By Sarina Trangle
Kati roll lovers no longer have to schlep to Manhattan for the savory snacks.
Bijoy Dutta, a Floral Park engineer who spent a year flipping kati after emigrating from West Bengal, India, and his family friend Alice Joseph teamed up to open a Fresh Meadows kati roll shop last month.
Dhruv’s Kati Shack Factory, located at 180-10 Union Turnpike, serves the Indian street food fare pioneered in the early 1930s by wrapping flat bread around seasoned meat, vegetables and cheese fillings.
Dutta’s son, Rana Dutta, described the business as a venture to ease his father into retirement, but acknowledged he had inherited this fondness for kati rolls.
“If you go now, it’s very popular because it’s cheap, it’s tasty… it’s the equivalent of picking up a hot dog,” Rana Dutta said of kati rolls’ prominence in India and their growing base in the United States “Kati rolls are like a cult. People still go into the city until 1, 2 a.m. to get it.”
At Dhruv’s, vegetable rolls go for $5.25 and their meat counterparts range from $4 to $7.25. Rana Dutta said keema rolls, cubed chicken cooked with masala and other spices, are a popular item that most find palatable. He also praised the aloo masala roll, with its seasoned mashed potatoes, its lamb counterpart and an off-menu item in the works — the chili cheese kati roll.
“It almost tastes like a breakfast burrito,” Rana Dutta said.
Diners can start with masala fries, badaam chaat, seasoned peanuts with red onions, cilantro and lime, and puchka, puffed potato pastries made to be cracked and doused in tamarind infused water with mint and coriander.
For dessert, Dhruv’s offers gulab jamun, a ball of milk solids, similar to cottage cheese, fried and dipped in honey.
Dhruv’s caters to the nearby St. John’s students with their nocturnal hours. The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
The elder Dutta handles the flatbreads, which are purchased from nearby stores and warmed without oil, while Joseph cooks the fillings fresh each day, Rana Dutta said.
Some of the other cooking tips Rana Dutta said he covertly picked up while studying a kati roll stand feet away from his grandmother’s house.
“If I gave them $1,000, they still wouldn’t give me the recipe for it, not even one iota. And I appreciate that because it’s a tradition,” Rana Dutta said. “My dad surprised me by saying, ‘I know you’ve always wanted to do this.’… and then he made it better by naming it after my son, his first grandson.”
Rana Dhruv said his 4-year-old Dhruv was elated to see his name outside the beige and blue shop.
“He kept saying, ‘Dad, look, my name,’” Rana Dutta said.
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com.
