For Yalies who enjoy the flavor of South Asian cuisine — but not the tea candles and linen tablecloths — the opening of Thali Too on Broadway may be an attractive alternative to existing Indian restaurants, but with a more student-friendly price tag than the original.
Thali Too — a subsidiary of Orange Street’s Indian Restaurant Thali — will make its new home in the space adjacent to the Yale Bookstore, across from Ezra Stiles College. It is set to open sometime between mid-March and early May, according to a Yale press release.
The new restaurant will be more affordable than its parent establishment in order to cater to the college student demographic, University Properties Director of Marketing Shana Schneider ’00 said. Thali Too will be strictly vegetarian, unlike its parent establishment.
But Schneider said she does not think that will not alienate carnivorous patrons.
“The menu will be interesting enough and accessible to the masses to make it appealing to everyone,” she explained.
One of Thali Too’s biggest hallmarks will be a bar where customers can order yogurt-based fruit drinks and create their own combinations of sauces and vegetables, she said.
The restaurant that used to occupy the space next to the Yale Bookstore, American-Italian bistro La Piazza, closed because “its menu didn’t mesh with what people were looking for,” Schneider said. Thali Too, she said, won’t have that problem.
“It’s going to be a very different setup from somewhere where there’s a kind of sit-down menu,” she said.
But by setting up shop in New Haven’s Broadway District, Thali Too may face competition from the six other Indian restaurants within one mile of Yale campus. Schneider, however, said she is not worried.
“People really know the quality of food that chefs provide,” Schneider said. “Thali Too will be very different from what other restaurants provide.”
At the Thali on Orange Street, an order of Chicken Tikka Masala costs $15, while the same dish costs $13.95 at Chapel Street’s Tandoor and at York Steet’s Zaroka Bar and Restaurant. Malai Kofta, an entree of cheese balls in a mild sauce, is priced at $12 at Thali, $10.95 at Tandoor and $12.95 at Zaroka Bar and Restaurant.
Schneider said Thali Too’s chef has not yet settled on prices for the new restaurant, but they will be significantly lower than prices at Thali and its equivalents, she said.
University Properties announced Feb. 7 that branches of Trailblazer, Traffic and Denali will also move to the Broadway District this spring.
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