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Wow, an Indian Vegetarian Restaurant!

B

blues008

Golden Member
So I'm walking around Berkeley looking for lunch and come across this place:

Athithi.com

I never thought I'd see a fully vegetarian restaurant suceed in the US, let alone an Indian vegetarian restaurant.

But, if I had to pick a place to start a vegetarian restaurant, I'd start in California.

And no, I do not work for these people - just thought it was kind of cool.
 
You're from California and you've never seen a fully vegetarian restaurant? Or a vegetarian Indian restaurant? Did you live in a cave for awhile???
 
My dad is part owner of supposedly a very prosperous vegetarian indian restaurant in new york.
personally i don't see how it survives without meat, or how people survive without meat...but that's just me.
 
There's tons of vegetarian restaurants where I live (DE). I can't remember if any of them are Indian, but it's possible.
 
Originally posted by: blues008
I never thought I'd see a fully vegetarian restaurant suceed in the US.
Click to expand...

There are at least 25 vegetarian restaurants here in Atlanta.

At least 2 are vegan-Chinese and 1 is vegan-Indian.
 
Pretty good, especially for the price.

But it's mostly south indian food which means a lot of rice dishes and veggies.

Idlis are good stuff 🙂
 
there's a fully vegetarian restraunt in san francisco.. food's not bad.. it's on irving street.. i forget what it's called though.. has a green awning.. shangrila or something.. i dunno
 
There's one in the D.C. area that I'm aware of - Woodlands in Fairfax. I've never been there, but look into it once. If I'm going to eat Indian food, I need Tandoori chicken, Butter chicken and other meats - yes, MEAT!!! I can add vegetables around the side, but I need MEAT!
 
Dude, I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, the city that's BELOW CINCINNATI on the 'Boring Cities' list and one with its fair share of BBQ lovin' rednecks...and even WE have an Indian vegetarian restaurant (Woodlands--its damn good too!)
 
Originally posted by: Legendary
My dad is part owner of supposedly a very prosperous vegetarian indian restaurant in new york.
personally i don't see how it survives without meat, or how people survive without meat...but that's just me.
Click to expand...


They probably make it taste like meat, at least that is what they do in Chinese vegetarian restaurants.
 
Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Originally posted by: Legendary
My dad is part owner of supposedly a very prosperous vegetarian indian restaurant in new york.
personally i don't see how it survives without meat, or how people survive without meat...but that's just me.
Click to expand...


They probably make it taste like meat, at least that is what they do in Chinese vegetarian restaurants.
Click to expand...
Yeah, my gf dragged me to a Zen Palate, and I was amazed at what they could do with bean curd/tofu/wheat gluten/etc. Vegetarian food can be awesome! 😀

 
its so funny how people think that vegetarian food can't taste good. Americans have been living on bland salads for too long. I suggest you TRY the vegeterian Indian food before you say "how can you eat stuff with no meat in it?" You'll be surprised what a little bit of spice can do.

Our foods are thousands of years old, if it was as tasteless as some of the foods Americans eat I don't think it would've survived so long.
 
I was exposed to Indian food at a nice Indian buffet in Atlanta this summer, and it served both vegetarian and meat dishes. Even though I have limited exposure to the food, bland is NOT one word I would use to describe it. :Q

mmmmMMMMmmmm was it good stuff! 😀

That reminds me, I gotta check out the Indian restaurants around here. 🙂

oh, and IIRC, I was told that Northern Indian dishes tend to have meat (or at least have more meat dishes), and Southern Indian dishes tend to be vegetarian. Please forgive if incorrect.
 
yea i thought all indian restaurants had atleast some vegitarian stuff. indian population in the bay area is pretty high.
 


its really weird . Most Indians in the U.S. are from Gujurat (i.e. Patels, Mehtas, Shahs) These people historically do not eat meat. When they come here many (esp. second generation) start eating it though. Many of them have even opened up Punjabi restaurants that serve meat. Same phenomenon with South INdians. Many South Indians (Hindus) won't touch meat with a 10 foot pole if they were back in India. They come to the U.S., open up a South Indian restaurant, and gradually start introducing North Indian (Punjabi) dishes to attract customers. I guess its cuz most Americans like meat. weird thing is there aren't that many Punjabis in the U.S. proportionately, but 95% of Indian restaurants serve Punjabi food. 😕

Ever wonder why most of your Indian friend's parents or they themselves are vegetarian, but then you see that 95% of INdian restaurants serve meat? Thats why.
 
ok, this is too random. i live right above this place!!! :Q it just opened, and I haven't tried it yet. I hope they aren't too successful though, cause then people will start blocking the driveway to my parking space even more than usual.

