Gothamist

A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.

Gothamist

WNYC Listen Live

Donate

 

 

Sponsored

Jehangir Mehta On Cooking With A Tiny Kitchen At Graffiti, An East Village Restaurant

Sponsor's image

Article sponsored by

Published Apr 6, 2012

Modified Jun 20, 2012

Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Never miss a story

 Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

You may have complained about your tiny apartment kitchen—but think about Jehangir Mehta who feeds a hundred hungry people every night at Graffiti, his wildly inventive, globally-inspired, and undeniably teensy restaurant in the East Village. His kitchen is just 30-square-feet, with hotplates and mini fridges and he still manages to turn out dishes like duck portobello gratinee with mustard onion confit and hazelnut chocolate caviar cupcakes night after night. In order to make it work, Mehta explained to us, "The main thing it just being organized. Every kitchen requires organization, but in some places, you have more space to do it. Here, you have no choice. So you just have to make sure everything is in the right spot—if you put your hand in the right side of the fridge, you WILL find your mesclun, if you go a little to the left, you WILL find your fish. We’ve been open about five years, and we haven’t changed a single container that we’ve put whatever ingredient in. The fish is always in a square box, if something’s in a round container, it’s always in that round container."And if you're hungry for more, tune in to BBC America’s "No Kitchen Required,” new food travel adventure series where chefs cook in the most remote and exotic locations with little more than a knife, fire and a pan. Watch new episodes of No Kitchen Required every Tuesday at 10pm Eastern / 9pm Central only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to like No Kitchen Required on Facebook.

 

Gothamist

View all 6

Sponsor's image

Article sponsored by

Published Apr 6, 2012

Modified Jun 20, 2012

Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Think your apartment has a tiny kitchen? Jehangir Mehta feels for you. Except that unlike you, he has to feed a hundred hungry people every night. Mehta is the chef/owner of Graffiti, a wildly inventive, globally-inspired, and undeniably teensy restaurant in the East Village. With just 19 seats and a 30-square-foot kitchen equipped with hotplates and mini fridges, Mehta manages to turn out dishes like duck portobello gratinee with mustard onion confit and hazelnut chocolate caviar cupcakes night after night. We spoke to the chef about the challenges and pleasures of cooking in small spaces .

And if you like what you read below, tune in to BBC America’s "No Kitchen Required,” new food travel adventure series where chefs cook in the most remote and exotic locations with little more than a knife, fire and a pan. Watch new episodes of No Kitchen Required every Tuesday at 10pm Eastern / 9pm Central only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to like No Kitchen Required on Facebook. (Continue reading to watch an exclusive trailer.)

So what is your kitchen equipped with? Equipment wise, we have two rice cookers, two electric flattops, one electric convection oven, and…that’s it. And a small lowboy refrigerator and freezer, both under the counter. You can only fit two or three people in the kitchen at once.

What unique workaround have you devised to cope with the limited space? The main thing it just being organized. Every kitchen requires organization, but in some places, you have more space to do it. Here, you have no choice. So you just have to make sure everything is in the right spot—if you put your hand in the right side of the fridge, you WILL find your mesclun, if you go a little to the left, you WILL find your fish. We’ve been open about five years, and we haven’t changed a single container that we’ve put whatever ingredient in. The fish is always in a square box, if something’s in a round container, it’s always in that round container. We don’t even need to see it, we just have to feel it. You just want to bend and grab it. When something is made difficult for you in life, you just want to make it easier. Either you have to do 500 situps every time you go down to the fridge, or you just keep it organized so you know where everything is and can just grab it.

What are the biggest challenges cooking in a kitchen so small? A lot of restaurants dictate their menu by the seasons. We have to dictate by the equipment. If I’m making a dish I always made in the rice cooker, or a dish I always made on the flattop, I would only replace it with something that gets cooked in that equipment. It just wouldn’t work in terms of timing. We purposely have broken down our menu in terms of what works in this device and that device. You have the product, but you have to think of how you make it in this equipment. Most chefs don’t have to think that way, they just think of the dish and that’s the end of it. Here, we have a bit of challenge. But we’ve done it very successfully.

What are your favorite dishes and how do you make them? We have two signature dishes. On the savory side, we sear a scallop and cook it with pickled ginger, and serve it with a chili jam. It’s sweet and spicy. The jam is made in advance, in large quantities, and that pretty much acts like a sauce. That’s important. In a small kitchen, you want to really double up—if you can make something into a jam, which can double as a sauce, and make it in advance, because it has a shelf life, that’s great. You want dishes like that. You have to come up with ways to make your life simpler, or maybe making it difficult initially to make it simpler later.

The sweet dish is the strawberry truffle, strawberries cooked with truffle, with black pepper ice cream. So it has this very savory note to it, though the ice cream is sweet, it has the sharp taste of pepper. And the strawberries are sweet but cut with the truffle. It’s been there since we’ve opened. We have a small basement storage area where we store the ice cream maker. We bring it up and down every single day. Then the strawberries and truffles are made on the flattop, just cooked in a saucepan.

jehangir-mehta.jpg Any memorable mishaps because of space? We have to be careful with the amount of electricity in the house. Even with one piece of extra equipment, the question is always, how do we make sure not to blow up the fuse? Sometimes we switch off the coffee machine to make the oven work. We do it to the best we can, and sometimes things don’t work out in terms of electrical supply. There’s never been a blackout, we have circuit breakers. It’s never a huge thing, it’s more of an annoyance.

What has become most invaluable kitchen tool? My chef, who has been with me for almost 14 years. He is the most invaluable kitchen tool. And the rest of my staff, a lot of them have been with me for a long time.

If you could have space for just one more thing, what would it be? Maybe another circuit breaker.

Any advice for home chefs with tiny kitchens? Come look at us, see how we do it, then you’ll never complain about your small kitchen again.

Like what you've read here? Tune in to BBC America’s "No Kitchen Required,” new food travel adventure series where chefs cook in the most remote and exotic locations with little more than a knife, fire and a pan. Watch new episodes of No Kitchen Required every Tuesday at 10pm Eastern / 9pm Central only on BBC America. For more updates on the series, be sure to like No Kitchen Required on Facebook.

Tagged

east village

graffiti

interview

Jehangir Mehta

small kitchens

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

MORE food

10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City

The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.

By

Robert Sietsema

Published Sep 12, 2026

Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.

Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.

By

Sonia Rao

Food

Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.

Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.

By

Sonia Rao

5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's

By

Hannah Frishberg

Where to eat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn right now, from Polish to Sichuan to Iberian

By

Robert Sietsema

Can a congressional candidate's dumpling diplomacy win over Queens’ immigrant communities?

By

Caroline Shin

Never miss a story

Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.

Sign upEmail address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .