Enjoy Indian cuisine plus Jewish deli-style food in Downtown Knoxville| Grub Scout

I had been looking forward to trying Potchke Deli, pretty much since their March debut. Since it’s only open for breakfast and lunch hours, I knew I’d have to do this one by myself (The Grub Spouse has a real job). But when I learned that KatiRoll Wala had recently filled the empty vendor space at Marble City Market (and since The Spouse is not a fan of Indian cuisine), it only made sense for me to tackle both eateries in one gas-saving trip. After all, Potchke Deli, which is in the rear of the Regas Building, is only footsteps away from MCM.

I started out at the deli, where an employee handed me a menu upon my approach to the counter. There aren’t a lot of items to sort through, with most falling under the babka, blintz and bialy categories. Babkas are sweet, braided breads, and I’ve been curious to try one since I first watched Seinfeld in the '90s. I got a Lesser Babka ($4) — a slice instead of an entire loaf — and chose chocolate over cinnamon.

I must also confess that I was a blintz virgin before this trip, so I got the potato blintz ($12.50): two crepes filled with roasted potatoes, caramelized onion and scrambled eggs and embellished with whipped labna (whey-free yogurt), chili oil and greens. My final selection was the lox bialy ($14), an everything bialy (unlike bagels, bialies are baked) topped with pastrami lox and scallion cream cheese, Nova (Scotia) lox, red onion, capers, tomato, piquillo peppers and dill.

Also on the menu are a pastrami sandwich, matzo ball soup (weekends only), borscht (hot beet soup), a whitefish and trout salad, and a couple of items served on pletzl (another variety of bread). A variety of coffee beverages are available as well. I considered ordering an egg cream (chocolate-milk seltzer) but talked myself out of that and into one of their flavored tonic waters ($3), choosing Florida strawberry over cel-ray, cream soda and fennel.

I loved all of it, from the hearty and filling blintzes to the subtly sweet babka. Even the fruity but tingly tonic water made a positive impression. My favorite selection, however, was the lox bialy, which embodied excellence from its doughy foundation to the layers or flavorful salmon to the creamy schmear. The onion, capers and minced tomato were tasty add-ons.

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Potchke’s Deli also earns favorable marks for its cheerily sunny dining area and courteous, helpful staff, who assisted me with everything from menu selections to a carryout bag for my abundant leftovers.

Speaking of which, I ate only half my bialy and half of one blintz in order to save room for my next stop, KatiRoll Wala at Marble City Market. There, the main menu options are kati rolls (various items wrapped in naan) and wala bowls. Kati roll fillings include chickpeas and potatoes, tandoori paneer, egg, chicken tikka, cilantro chicken and a plant-based chicken.

I chose instead to order one of the two wala bowls listed — the chicken tikka bowl ($12.50). (The other was the cilantro chicken bowl.) My bowl was built on a bed of jeera rice (made with basmati rice) and chicken tikka. I got to customize the rest, choosing curry as my sauce and chopped onion, cilantro and the crunchy sev bhujia as additional toppings. I had it all topped off with a cilantro chutney drizzle.

For the record, you can also order a bowl that’s completely customized, which offers the possibility of starting with a cauliflower-rice or brown-rice base and adding other proteins like spicy keema, aloo chole, aloo gobi and plant-based chicken or meatballs. Custom-bowl prices range from $9.99 to $12.99. Indian beverages include mango or rose lassi, nimbu pani (lemonade) and several varieties of tea and coffee.

After a reasonable wait, I picked up my meal, which was served in an aluminum to-go container. I took a seat near MCM’s street-facing windows and dug in. I’ve always been partial to the combination of basmati rice and tikka chicken, and the flavor in this particular dish was on the money. The onion and cilantro were favorable additions as was the sev bhujia. My main concern was that the ratio of ingredients was skewed too heavily toward the rice, making the chicken bites and other ingredients seem sparse in comparison.

Still, I found the dish satisfactory (both that day and during the following day’s lunch), and I wouldn’t mind dropping in on a future visit to try a kati roll.

Overall, I feel that I paced myself well and was able to sample the cuisine from both vendors without stuffing myself. I left feeling some partiality toward Potchke Deli, but I would have no qualms about patronizing either eatery again, especially considering my fondness for Indian cuisine.

Potchke Deli

Food: 4.25

Service: 4.25

Atmosphere: 4.25

Overall: 4.25

Address: 318 N. Gay St., Ste. 103

Phone: None listed

No alcohol service

Hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays

This new downtown eatery serves a delicious assortment of authentic Jewish-deli-style classics.

KatiRoll Wala

Food: 3.75

Service: NA

Atmosphere: NA

Overall: 3.75

Address: 333 W. Depot Ave., Ste. 110

Phone: None listed

No alcohol service

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

Indian-food fans might want to give this new Marble City Market tenant a trial run.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Potchke Deli and KatiRoll Wala serve ethnic cuisine Downtown Knoxville