Indian street food restaurant Atithi opens in Bethpage
The special thali at Atithi in Bethpage comes with vegetarian dishes, bread and papadam. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
A fast-casual spot called Atithi is serving elaborate Indian street snacks and vegetarian dishes from a nondescript perch in Bethpage. Owner Deepak Mehta is a New Delhi-native who achieved his dream of opening his own restaurant after 25 years in the service industry.
After growing up in the Indian capital known for its vibrant street food scene, Mehta worked at restaurants in England and Nepal, eventually coming to Hicksville to work at some of Long Island's best Indian restaurants. His first solo venture looks nothing like its previous tenant, a hibachi takeout spot. The walls of the tiny shop are plastered with colorful wallpaper murals of Indian women in traditional scenes. It's a small but festive locale to try some regional Indian dishes for the first time.
The detailed menu is geared toward a South Asian clientele, but Mehta gladly answers questions. There are New Delhi-style snacks called chaatpati chaat, which consist of various crackers and puffed wheat doughs filled with bright, flavorful sauces. There are vegetarian dinner roll sandwiches from Mumbai, wraps stuffed with cheese or potatoes known as kathi rolls, Indo-Chinese food, biryani rice dishes and sizzling platters of mock meats that look like tandoori chicken.
Despite the casual setting, dishes are served on fanciful plateware with careful presentation. From the street snacks menu of chaat, wheat cracker bulbs of gol gappe are served on a stand that looks like a bicycle rickshaw (six pieces for $8.50). And then there's a giant wheat puff called raj kachori ($8.50) which looks like a sea urchin and is smattered with yogurt, assertive chutneys and fresh pomegranate seeds.
Order one of the tadkas, or vegetarian stews, named after a method of cooking where the chef adds fresh spices to clarified butter. Atithi does an excellent rendition of the homestyle dish dal bhukara ($11.99) made from black lentils that are so rich and fatty they almost taste like refried beans. Scoop it up with thick rounds of missi roti, a tortilla-like flat bread made from chickpea flour.
There are also bhaturas, puffy football breads that are fried in oil taking on the look of savory beignets. They're wonderful for scooping up sauces in the thali meal ($14.99), which arrives on a silver platter adorned with a sampling of flavorful dishes. This fare is too beautiful to be fast-casual. But that's just one of the hallmarks of an awesome food neighborhood.
Atithi, 398 N. Wantagh Ave., Bethpage, 516-513-0054. Open 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
