CURRY PUNDITS

30 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose 408- 295- 1000; www. currypunditssanjose. com Open daily for lunch, dinner and latenight snacks, 11 a. m. to 10 p. m. MondayThursday, 11 a. m. to midnight Friday, noon to midnight Saturday and noon to 9 p. m. Sunday noting in these days of $ 10 sandwiches. If you finish one, you’ll be full for hours. If you drink a mango lassi ($ 3) along with it, you can definitely plan on leftovers.

Although we have become creatures of curry habit, we ventured beyond our faves in the interest of reader service.

First we tried the vegetarian samosa chat. This is essentially a potato- and- pea samosa dunked in a pint of stewed garbanzos with spicy gravy. It’s an odd concept, because you normally want your deep- fried samosa to stay crisp, and the liquidy garbanzos negate that effect — unless you eat very quickly. Nevertheless, we agreed that this dish was surprisingly good, filling and crazy cheap. It costs just $ 3.50. For $ 1.50, add naan to dip in the sauce.

Then we sampled the Bombay Frankie ($ 7.50, two per order), a thin, “egg- laced” whole- wheat wrap filled with your choice of meat and vegetables. You can go half- and- half, so we opted for the stewed chicken tikka masala and grilled veggies. It’s a nice, spicy combo, but there’s no way that veneer of egg gets noticed among those bold flavors. And overall, well, it just can’t compete with the bowls and curritos we’ve created for ourselves.

Clever name, Frankie, but I think we’re sticking with our favorites.