Hungry Llama, hidden away in the Far West Greenwich Village, has an illustrious chef and a “homey” ... [+]
If you cross Hudson Street in the West Village and walk west, toward the Hudson River but before you get to New Jersey, you reach a new cafe and dining spot Hungry Llama that opened on February 3. The only people that might find it on their own are some dog walkers and joggers on the way to the pier and walking path, a block away on West Street off the West Side Highway, and yet its owners, partners Nitasha Uppal and Daniel Salazar, chose the location purposefully.
Why base a café so far off the beaten path with minimal pedestrian street traffic? Uppal says choosing this Far West Village locale was “strategic, as it provided a blank canvas for us to design and build from scratch.” Indeed it took over a dry-cleaning business that had been vacant for five years.
Uppal, in fact, sees the far-away location as a strength, not a drawback. “Our neighbors enjoy finding beauty in the simple things like walking around to the pier and exploring our neighborhood,” she says. People are finding it and returning, she says, so already she counts numerous, “regulars. Simply put, our guests feel at home here.”
She says their dream is to make it the “quintessential neighborhood destination in the West Village, a place where cherished memories are made from first dates to baby showers.” Hence their goal is to transcend food and “create a community space to foster positive connections.”
Most of these people are hearing about it through word-of-mouth since it hasn’t launched a full-scale social media campaign yet.
Uppal made a career switch since she had worked as a technician at Biosense Webster, a division of Johnson & Johnson, while Salazar had more hospitality experience as a front-of-house manager at Casa La Femme. But they used savings and some family investment to capitalize the new cafe, without any outside investors.
A West Village café Hungry Llama, in an out-of-the-way location, is trying to use a community model to engender customer loyalty and creating a neighborhood vibe.
Décor Is Like a Living Room
The space “required a full clean-out and a new restaurant build-out,” she explains. But this blank slate enabled them to develop the kind of décor they desired and make it feel homey. Its décor includes sofas and lounges, bookshelves with books, toys and games, which makes it look more like someone’s living room than a café.
A Hybrid Cafe
And the restaurant could easily be called a hybrid, combining a casual neighborhood coffee spot in the morning, affordable lunch spot and in a couple of months will serve dinner prepared by chef Mark Garcia who once cooked at Eleven Madison Park, one of the city’s most esteemed eateries. Dinner is expected to start being served around July and there also will be private events.
But Uppal downplays the fine-dining aspect, despite chef Garcia’s sterling resume. She expects dinner entrees will cost $20 to $30, which in the pricey West Village these days where lasagna can cost $65, is considered moderately-priced. It will accommodate about 50 people at dinner, and bar stools will be installed at dinner time.
The couple hails from Peruvian, Egyptian and Indian cultures and integrate all of them in the menu.
Why call it Hungry Llama? Its inspiration sprang from a trip the couple took to Peru in 2022 for a family wedding, that led to them returning three months later, and motivated them to start dreaming about developing their own eatery. Llamas, Uppal notes, are “gentle in nature, intelligent and curious and have a low impact on the environment.”
Fine-Dining Chef from Eleven Madison Park
Currently it serves breakfast and lunch and is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., which will be stretched to 8 p.m. in the near future. It’s slated to receive its liquor license in early May.
Its breakfast specials include parfaits consisting of chia, Greek yogurt, and overnight oat, made in house with fruits, or a bacon egg and cheese special served on Turkish bread and breakfast burritos. Lunch specials include seasonal salads and grilled chicken Caesar wrap.
To get the word out, it is starting a loyalty program, an email newsletter and tapping Instagram to spread the word.
Uppal says they are pouring all of their energy to ensure that the café works. But she acknowledges that this model of a friendly café where people can have casual breakfasts, moderate-style lunch and dinners, meet neighbors, bring their children, and work on their laptops, could easily work in just about any city.
Asked the keys to its future success, she says: 1) “We see it as a start-up business so the people we hire are primary, and everybody goes beyond being a barista,” she says, of its 8 employees, 2) Building our brand and marketing to get the word out, 3) Sustaining making hospitality, a top priority, including anticipating their regulars orders.
