Linda Falkenstein
Momos are seasoned with fresh ginger, garlic, cilantro, turmeric and cumin.
State Street has almost enough Nepalese spots to support an honest-to-goodness momo crawl. And that is cause for celebration.
The original momo crawl takes place yearly in Jackson Heights, Queens, a center of immigrants from Nepal, Tibet and the Himalayas. There’s also a crawl in Toronto. The original boasts more than 20 restaurants and food carts competing for top honors in the crafting of the stuffed Tibetan dumpling called the momo.
Madison’s would be an admittedly small crawl. There are now four momo-slinging eateries — Himal Chuli, The Globe, Hungry Badger Cafe and the Library Mall food cart Little Tibet (which also now has a brick-and-mortar location at 827 E. Johnson St.).
Hungry Badger Cafe, which opened last December, has gambled on the second-floor space upstairs from It’Sugar (once home to the lounge at Gino’s and, more recently, Kabul). Its menu is mainly Tibetan, and it serves a couple of momo twists none of the other spots have.
There’s an alu momo, stuffed with a spiced mashed potato mixture. Even better, there’s jhol momo, which is any of the varieties — beef, chicken, bratwurst, veggie or potato — served in a thick, tomato-sesame “broth.” It’s less like a soup than it is the regular momo order covered with a lot more sauce, and if you’re the type who always seems to crave more sauce, jhol momo is the preparation for you. Sesame is a subtle undercurrent, as is cilantro; the tomato takes the sauce a little bit tart. Beef momos have a pleasant earthiness, with ginger, onion, garlic, turmeric and cumin. Chicken is similar, if milder.
Veggie momos are stuffed with fresh zucchini, cabbage and other vegetables; they’re more vegetal and less peanutty than the momocha at Himal Chuli, and the tomato sauce here is creamier — these are a different dumpling altogether.
The real star of the show at Hungry Badger is a transcendent samosa. The rich, lightly fried pastry holds roughly mashed potatoes mixed with a few peas and lentils, cilantro and Indian spices. Everything tastes amazingly fresh, and the almost creamy consistency and the spicing of the potato is perfect, as is the crispy dough — the elements here are in perfect balance.
Samosas come two to an order, with two dipping sauces: a tamarind cranberry (slightly tart but also sweet and smoky), and a mint aioli that is only ever-so-slightly minty. There’s also a welcome, if somewhat perfunctory, side salad of mixed greens. If you, like me, are a superfan of spiced mashed potato as a filling, make tracks.
The rice bowl is an interesting creation. A wild rice blend comes studded with cranberries and topped with a few sautéed vegetables (spinach, onion, carrot) and a choice of either chicken or marinated tofu. The tofu, silky and spicy, was enjoyable, but too salty. There didn’t seem to be much that was Tibetan about it, but it made for a nice entree.
The Eight-Sister Soup, an eight-bean soup, comes only as a bowl and seems pricey at $7.50. The beans were properly cooked, but the broth was oddly unspiced; adding salt helped only a little. It comes with a large homemade rosemary roll, Hungry Badger’s version of a traditional steamed Tibetan roll called the tingmo. Rosemary is an unusual spice to find, and it’s a little overwhelming. But I liked the sticky, pull-apart texture of the roll, good for soaking up sauce.
A few other dishes — spicy bar nuts, french fries, and chili — seem to be trying to provide fuel for those who might take advantage of the long and room-dominating bar at Hungry Badger. Three Wisconsin Brewing Company beers are on tap, but this doesn’t seem like the venue for heavy drinking.
If, on the other hand, you want to split a plate or two of momo with friends and have a pint or two, Hungry Badger is very welcoming. Owners Archana and Deepak Shrestha are originally from Nepal. All dishes are made to order with fresh ingredients, and it’s easy to tell the difference. This is a cafe with a lot of heart.
But it’s hard to make a meal out of the options on the menu. Two samosas and some greens do not quite make a lunch; a plate of momos even less so. The rice bowl or the bowl of chili are the only reasonable stand-alone entrees. If a more substantial side salad, or a cup of the Eight-Sister soup, were available, it would be easier to round out an order of momos to make a meal. Note: Hungry Badger is up a steep flight of stairs, and there is no elevator.
Hungry Badger Cafe
540 State St.
608-501-1468; hungrybadgercafe.com; 11 am-9 pm Tues.-Sat., noon-8 pm Sun.; $6-$10.
