HONEST Vegetarian Indian Street Food Makes its Manhattan Debut on Bleecker Street

Honest began as a humble street cart owned by Ramesh Gupta in Law Garden, a popular open air food market in Ahmedabad, India in the late 1960's. At first, they sold only chaat, Indian snacks, and in 1975, began serving made-to-order hot vegetarian meals made from scratch with the freshest ingredients. With input from his customers, Ramesh began developing his recipe for Bhaji Pav, a spiced vegetable curry served with buttered rolls. His wife Vimla Gupta's spice blend recipe completed the formula for their signature dish. The Guptas named their cart Honest because of the purity of the product and the customer transparency they provided.

With the demand for their Bhaji Pav growing, the successful street cart was then inherited by the couple's three sons. The youngest of the three boys, Vijay Gupta, expanded the business and launched more carts in Law Garden. In 1987, Honest opened their first sit-down restaurant in Ahmedabad. What followed was an expansion of growth of carts and restaurants throughout Gujarat, India, leading Vijay to visit the United States in 2002, with dreams of bringing Honest to New York. The dream was put on hold until 2016 when Vijay's son, Harin Gupta, a Culinary Institute of America (CIA) alum, helped open the first US Honest location in Schaumberg, Illinois.

Within the first five years, Honest has opened 31 locations in the United States, primarily opening in suburban areas with high Indian populations.

To ensure the US locations maintain the standard of high quality, they hired fellow CIA alumnus Vasisht Ramasubramanian, a former sous chef at Jean-George's ABC Cocina, as their Corporate Executive Chef, who trains the kitchen at each location. To date, Honest has 60 locations in Gujarat, India, two in Canada, two in Australia, and two in Thailand in addition to the 31 in the United States.

After years of scouting for the perfect NYC location, Honest is ready to make their mainstream debut with their first Manhattan location under franchisee Kunal Shah. Shah, who emigrated to America as a young child, has opened three Honest locations in the last 10 months. While he did not experience the restaurant in India, he immediately saw the potential in the concept after visiting the Jersey City location.

Honest selected a location on Bleecker Street, between MacDougal and Sullivan Streets near the NYU campus to bring the concept full circle; much like Law Garden, the area is a popular food destination with a vibrant night life scene.

The backbone of the cuisine are Honest's proprietary spice blends, Amul butter-a cultured butter from a dairy cooperative in Gujarat-and fresh ingredients, cooked to order from scratch. None of the ingredients are ever frozen and their goal is to sell out by the end of each day. The menu begins with their signature dishes, Bhaji Pav, a vegetable curry with a potato base and spices served with buttered dinner rolls-the pav-baked fresh in Honest's bakery in New Jersey; and Pulav, vegetables and basmati rice cooked in butter with aromatic herbs and spices.

The restaurant serves a large variety of chaat including Pani Puri, semolina puffs stuffed with boiled potatoes and black garbanzo beans, served with refreshing mint cilantro water and sweet chutney; Bhel, puffed rice and vegetables tossed with sweet, sour, and spicy chutneys; and Vada Pav, potato and garlic dumplings with chickpea batter.

Indo-Chinese dishes include Paneer Chili Gravy, cottage cheese tossed with peppers and onions in Indo-Chinese sauces; and Szechuan Noodles, stir fried vegetables and soft noodles tossed in Honest's special garlic Szechuan sauce.

Besides freshly squeezed fruit juices, Rose Lassi, Mango Lassi, hot tea and coffee, Honest plans to introduce beer and wine for the first time in any of their United States locations.

Honest is located at 176 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012. For more information, visit their web site at nycHonest.com or call (917) 261-2610. You can follow them on Instagram: @nycHonest.

The current hours of operation are Sunday - Wednesday 12pm - 10pm; Thursday: 12pm - 12amFriday & Saturday: 12pm - 2am. There is a 52 person seating capacity in the dining room.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Honest

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