Long Island City's Acclaimed Adda Restaurant Is Moving Away

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Lovers of the lamb chops, kale fritters eggplant curry at Long Island City's acclaimed Adda restaurant must brace themselves for bad news: the restaurant is moving across the river into Manhattan.

The "Indian canteen" on Thomson Avenue near Van Dam Street will leave the Western Queens storefront it has occupied since 2018 and move to the East Village, as the New York Times first reported.

But all is not lost: the Long Island City space will become a commissary kitchen for Adda and the other restaurants owned by parent company Unapologetic Foods. In that role, Adda food will still be available for takeout and delivery, a spokesperson for Unapologetic told Patch.

Tucked unassumingly next to a 7-Eleven and across the street from La Guardia Community College, Adda was dubbed "The most exciting Indian restaurant in New York" by Grub Street shortly after it opened.

It is the brainchild of chef Chintan Pandya and restaurateur Roni Mazumdar, whose company, Unapologetic Foods, has gone on to open the Manhattan restaurants Semma and Dhamaka — the latter of which was named America's best new restaurant by Esquire in 2021.

Adda's Long Island City space will also serve as a catering kitchen after the changeover, spokesperson Steven Hall said. No firm moving date has been set, "so for now it is business as usual at Adda," he added.

The restaurant's new home will be on First Avenue near East 12th Street, in the space formerly home to the Filipino restaurant Jeepney, the Times reported.

Its most celebrated dishes have included kale pakoda fritters, tandoori poussin chicken, and the junglee maas goat curry.