In her book, Cooking for Mr. Latte, Amanda Hesser describes meeting Julia Child in France and having to take her out for a meal. However, all the restaurants that Ms. Hesser had wanted to take Julia to were not open, and they ended up at a small cafe. With smirking teenagers looking on, Julia Child ordered fried eggs with mayonnaise, and proceeded to ensure that she consumed every bit of the mayonnaise with her eggs and bread.

A lovely little anecdote, yes, but that grand dame of cooking, Julia, understood something really important: food is sometimes merely a vehicle for getting tasty condiments into one’s mouth. Too frequently condiments are abused and serve as cover for sub par food – moistening dry meat or masking odd flavors. But then there are the ones with flavors that dance across the tongue, often hitting a spectrum of different sensations and different points in the mouth – an initial burn, a tongue-curling sourness, a savory and fatty mouthfeel, a sweet aftertaste. They enhance already amazing food and some are being worthy of dragging an extra piece of bread through or, in less polite company, a finger to get every last bit of goodness.

I’ve had many a pair of trousers that were a casualty of the mango sauce from Naan & Beyond, and each spill was well worth the dry cleaning bill. Possibly the best lunch steals in town are their chicken ($1.50) and veggie ($1.00) samosas. Roughly the size of a baseball, the chicken samosa is chock full of tender chunks of white meat. But these chicken samosas only reach their full potential with the free little tub of mango sauce, which tastes like a more refined, slightly spicy version of sweet and sour sauce. If you want a little extra kick, mix in some of the deep red hot sauce.