Massachusetts’ First Indian Restaurant

As this story reveals, I am reasonably sure that the first Indian restaurant I ate at was India Restaurant — significant for me, because that is when I was introduced to vindaloo! That dinner occurred in the early 1970s at one of their first two locations. However, I did not become fully acquainted with India Restaurant until much later, after they moved to Davis Square.

Digging Through the Past, Darkly

For years I was in the habit of collecting take-out menus from restaurants I ate at. These days they provide a pleasant reminder of restaurants or dishes that have since drifted to the back of my mind. Those menus now fill a medium-sized three-ring binder, each tucked into a protective plastic sleeve which I often turn to for reference while working on this site. Unfortunately, I had not begun the practice of saving menus at the time I was frequenting India Restaurant — a fact which complicated matters.

As I began thinking about India Restaurant, I realized that without the menu as a mnemonic device, I was struggling to reawaken memories of this restaurant and what the food tasted like. I could remember bits and pieces, but not much else. Perhaps it was because it was so long ago; or that my taste buds were just starting to become attuned to the nuances of Indian food back then; or even that I have been to countless restaurants since the days I was eating at India Restaurant. Or all of the above? I thought, maybe if I read an old review, it might help trigger a synapse or two.

Hitting the archives, I began with the Boston Globe. While my initial searches of the Globe turned up many hits, most were irrelevant. After constructing a more focused query, to my frustration, I did not turn up much more than one brief description of the restaurant although I found many line ads in the “Town and Country Dining” section. I suspected there had to be more, but I wasn’t finding it (at first).

With no substantial info from the Globe and archive.org being offline as I began my research, I was no closer to stimulating my dormant memory! Acting on a hunch, I decided to check if Tufts University had an online archive and if perhaps a student newspaper had been put online. Since students from Tufts, located in nearby Medford, visited Davis Square for restaurants, bars and other entertainment such as the Somerville Theater, it was a reasonable wager. And…I was rewarded with an excellent archive of student-run newspapers (and much more). Armed with a text search, I was able to come up with several reviews, some advertisements and even a few clues about the restaurant’s history, which in turn, spurred further research.

Starting a Trend — The First Indian Restaurant in Boston!

While India Restaurant was the first Indian restaurant to open in the Boston area, it didn’t originate with the name or even the location I was familiar with. A few ads I found provided the first clue. A small 2-column ad from the Cambridge Express included the line “SERVING SINCE 1968.” Some of the other display ads included a similar line. But it was a small line ad that ran October 23, 1973 in the Boston Phoenix where I first found evidence of their original name and address: The India Sweet House located at 243 Hampshire St, Inman Square. A review from the Tufts Daily also hints at their history noting that they had been the only Indian restaurant in Boston (and Massachusetts) back in 1968 and they had moved locations twice.¹

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A return visit to the Boston Globe archives with this new information netted additional line ads for the India Sweet House beginning with the September 4, 1968 edition of the Globe. While the name suggests a place for dessert, these tiny ads quickly dispelled that notion: “Exc curry, home-made breads, delicious desserts.” Oddly I did not find any information about this location in Cambridge newspapers. Today, a small restaurant named Moona serves Middle Eastern and Mediterranean mezze type dishes at the same address, while another restaurant, possibly familiar to readers of this site, Punjabi Dhaba is just two doors away.

Interestingly, I found no reviews or mentions of India Sweet House in food-related columns until September 22, 1972 when Globe food writer Anthony Spinazzola mentioned them as part of his article Fine Restaurants for All Pocketbooks.² The restaurant’s listings in the Globe’s “Town & Country Dining” section seemed to end in June of 1973.

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In early August 1976 comparable ads reappeared in the Boston Globe, this time with a new name, India Restaurant, and new location: 1780 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge (right outside of Porter Square). At this point, some interesting traces of the restaurant began to show up in Cambridge newspapers. In 1979, a legal ad in the Cambridge Chronicle announced a hearing concerning the sale of a wine and beer license from one of the nearby Mug’n Muffin restaurants to the owners of India Restaurant at 1780 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge. In the early eighties, line ads similar to the Globe listings began to run in Cambridge newspapers as well. These were occasionally supplemented by small display ads.

