We-Desi Indian opens at Tanger Outlets Deer Park
A combination plate of butter chicken, palak paneer and saffron rice at We-Desi in Deer Park. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
We-Desi not only shares an outdoor patio with Chipotle at the Tanger Outlets Deer Park, the weeks-old eatery also shares a commitment to freshly made, takeout-friendly food that combines proteins, legumes and starches in myriad combinations. But there’s one big difference: We-Desi is devoted to homestyle Indian cooking. (“Desi” connotes “native,” “traditional” and / or “homestyle” in Hindi.)
The “signature experience” is clearly modeled on Chipotle’s bowl: Customers choose a rice (plain or saffron), a legume (dal makhani, lentils or channa masala, chickpeas) and one of four proteins: butter chicken, goat curry, palak paneer (fresh cheese with spinach) or paneer makhani (fresh cheese in a purée of tomatoes and chickpeas). No matter the option you choose, it’s $14, and you can add butter or garlic naan for an additional $2.50.
There are also a la carte options such as grilled chicken tikka ($12.99) or lamb chops ($19.99), samosas ($4.99 for two vegetable turnovers, $6.99 for chicken), sandwiches of paneer, chicken tikka or “chapli” burgers ($8.99 to $11.99), chicken biryani ($15.99) and assorted salads, breads and sides such as fries, popcorn shrimp, fish & chips and wings ($5.99 to $13.99) — all seasoned with Indian spices. There are drinks and desserts too.
If that seems like a lot of options, it’s all relative. “Reading an Indian menu can be like reading a never-ending book,” said Vikas Kajare, one of the owners. “We didn’t want people to be overwhelmed, and our kitchen is small.”
All four partners — Kajare, Shrey Saini, the chef, Akash Jaiswal, and his uncle Rohit Jaiwsal — have hospitality experience but are first-time owners. Kajare was born in Mumbai and got a degree in hotel management there after which he worked all over the world and in the United States before settling in New York a few years ago. “People would tell me, ‘You should open your own place,’ ” he recalled. “And it was the confidence others had in me that got me to do it.”
We-Desi co-owners Vikas Kajare and Akash Jaiwsal at the Deer Park eatery. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
The owners of We-Desi embrace the fact that they do not operate a traditional Indian restaurant. Their uniform T-shirts bear the company logo on the front and back with a Hindi phrase Kajare translates as “I’m different, but I’m not wrong.”
We-Desi, 1088 The Arches Circle, Deer Park, 631-667-4170, @wedesiny. Open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.