'Everything is good' at Nirvana Indian Restaurant

The Enterprise — Michael Koff

Nirvana is getting ready: Wait and kitchen staff surround Sam Mannikarottu, center, one of five partners at the new Nirvana Indian Restaurant at the site of the former Chariot Restaurant. Seated, from left, are his partners Vinitha Thottam and Ann Thomas, and associates Karen Harkness, and Chrissy Volans. The other partners, A.E. Job and Anisha Idiyalil, are not pictured.

GUILDERLAND — The new Nirvana Indian Restaurant will celebrate its opening Saturday, March 7.

Sam Mannikarottu and his five partners purchased the building at 5180 Western Turnpike, which formerly housed the Inn Town restaurant and, before that, the Chariot restaurant.

“We are a bar and banquet,” Mannikarottu, one of the partners, told The Enterprise. The group also owns a similar restaurant in New York City. Here, the restaurant has five employees, including a hired cook.

“We looked for a banquet, and purchased the building,” he said about the decision to buy a restaurant in Guilderland.

Nirvana Indian Restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner, and will also offer take-out meals.

The restaurant will be open limited hours during its first week, and keep regular hours beginning March 14.

“We have all types of Indian food,” Mannikarottu said. Asked what his favorite dish to be served is, he said, “Everything is good.”

Nirvana has two dining rooms and a separate bar area, in addition to the banquet hall that can accommodate large groups and meetings, he said.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at Nirvana on Thursday, March 12.

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