Although the restaurant had existed for more than a decade and two locations, I found the dearth of reviews or mentions in the local newspapers a bit curious. The Massachusetts Ave location received a few mentions in food columns by name, but I did not find any reviews until January 1984 when the Tufts Observer³ ran one. This review gave the restaurant three forks (on a scale of five) and included a photo that prominently featured their sign (that would follow them to their next location in Davis Square).

In 1985 the restaurant received a brief but positive review as part of a Globe article named A Taste of India⁴; an overview of many Indian restaurants in the Boston area at the time.

In February 1986 there was yet another hearing about the Wine and Beer license; this time requesting to transfer said license to a different Massachusetts Ave address that appeared to be in a mixed residential/commercial zone. This hearing generated a small news article⁵ in the Cambridge Chronicle when residents in the area voiced their concerns. The request was denied.

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I am guessing that the restaurant was trying to move from their Porter Square location because just a few months later, in June, they advertised a grand opening at 256 Elm Street in Davis Square — the location I became acquainted with! It was at this address, where they received another brief mention in the Boston Globe’s article Davis Square’s Return to Glory.⁶

The Tufts Daily also noted the opening with a substantial review entitled Cambridge’s India Restaurant Comes to Davis.⁷ The author notes that the restaurant was sporting “the same huge red sign as its Cambridge cousin” at he begins his review. While his descriptive review is generally positive, I got a bit of a chuckle from his discussion of the chutneys. But that is better read in context. This review rated the restaurant four elephants (on a scale of five). N.B. Jumbo the elephant is Tuft’s mascot.

In 1988’s Adding Spice to Davis Square, the The Tufts Daily reviewer took on vindaloo and said: “We tried the lamb vindaloo, cooked in a spiced sauce, which was not quite hot enough to kill the nerves and make the tears flow, but was spicy nonetheless.”⁸ Oh, I understand your (lack of) pain…you just didn’t order it correctly.

Finally, at the Somerville Public Library, I attempted to search through the Somerville Journal which was a weekly newspaper at the time. While the paper is just in the process of being digitized, I was able to browse through old issues on microfilm. Very quickly, I found one of the two-column display ads published from around the time the restaurant opened in Davis Square. I also found, a review! But, upon closer inspection, I realized that it was the same review that the Cambridge Chronicle had run on June 26, 1986. A quick look at the header of the page indicated that review was part of a section named Weekender, that ran in three papers: Cambridge Chronicle, Watertown Press and the Somerville Journal.

While the whole point of this excursion into the archives had been to hopefully trigger some long lost memories, I was still coming up with too many blanks for a restaurant had been one of my favorites. Interestingly, the few things I still vividly recalled were echoed by others in the reviews I found: the dal, kachoris, a very hot chutney and the sign. But that’s not the whole story…

Enough history! How About the Food….

I first started to eat at India Restaurant around late 1988. During the late eighties and early nineties it almost became a default go-to since it was walking distance from a friend’s apartment. But for me the food was more important than the convenience. Not only did India Restaurant excel with the standards, they occasionally would add an unusual dish or two as a special. At the time, I had started to feel that dishes at many area restaurants were quite similar and was on the lookout for something new. India Restaurant was one of the few places where the dishes seemed a bit unique. And, I always felt like I a good meal there.

Not only was the food good, but you got a lot for your money. For the same price as many other restaurants, a side of dal and a kachori would accompany your entrée. These simple extras added some variety to whatever dish I ordered.

