My last night in New York City, I was needing some comfort food given that I had gotten a little out of hand with some beer and wine that night before. After finishing up at the trade show earlier in the day, I thought some Indian food would be a spot-hitter. I remembered seeing an Indian restaurant during my walks to and from the trade show venue. I did a quick search on line and decided to have dinner at Utsav Indian Bar & Grill.
Nandita Khanna comes from a restaurant family. Her grandparents - Shoji and Emiko Kothari - had both Indian and Continental restaurants in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India in the early 1960's; and her father and mother - Rajiv and Malti Kothari - started one of the first Indian-Chinese restaurants in the city, BAR-B-Q. In 1968, Nandita's grandparents immigrated to her grandmother's homeland in Japan and opened a chain of Indian restaurants in Tokyo by the name of Maharaja. At one point in time, there were 19 Maharaja restaurants in the greater Tokyo metro. A few years later, her brother also moved to Japan to open up his own chain of Indian restaurants. So you can say that the restaurant business is in her blood.
In 1998, Nandita accompanied her grandmother to New York City for a visit. Her grandmother was so taken by the city that she decided to come back and open an Indian restaurant. Nandita came with her grandmother again and helped out with the opening and learning the restaurant business. Utsav - which means "festival" is Sanskrit - opened in 2002. Emiko Kothari ran the restaurant for nearly 15 years before turning it over to Nandita.
Pictured right - Nandita Khanna. Photo courtesy Virtual Gourmet.
One of the first things Nandita Khanna did when she took over was to shake up the traditional Bengali cuisine at Utsav. She hired consultant chef Hari Nayak who brought the restaurant into the 21st century with modern Indian cuisine. Nayak grew up in the coastal city of Udupi, India and came to America to study at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Nayak has established restaurants all around the world from New York City to Dubai to Bangkok and the Maldives. Nayak helped with Utsav's change to modern Indian cuisine adding seafood dishes and while incorporating new flavors into traditional Bengali food. Through Nayak's guidance, Utsav chef Avtar Singh oversaw the change in the food that Utsav offered.
In 2022 just after the 20th anniversary of Utsav, Nandita Khanna oversaw another big change to the restaurant. She brought in Kolkata-born chef Mangal Seal to add Indo-Chinese cuisine to the restaurant's fare. Kolkata is known as the culinary epicenter of Indian-Chinese food and Seal had been trained in Indo-Chinese restaurants in the city.
Although Utsav is listed as having a 6th Avenue address, the entrance is actually in a connector walk-way between W. 46th and W. 47th streets. (see map) If you didn't quite know where you were going, you wouldn't readily find the front door to the restaurant. The connector features three statues by local sculptor Jim Rennert which depict different aspects of the everyday life of an average New Yorker. Originally on display at Grand Central Station, the statues were moved to the connector in 2021 and had originally been slated to be moved again in 2023. But they were still there as of March of this year. Just outside the window where I sat at Utsav was the statue "Timing" which depicts a man looking at his watch relating "to the various aspects of business life and the daily struggle between yourself and others" according to Rennert.
Entering the front door of Utsav, I found a small bar area - more of a lounge than a bar. I thought it would have been nice to eat in the bar, but the bartender told me that the bar was just that and invited me to head upstairs to the dining area.
Going up a flight of stairs, the restaurant is on the second floor. It was an elegant setting with windows on both the north and south sides of the restaurant overlooking the connecting space between 46th and 47th streets. The lighting was subdued, but bright enough where I didn't really need to use the flashlight app on my phone to check out the menu. The thing that made me feel 100% good about the place was that there were a large number of Indian diners in the restaurant.
After being seated in a banquette seat near the window, I was greeted by a young lady by the name of Apolina. She was soft spoken and sort of meek in her mannerisms, but she was friendly enough and made this single diner feel at ease. Apolina asked me what I'd like to have to drink and I noticed that they had Kingfisher. I definitely got a Kingfisher to go with my meal.
The menu was sort of interesting. First of all, there were a lot of choices of traditional Indian food - butter chicken, lamb saagwala, and biryani dishes. For Indo-Chinese offerings, they had noodles, different types of sauces with proteins added, and fried rice entrees. The Bengali items on the menu featured items such as Chicken Rezala in a Moghlai curry and cashew sauce; Kosha Mangsho - slow-cooked goat meat in a mustard oil and assorted spice sauce; and Bhetki Machur Paturi - white fish marinated a combination of ground mustard seeds, green chiles, turmeric and mustard oil, then steamed in a banana leaf. Quite actually, I wouldn't have minded to try a bite of that just to see how it tasted.
I'd made my decision as what to have that evening, but the place was filling up quickly. Apolina was off in different directions waiting on tables of new diners who had walked in after I had. It was a good 10 minutes before she was able to get back over to me to take my order (and to get me another Kingfisher). I got the lamb rogan josh with some garlic naan bread on the side. She asked if I wanted rice with my meal and I said, "Sure!"
This the food as it was presented to me. The smell of spices from the rogan josh - the combination of the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves - was an overwhelmingly great pungent aroma. Apolina asked if I wanted the rogan josh mild, medium or hot and I went with medium. While it wasn't all that spicy hot, it certainly had a bit of a kick in the flavor.
And the lamb rogan josh was great. All the spices combined in the wonderful sauce with the tender chunks of lamb was just an outstanding culinary experience. I dipped parts of the garlic naan in the sauce and it had a great garlic and cilantro flavor while being light and airy.
But it was a lot of food and I tried to concentrate on finishing up most of the lamb rogan josh rather than adding more rice. I was able to finish all of the lamb and sauce, but I was so full afterward that I needed to take a bit of a walk before heading back to the hotel.
When Apolina brought me the bill, I noticed two things - first of all, they charged me for the side of rice. Usually at most Indian restaurants I've been to, rice is included in the meal. At Utsav, they charge for it. That's probably why she asked me if I wanted rice. Secondly, they had already posted an 18% tip on the bill, but still provided a spot for a tip after the total on the bill. Now, to me, that's just downright dishonest. I learned a long time ago from a guy I worked for to go over the bill they bring you with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that you A) are getting charged for what you got; and B) there's no hidden charges like what Utsav pulled on me that evening. I just sort of shook my head and laid out my credit card. While Apolina was a good server, she didn't deserve more of a tip from me that what they had already charged me. And I usually tip at least 20% before tax.
Other than the somewhat underhanded way they charged for the tip before the full price of the meal, I had to say that I enjoyed my meal at Utsav Indian Bar and Grill. Their name is somewhat of a misnomer - they did have a bar and they probably do have grill for some of their foods, but it's not a bar & grill in the sense of what I think a bar & grill really is. Apolina was a nice young lady, a bit tardy with getting back to me at times, but she was also busy waiting on other tables during what turned out to be a busy evening for Utsav. For an Indian restaurant that also features Bengali and Indo-Chinese fare in the heart of Manhattan, I think Utsav is a well-above average place. If you're into Indian food and you're near Times Square, it would be tough to beat Utsav.
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