the crispy pancake edges of the dosa, which was really good, a bhatura gives you all the wonderful fried goodness of bread in a light-as-air package. If you’ve had chapati or naan, it’s like a deep-fried version, but much lighter and air-puffed.

As a midwesterner who’s enjoyed state fair deep-fried concoctions my west coast friends won’t touch (fried snickers, fried sticks of butter, fried ears of corn…) I really thought my culture invented frying things.

Turns out our beloved midwestern deep-fried elephant ear is an inferior imitation of the bhatura, which is the real deal. The combo of the bhatura with the spicy chole side was absolutely wonderful. I will be coming back for more, and everyone else should too.

Taste and Best still has traditional brunch favorites: eggs Benedict, Belgian waffles, biscuits and country gravy. It’s a great choice for a classic breakfast, with or without a cocktail.

Taste and Best also has the extra oomph of South Indian options that perfectly pair with breakfast. You can get a root beer float, or a Mango Lassie; a brownie with vanilla ice cream, or creamy, cardamom-spiced rice pudding. When I visited, a table near me had a classic American breakfast with a milkshake.

Another table ordered six dishes that no one had ever tried and enthusiastically passed around bites (the bhatura was a big hit for this group too).

I highly recommend either approach.

They also offer a large menu of lunch and dinner choices 

Welcome to the Junction Taste and Best! Taste and Best is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Their breakfast menu is available until 1 p.m. They are at 4752 California Ave SW. Call +1 (206) 268-0375

They will have a cocktail menu starting early in August.

See their menu here.