Veer’s Dollar Store

I am a first time customer of Veer’s, so I can’t really rate the store and it’s prices. I rated it a 3 star, because I wanted to post the latest news.
I went to Veer’s Dollar Store to see where they relocated to on Rosemead. By sheer luck, I met the new owners outside who said the original owners sold the store and bought another store by the Trader Joes in San Gabriel by the corner of Rosemead and Huntington Drive. The new owners of Veer’s said they plan on having their grand opening next, next Thursday (February 23, 2012). They will continue to sell Indian and Asian merchandise.

The five stars are only so Unilocal will let me post (and I don’t want to blow their rating). This place moved to Rosemead Blvd.

Two words:
Chicken Samosas!!!
Enough said.

I’ve always wondered why it was called dollar-​store, Tony C. does a bang up job of explaining why. =)
In my search for some cardamom, Jenny Y pointed me towards Veer’s score they have both green and black! It seems like this store carries just about everything: lighter fluid, henna hair dye, snacks and various spices. For the past 6 years I’ve been missing out, I have driven by Veer’s so many times not thinking much of it! If I want to make an authentic Indian recipe now I know where to go for ingredients. =)
The snack selection in this place is quite extensive and all the products are legit, a dollar or so cheaper than what you can find online and no shipping costs. ;) I had so much fun looking around the small space, the owner probably though I was a weirdo. You will be sure to find what you are looking for and them stuff you aren’t even looking for.

My whole family loves this place. In my opinion, it’s a lot better than the Punjab Indian Grocery Store on Main Street and more well-​stocked. Better yet, a lot of the items are labeled in Burmese.
On the way to Costco, we usually stop by to stock up on cooking necessities like masala and mango pickle. They also have a pretty good selection of pre-​mixed spices and frozen foods like kulfi, which is basically an Indian milk popsicle, with solid chunks of evaporated milk. It’s a diabetic’s worst nightmare, but boy would I love eating that with some falooda.

I usually just buy ingredients and specialty stuff like pickle here, but never was hungry or in the mood to get food. Well I was in the mood yesterday and I have to say the samosas here are amazing. Had to wait a few minutes while they brought a fresh batch in, but it was worth it! Bought 5 of them and ate them all in the car before I even got home.

I’ve been looking for Dettol soap for over a year now and have always seen this small Indian store on the corner of Atlantic and Mission. I never put two and two together — until today. And yep, they carry Dettol!
I’m a customer for life now. :)

This review is for the samosas and chai tea only as I have not had the pleasure of trying anything else.
The aroma of the chai tea hits you as soon as you start pouring (yea, you fill your own cup) and it smells great. Tasted pretty good too. But I would’ve expected a larger cup for the price.
Chicken samosas are $ 5 for 5 and vegetarian samosas are $ 3. The samosas have clearly been sitting out for a while, but what can I expect going in the mid-​afternoon. I decided to grab the chicken ones. They were delicious and the cilantro chutney that came with it was perfect. The dough was just flaky enough for me to wonder how much better it’d be fresh.
I’m definitely going back to get some fresher samosas and this time I’m bringing friends.

Alright… who were the Unilocalers who beat me to Veer’s today and bought out all the curry chicken samosas??? Yup, sold out and so was the homemade brewed chai tea!
Anywho, based on Tony C’s review I dropped by since I was tagging along to my husband’s doctor appointment out that way. I looooove curry but due to a stomach that got finicky on me several years ago, only order anything spicy on rare occasions. The dish has to be worthy if I’m going to be suffering later.
So, I bought the veggie samosas instead. And yes, these are worthy! I’ve eaten two as a midday snack and will eat the rest later. A mystery spicy green sauce (cilantro-​based?) comes with them which is really tasty and adds even more zest to the samosas. I bought the 5-​pack which ran $ 3. The desserts in the cooler next to the register looked very tempting, but my blood sugar count has been running high lately, so those will have to wait.
Bedi was very personable and enthusiastic over the fact that a Unilocal review brought me into his store. And I’ll be back. I’ve just got to try those curry chicken samosas!
Thank you, Tony C!

Caveat and… this is a personal guarantee: There is NO other report of Veer’s Indian Catering (pardon me for giving Mr. Bedi’s «Dollar Store», restaurant nom-​nom joint a new name) on the Internet. Not on Chowhound, not on Urbanspoon, not on ANY blog (cept my own! lolz)
5 years ago, Mr. Gurbachan Bedi (I assume that’s his last name) wanted to open a small market in Alhambra featuring his favorite snacks and other Indian groceries. The City advised he must have 9 parking spots, in a corner strip mall with only 13. No bueno. Undeterred and outwitting the officials, Mr. B. asked about a «Dollar Store», and Alhambra parking Nazis permit issuers replied with a ray of hope: only 3 parking spot needed. The difference of 6 parking stalls is what brought me to the scrumptious curry chicken samosas and home brewed chai tea that day. 4 years later, Mr. B. has thrown up a banner touting home made Indian/​Burmese food and now thinks of establishing a wee bit patio presence for clienteles (like moi) who can’t wait to chow down on his Indian snacks (think farali chivda, a potato grit like snack/​sweets, etc.). The result of this? The only home made Indian food in all of SGV for us non-​South Asians.
For dessert, kaju barfi, a flat parallelogram of sugar thickened milk & blended cashew, along with jalebi, a pretzel-​esque fried sweet snack made with maida flour were consumed.
Folks, watch this space, because Mr. Bedi spoke of his wife’s kickass chicken biryani and the accompanying «catering» outfit that can whip up a dinner for 2, or a group meal for 20… Yah I know what you’re thinking: 8 course Indian tasting menu replete with Indian Thums Up
for rest of pix, as usual, check SinoSoul, ze blog.