New Asha

Vijayakumari Devadas — Viji to everyone — opened New Asha on Victory Boulevard in 2000 with no professional kitchen experience, and it became one of the first Sri Lankan eateries in the United States and an anchor of Tompkinsville's Little Sri Lanka. It is a counter with a couple of tables, a television that is often showing cricket, and trays of curries; most customers take their food home.

Point at what looks good and let her build the plate: beef or mutton curry, coconut rice, gently spiced dal, and the sambols and condiments that wake everything up. Fish roti and dhal vadai are the snacks to pick up from the case, and string hoppers with curry and sambol are the evening order. The menu has changed little over the years, which is exactly why people still cross the harbor for it.