it sure does smell good when i leave the apt in the morning though. especially since i never have time for breakfast. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Dhruv
its really weird . Most Indians in the U.S. are from Gujurat (i.e. Patels, Mehtas, Shahs) These people historically do not eat meat. When they come here many (esp. second generation) start eating it though. Many of them have even opened up Punjabi restaurants that serve meat. Same phenomenon with South INdians. Many South Indians (Hindus) won't touch meat with a 10 foot pole if they were back in India. They come to the U.S., open up a South Indian restaurant, and gradually start introducing North Indian (Punjabi) dishes to attract customers. I guess its cuz most Americans like meat. weird thing is there aren't that many Punjabis in the U.S. proportionately, but 95% of Indian restaurants serve Punjabi food. 😕

Ever wonder why most of your Indian friend's parents or they themselves are vegetarian, but then you see that 95% of INdian restaurants serve meat? Thats why.
Click to expand...

honestly its more of a caste thing than anything else. Most of the Indians that make it here are higher caste, mainly because of better opportunities. Brahmins (the highest caste historically) do not eat meat and consider it sacrilege to do so. Thats why historically they don't eat meat. In the US, South Indians have higher numbers of brahmins in their population than North Indians, hence the ones that make over here are usually vegetarian. But if you look back to India, you'll see that many South Indians there do eat meat.
 
Shiva:

I think it depends on state. Most of my South Indian friends (Hindus) are from Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka. They are Brahmin, as you astutely pointed out there are more Brahmins in the South. But i don't think it is due to the higher caste as much as it has to do with region/state. For example, a lot of kshatriyas (from punjab) eat meat. Whereas Vaishyas (sp?) from Gujurat tend not to. Kshyatriya is the higher caste though.
 
Vik's Chaat House is vegetarian during the week ... AFAIK they only serve meat on the weekends. There is a South Indian Vegetarian Restaraunt in San Mateo. Another vegetarian South Indian restaraunt in Sunnyvale called Komala Vilas (supposedly very good, planning on going there this weekend) ... there are a few North Indian places that serve all-vegetarian food, but most of them are in Fremont or in the LA Area. Bombay Chaat House on Pioneer Boulevard doesn't serve meat .... back in High School I used to drive 30 minutes there just for lunch somedays, remember that dolph ... I don't know if they raised the prices but I used to be able to get a Samosa with cholay for 75 cents. Two of those and I was pretty stuffed. But honestly my favorite Indian restaraunt in Berkeley is Chaat Cafe ... i like the chaat way better than Vik's (although VIk's is a lot of fun to go to 'cuz it's so ghetto and kind of reminds me of India), and the wraps are a pretty solid as well. My favorite dish there has to be the Paneer Kabob, god i could eat those all day long.

BTW ... I can totally imagine an Indian restaraunt survive being vegetarian. Most Indian food tastes better vegetarian (except for Tandoori chicken .... the only thing I miss after not eating meat for 9 years)
I don't believe it ... I was standing on that corner 12 hours ago wishing that I could eat Indian food. I know where I am going for lunch tomorrow.
 
Originally posted by: Shiva112
Originally posted by: Dhruv
its really weird . Most Indians in the U.S. are from Gujurat (i.e. Patels, Mehtas, Shahs) These people historically do not eat meat. When they come here many (esp. second generation) start eating it though. Many of them have even opened up Punjabi restaurants that serve meat. Same phenomenon with South INdians. Many South Indians (Hindus) won't touch meat with a 10 foot pole if they were back in India. They come to the U.S., open up a South Indian restaurant, and gradually start introducing North Indian (Punjabi) dishes to attract customers. I guess its cuz most Americans like meat. weird thing is there aren't that many Punjabis in the U.S. proportionately, but 95% of Indian restaurants serve Punjabi food. 😕

Ever wonder why most of your Indian friend's parents or they themselves are vegetarian, but then you see that 95% of INdian restaurants serve meat? Thats why.
Click to expand...

honestly its more of a caste thing than anything else. Most of the Indians that make it here are higher caste, mainly because of better opportunities. Brahmins (the highest caste historically) do not eat meat and consider it sacrilege to do so. Thats why historically they don't eat meat. In the US, South Indians have higher numbers of brahmins in their population than North Indians, hence the ones that make over here are usually vegetarian. But if you look back to India, you'll see that many South Indians there do eat meat.
Click to expand...
Back in the old days of Hinduism (1000+ years ago), Brahmins were the only ones allowed to eat meat!!! Funny how things have changed!

 
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