Samosas in September

September means back to school, the coming of the fall, and for The Chronicle and <@Ri>Cités Nouvelles<@$P>m the end of our second annual Best of the West competition. We left the final category up to our readers to judge this week, and though several suggestions were sent in, we stuck to best samosas instead. Though several great ideas were sent in, many were variations of what had already been done before, either over the course of this summer or last year, so we decided to spice it up a little, heading to three local Indian restaurants as finalists.

In third place, with 305 points out of a possible 400, came Pushap Restaurant on Sources Boulevard in Pierrefonds/Roxboro. "It was subtly delicious," wrote Linday Robb, sales support supervisor.

Judges generally agreed it was the place to go for a spicier variety of samosa.

Pulling slightly ahead with 316 points out of 400 was runner-up Bombay Palace, in Centennial Plaza on Sources in Dollard des Ormeaux. "Crispy texture," praised sales representative David Seltzer, while Robb said the spices were lovely and the samosa's texture "was not greasy."

The final first-place winner of this year's Best of the West, with 364 points out of 400, is Sahib, a Pointe-Claire based restaurant on Hymus Boulevard off of St. John's. "The samosa was crispy and fresh," said sales co-ordinator Talia D'Costa, adding the spices were perfectly balanced with the chutney. "Very good!" She concluded. "Excellent texture, filling and spices," Seltzer concurred, awarding it high marks.

Each samosa was graded by four judges based on texture, filling, spices and good times. Individual tallies were then tallied into total scores.

That's it for Best of the West this year. Thanks for following up with us, and head to www.westislandchronicle.com to have a look at our full list of winners.