The kachoris were something new for me. They sort of reminded me of the apple turnovers from the bakery near my job, except they were larger and not so sweet! I recall the filling was some sort of dal, perhaps the same dal that was included with dinner. But one of the Tufts reviewers observed that the kachoris were “stuffed with spiced potatoes.”⁹ I have a very vague memory of having a choice between the two fillings, but I might be mistaken (where is that menu?). In any event, like many appetizers, the kachoris were deep-fried until golden brown (and delicious). Tufts reviews also mention an appetizer named Tikona which seems similar although it was filled with ground meat. I don’t remember ever trying those since appetizers, for me, were typically vegetarian.

Meanwhile, the side of dal was very different from Mulligatawny (apparently also on the menu), or Dal Shorba — the lentil “soups” that seemed to follow me on other menus. This one was thicker than those and I recall that some of the dal still retained its shape. It seemed very similar to the Tarka Dal that I make in the winter. I found that this simple side complimented entrées very well, and provided a respite from the fiery curries I typically favored at the time. Alas, one of the Tufts reviewers did not agree, describing it as “an undistinguished lentil concoction” in his 1984 review of the Porter Square location.¹⁰

What was not mild, however, was a unique chutney (or pickle) that quietly lurked in the condiment tray on the table. Dark green and sharply hot, the main ingredient seemed to be fresh green chilis although it may have been “cut” with some mint. At first I was surprised that such a bold chutney would be on the table, but maybe it was there for people like me who thought that the food would never be hot enough. More likely it was there to provide contrast. If you are eating a mild dish, a bit — yes, a little bit — can liven things up (hot sauce, anyone?). Oddly enough, I remember not caring for it too much at the time. Not so much because of the heat, but probably that the sharp flavor wasn’t to my liking. I kind of wonder what I would think of it now. I do not remember anything like this chutney at other local restaurants (whose trays typically included: onion, tamarind and a mint/coriander chutneys).

While we’re on the subject of hot food, there is one dinner that is forever etched in my mind. Because this is the restaurant where I first “discovered” vindaloo, it was only fitting that I finally try it — many years later. At the time, in the midst of my vindaloo kohjana, I would typically order lamb or chicken vindaloo on my first visit to nearly every restaurant and request that the chef make the dish really, really hot for me. Often, the dish would arrive at the table a notch or two hotter than normal. One night I put India Restaurant to the test. And this time, they obliged. It was hot. Very hot, as a matter of fact. Alas, there was a certain balance missing from it, and overall it was not nearly as good as the one extra-fiery version I had sampled across the river at Kebab and Kurry, which had rang all the right bells and still stands as my favorite restaurant vindaloo to date!

So why is India Restaurant such a big deal for me? Maybe because it was my introduction to vindaloo? Or they were the first Indian restaurant I had eaten at? Most likely it’s because I thought their food was better, more distinctive, and more flavorful than other area restaurants. I know that I kept returning for more. They were high on my list of favorites for a long, long time.

1. Rob Mirman, “State’s Original Indian cuisine is in Davis Sq.”, The Tufts Daily, March 5, 1993, 3 [Tufts Archive]
2. Anthony Spinazzola, “Fine Restaurants for All Pocketbooks”, Boston Globe, September 22, 1972, 47 [Boston Public Library]
3. Chris Barhorst, “Exotic Easter Aromas Envelope Cambridge”, The Tufts Observer, January 25, 1984, 22 [Tufts Archive]
4. Marya Dantzer-Rosenthal, “A Taste of India”, Boston Globe, August 5, 1985, A1 [Boston Public Library]
5. Vicki White, “N. Cambridge Liquor Cap Eyed”, Cambridge Chronicle, February 20, 1986
6. Ann Malaspina, “Davis Square’s Return to Glory”, Boston Globe, October 1, 1986, A8 [Boston Public Library]
7. Dan Kaplan, “Cambridge’s India Restaurant Comes to Davis”, The Tufts Daily, September 17, 1986, 8 [Tufts Archive]
8. Sheila Sweeney, “Adding Spice to Davis Square”, The Tufts Daily, W3–W4 [Tufts Archive]
9. Ibid
10. Rob Mirman, “State’s Original Indian cuisine is in Davis Sq.”, The Tufts Daily, March 5, 1993, 3 [Tufts Archive]