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RESTAURANTS • First Word
Straight butter
The Skinny: The spunky, goat-brain-serving Indian restaurant that put the Unapologetic Foods group (Semma, Dhamaka) on the map in 2018, Adda, has relocated from Long Island City to Manhattan, on 1st Avenue just south of 7th Street, with more seats, tableside flair, and chef Chintan Pandya’s best cooking to date.
The Vibe: Bigger budget, same colorful, eclectic energy. The 62-seat restaurant has a classic New York shoebox footprint — long and somewhat narrow, with a 12-seat bar up front. Guests enter through a glowing archway inlaid with imagery taken from vintage Indian matchbooks.
Inside, booths upholstered in bold, handwoven-style textiles, marked by geometric stripes and vibrant, earthy tones line the wall opposite the bar, leading to a chestnut leather banquette set beneath a striking ceiling and wall collage of newspapers and graffiti. It's more than a tribute to the original location — the team literally peeled the materials from the walls and reapplied them in the East Village. Across from that banquette is Adda’s open kitchen, zinc surfaces shining with promise.
The Food: Pandya’s rich, boldly flavored cooking features a mix of reprised and new dishes. In Long Island City, the chef made waves with a menu of largely unsung regional Indian cuisine (no chicken tikka here), and other than the butter chicken experience (more on that, below), that philosophy remains unchanged.
Early in the meal, servers arrive wearing butler-style neck trays, offering two vibrant, tart-and-creamy chaats — one made of chickpeas, onions, tomatoes, yogurt, and green chutney; the other with potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and green chilies. Both are generously dosed with a crunchy topping that looks like fried vermicelli noodles but are actually crisp strands of corn and rice flour, dusted in a Cheetos-like masala spice mix. Next, a server wheels over a trolley arranged with jars holding spicy, zingy, and sometimes sweet indian pickles (mango, carrot, kerda berry) alongside a stack of irregular, frisbee-sized puffs made from lentils, corn, and rice.
From there, move into the Niman Ranch bone marrow, a straight knockout. It’s finished tableside in a curry leaf and peppercorn sauce and accompanied by pao, a soft, sweet Indian bread that comes topped with coconut butter. Scoop the slippery bone marrow atop the bread for a truly ethereal bite.
And then there’s that butter chicken.