Nomadic Himalayan Fare, at Home in Woodside

Photo by Clay Williams
Spinach puree gives the vegetable momos at Dawa's their distinctive green hue.
Dawa Bhuti toasts sun-dried wild chives for use in dishes like Dawa's creamy buttercup squash stew.
The squash stew comes with fresh-griddled buckwheat crepes.
After finishing culinary school, Dawa Bhuti helped her father Ngodup Gyaltsen open their light-filled restaurant in Woodside.
The father-daughter team has crafted a discerning menu together, with both American and Himalayan-inspired dishes to choose from.
Bhuti's experience apprenticing in kitchens across Europe shows in her artfully plated dishes like the beets laping pictured here, made with bean starch jelly, ceviche-style with yuzu, sesame chili oil, cilantro and garlic sauce.
Bhuti moved to New York City in 2004, and worked in restaurants all over the city before opening Dawa's in 2016.
The restaurant's design is both homespun and sophisticated—mismatched chairs, potted plants germinating atop tables, and a hand-chalked sign at the entrance are right at home alongside the minimalistic ceramic tableware.
Dawa's was an outpost of Lety Bakery before Bhuti and her father gave it their own thumbprint.
"When I ask where she means when she says home, she says that she’s not quite sure. 'My blood is Tibetan.'"
On the menu's Himalayan side, comforting options like Thentuk—hand-pulled noodles in bone marrow broth with sliced beef, daikon discs and chili oil—abound.