Bright pink tables and colorful chairs fill Gully Kitchen\u2019s front patio, with a matching vibrant pink and yellow logo hung against the brick beside its entrance on East Third Street.<\/p>\n
Inside, a sleek ordering counter with seating lets customers watch their bowls be prepared and listen to the music filling the room from the speakers above.<\/p>\n
Gully Kitchen, a modern Indian street food restaurant, opened on July 25 at 203 E. Third St. The menu combines Indian flavors in dishes such as bowls, burritos, quesadillas, sandwiches and burgers.<\/p>\n
Co-owner Tushar Lakhan Paul said he wanted to make Indian food more approachable while maintaining the flavors he and his three co-owners, Daksh Rana, Hiren Patel and Phavik Patel grew up loving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tend to make Indian food too complicated when it doesn\u2019t have to be,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
Paul believes people who are unfamiliar with Indian cuisine are often intimidated by long wait times and lengthy menus at traditional sit-down Indian restaurants.<\/p>\n
The concept for Gully Kitchen began when the four co-owners traveled back to India for Paul\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n
The group operated other small businesses together in the Bethlehem area, but kept going back to the same idea \u2014\u00a0 to bring the food they grew up with to the Southside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to do just another coffee shop or tea shop,\u201d Paul said. \u201cWe wanted to do something completely new.\u201d<\/p>\n
For co-owner Rana, Gully Kitchen represents a larger career change.<\/p>\n
Rana previously worked as an accountant before moving into business ownership.<\/p>\n
He said working a traditional job didn\u2019t give him the same sense of accomplishment as entrepreneurship and building a business. For Gully Kitchen, Rana took on the business side of operations, crafting a logo and selecting packaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the same when there\u2019s no real purpose,\u201d he said. Before developing Gully Kitchen, the owners tested the concept at a convenience store in Red Bank, New Jersey, which previously operated as a deli. Paul said the group used the kitchen to experiment with Indian-inspired sandwiches and other menu items to gauge public interest.<\/p>\n
During the trial in Red Bank, they gained traction on social media from local news outlets, giving them the confidence to open on the Southside, surpassing all expectations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust believe in yourself, I would say,\u201d Rana said. \u201cWhatever you do, just do it completely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head Chef Richard Vicent prepared for his new role by training at an Indian restaurant in Atlantic City to learn a cuisine he was previously unfamiliar with.<\/p>\n
Vicent began cooking at 14 years old in an Italian restaurant, where he worked as a prep cook and dishwasher before taking on more responsibility in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
He said when he made the staff meals, they wouldn\u2019t believe he cooked them.<\/p>\n
Over the course of his career, including 11 years in Bethlehem, Vicent has worked as the head chef at Common Grounds at Lehigh, a sushi chef, on Disney cruises, at multiple local restaurants and food festivals with a renowned chef from the television show Chopped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was my first time ever doing Indian food,\u201d Vicent said. \u201cSo for me to jump right into it and catch it right away was actually shocking to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vicent said he expected a steeper learning curve, but with his training under an Indian chef, he felt that the process came naturally from there.<\/p>\n
As he continued to experiment, Vicent said he unleashed creativity he didn\u2019t use at other restaurants.<\/p>\n
At Gully Kitchen, he was free to create dishes such as the butter chicken quesadilla, chicken tikka burrito and lamb smash burger.<\/p>\n
For Paul, Vicent\u2019s creations weren\u2019t as unusual to him as customers may expect.<\/p>\n
Paul said growing up, his family would often have food leftover after hosting gatherings. The next day, he\u2019d take the leftovers and make them into sandwiches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just bringing to market what I\u2019ve been doing my whole life,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
Many of Vicent\u2019s dishes were developed similarly.<\/p>\n
The butter chicken fries were a dish he made while working in the Red Bank location by covering french fries in butter chicken sauce, adding chopped battered chicken on top.<\/p>\n
The dish quickly became part of the restaurant\u2019s secret menu.<\/p>\n
Other dishes, including the chicken quesadilla and burrito, began as secret-menu options before they became popular and were added to the regular menu. After months of planning and refining the menu, Gully Kitchen officially opened on July 25, offering free bowls for the first two hours. Paul said they sold out by 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a line down the road, and we got so much love and support from the community,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
Since opening, the owners have tried to make Gully Kitchen a place where customers can spend time socializing and leisurely eating a meal.<\/p>\n
The restaurant stays open until 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, offering a late-night option in South Bethlehem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A staircase past the dining area leads to an upstairs lounge, which Paul said was designed with students in mind. He encourages them to use the space to work, spend time with friends and relax.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want this place to be for everyone,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
A month after opening, Paul said they\u2019re already looking forward to expanding, with multiple requests for catering.<\/p>\n
They also hope to partner with local organizations including hospitals and Lehigh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited for this,\u201d Vicent said. \u201cI can\u2019t wait for the next step, and the next after that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bright pink tables and colorful chairs fill Gully Kitchen\u2019s front patio, with a matching vibrant pink and yellow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5451,119,121,120,524,1197,4602],"class_list":["post-277554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-5-minute-read","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-community","tag-feature","tag-south-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}