First look: Pondi, a new museum café at Asia Society...

Anita Jaisinghani's exploration of Indian street food just got a cultural, even artistic, advancement.

The Asia Society Texas Center has tapped the owner of Pondicheri to open a museum café, named Pondi, in the Yoshio Taniguchi-designed center at 1370 Southmore in the city's Museum District.

It is the first local expansion of the Pondicheri brand (Jaisinghani opened a branch of her Indian restaurant in New York's NoMad neighborhood last year).

The 40 seat café, which opened Dec. 1, offers a pared down menu of the original Pondicheri at West Ave on Kirby with several dishes Jaisinghani created just for Pondi.

"I love what the Asia Society stands for," Jaisinghani said.

The Asia Society may be known as an elegant cultural institution, but the Pondi menu is anything but high falutin. The modest menu includes some Pondicheri signatures but also offers unique dishes that continue Jaisinghani's distinct perspective on iconic Indian foods.

She has given Eggs Benedict a masala twist by topping toasted brioche with a nubby mash of masala potatoes, cauliflower and cheese that is topped with a poached egg and pickled hollandaise. Voila, Bombay Benedict.

There's a roti wrap, Mulligatawny soup, a saffron shrimp salad (shrimp dressed with saffron yogurt flecked with mustard seeds on toasted bread), Pondicheri salad (greens, pickled carrot, mango, mung bean sprouts, seeds and raisins), and Karala Noodle Salad (buckwheat noodles tossed with garbanzo beans, pickled carrots, spinach, lime and peanuts).

Her favorite dish is a new creation from her Pondicheri Bake Lab + Shop, the sweets and savories lab above Pondicheri. It's called Mithai Pie and features a chickpea crust, a sweet chickpea filling, and a topping of pistachios and chickpea fritters.

"It's the best thing we've created in our bake lab," she said.

The menu also has snacks (pani poori; chaat chips with chutney; toast spread with masala ghee) as well as mango lassi and masala chai. And guests also can get a Bournvita ice cream sandwich, a dessert Jaisinghani created years ago using Indian biscuit cookies.

Pondi's light-filled space on the ground floor of the Asia Society seats about 40. It is a minimalist setting, decorated with oversize photographs taken in Mumbai by her friend, photographer Louis Vest.

Asia Society Texas president Bonna Kol said that Pondi is a perfect fit with the society's mission. A celebration of Asian culture married with Indian food is an ideal union, Kol said.

"Houston has an opportunity for growth in pairing food and the museum experience," she said. To that end, she hopes to expand Pondi offerings with cooking classes, and Asian menus that tie to specific exhibits.

Jaisinghani is more than game. "I love the simplicity of the place. I look forward to coming here and creating within specific barriers," she said. Those "barriers" are a small kitchen with one oven and one induction oven.

But those constraints only emboldened Jaisinghani. "It limited me, but it also helps focus creativity," she said, adding she's already devising other dishes to add to the Pondi menu.

As if running restaurant operations in Houston and New York weren't enough, Jaisinghani also recently created india1948.com, her first website devoted to Indian cooking. It's filled with recipes such as butter chicken, fenugreek fish, jaggery glazed salmon, beet roti, cranberry chutney, carrot pickle and persimmon rice pudding.

Jaisinghani launched the website in October and hopes it grows into a hub for recipes, cooking advice, and spice knowledge for those interested in India-inspired cooking.

Pondi at Asia Society Texas, 1370 Southmore, is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. See pondichericafe.com.