L.A. “Indian Cuisine” Food Truck Looking to Open Brick and Mortar Shop In or Around Decatur
Decatur Metro | January 17, 2012
Tomorrow’s News Today reports that the NaanStop Express Indian Cuisine Los Angeles food truck brothers, Neal and Samir Idnani, plan to open a brick and mortar restaurant in the second-half of 2012 somewhere “in the Decatur or Emory area but that could change if a situation develops elsewhere in Atlanta.” A bit more info…
They have a great name, a healthy and different product and were one of only a handful of the over 300 food trucks in LA to consistently turn a profit. Additionally, they were featured on numerous TV and radio stations in LA and had quite the Twitter following. Recently I learned that you might even get a glimpse of the NaanStop truck in an upcoming episode of the hit FOX drama “Bones.”
The brothers are taking their time and know that in Atlanta, more than most cities, the perfect location, preferably with ample parking, is essential. They served their last Naanwich via their truck on November 30th and had hoped to be open here by March. Now, without what they feel is the perfect location, they are perfecting their menu and keeping an eye out for their first location.
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Love the idea, but love the name even more!!!
Kudos to them on the name. Outstanding. I’ll definitely be excited to get another choice for (hopefully) good Indian food in the area.
We have a lot of great choices close by, but there is plenty of room for a good newcomer. I would absolutely love to be able to walk to a good plate of chana.
What about the old Watershed space? Don’t know obviously, how match space they are looking for but that seems not too big and not too small. Is there something slated to move into that space currently?
While I welcome good-quality food to Decatur, I’m thinking they might not find it the best fit for them:
“…preferably with ample parking…”
The Watershed / dry cleaning / Farm Burger parking lot, for instance, is tiny and cramped. It’s a great foot traffic location, but not a great drive-up location. They may do better at the Clairmont & N. Decatur intersection.
What a strange press release. We have nothing to sell you, can’t tell you when or where we are opening, but hey! we’re here!
Whoopee. Get back to me when the hot naan is crisping up.
Well, it wasn’t a press release so…
Sounds like a good candidate for the area around North Decatur at Clairmont. Although I saw some empty spaces at Emory Village the other day as well.
Tava and Grill (used to be in Cherians) has been looking for space for months now, but all too expensive. They were going to go into the old Mexico City place but the deal fell through. They were my favorite Indian place!
Hopefully there would be more to the restaurant menu; the menu on their stie honestly isn’t very exciting. There’s fantastic Indian food all around Decatur, including several new places in Patel Plaza (Thali, and Chinese Dhaba). I realize that it’s currently a food truck and they’re limited in what they can serve, but India is famous for its variety of street foods. No panipuri?
Thali helps me mourn Udipi slightly less.
Re: Chinese Dhaba
Is that place any good? Been meaning to try it.
Slightly out of the way, but Cafe Bombay on Briarcliff has an incredibly huge and delicious lunch buffet. Dinner menu is awesome as well, and they have a belly dancer on Saturdays.
Oooh I hate to do this…based on 1 trip, 1 meal, I was not impressed at all. And their food rating was not as high as I would have liked to see in a newly opened place.
Thanks for the heads up on that. I think I’m one of the few people here who doesn’t have a problem with someone saying they didn’t have a great experience somewhere, as long as they say why. There was a while here people would shame you for saying something negative about a business.
I asked for a recommendation for a nail salon a while back, but never reported back because my experience wasn’t what I had hoped it would be, and I was kind of timid about saying so.
There were other people in there enjoying their meals when we I was there, but I would give it a thumbs down :/
We like Chinese Dhaba. The best food we’ve had there is the hottest. I’ve really enjoyed the chili garlic sauce. And I’ve only done take-out, so I can’t speak to anything else.
To clarify, I just meant that the flavors seem to fall flat when there isn’t a lot of chili. When it’s nose-running, hot, the flavors really work well.
Ditto. Their chili garlic noodles with shredded chicken are AMAZING, as is their gobi Manchurian. Their chili paneer is delish, too! People expecting regular Americanized Chinese food will likely be disappointed if they don’t understand going in that Indian-style Chinese is very different (and IMHO, has cleaner, brighter flavors).
Thanks for the enthusiasm guys! And thanks to Decatur metro for the story!
We are looking forward to being back in our home state of Georgia and to sharing our mom’s recipe Indian food with ATL. Please check us out on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/naanstop for updates.
@dex We definitely have plans to expand our menu to include rice bowls and salads in addition to our naanwiches, as well as more vegetarian/vegan options like aloo gobi and Punjabi dal. We also plan to have rotating specials featuring my mom’s homestyle recipes that are uncommon in most Indian restaurants today. Hope you come check us out
Naan Guys! Yippee. I have been saying that we need someone to give Indian a modern, efficient, consistent and clean twist. Sort of like Taqueria Del Sol goes Indian.
Looking forward to updates. I think the Decatur Diner spot could work
Or what about the old 5th Earl spot?
Both of those sound like great locations also -
Thanks for the insight as to why we need an Indian restaurant. There are many, many great (and some not so great) Indian reataurants nearby (within 5 miles or less) but none in downtown Decatur or Oakhurs, or within walhable distance from anyone with the City limits.
I would frequent this place very often if it were in Decatur. I’m sure of it.
Yep. This!