Bombay Kitchen to move cooking operations out of Port Washington North

Bombay Kitchen, a commercial Indian-food processor that's faced public pressure from Port Washington North residents over odors emanating from its building, will move part of its operations after village officials blocked it from cooking food products there.  

The village board last month extended the processor's conditional-use permit for six months on the grounds that it make only yogurt-based products, which do not create the same smell. Bombay Kitchen has operated at the location for about seven years.

Michael Sahn, Bombay Kitchen's Uniondale-based attorney, said the processor notified the village in December of its plans to move and is currently scouting locations in New York and New Jersey. Sahn did not respond to a question about how many workers are employed at the processor. 

"It's a win for the community," Mayor Robert Weitzner said. "This spring will be the first in a few where people can open their windows, and go … in their backyards, and not worry about some odors that are making it difficult. We're happy about that. It's a shame it took so long."

The smell had been coming from falafel-based food products, Sahn said. 

Since 2019, Bombay Kitchen has operated out of the village's light-industrial zone, abutting a residential district. It needed to apply for a conditional-use permit every year because commercial food processing is not a permitted use in the zone, which runs along Channel Drive up to Shore Road.

There are no other commercial food processors in the village's industrial zone, Weitzner told Newsday last year.

The processor installed a scrubber system last fall meant to filter the odor, but efforts were unsuccessful, Weitzner said.

Sahn said Bombay Kitchen owner Sanjiv Mody decided relocating the cooking operation would be "for the best interest of their business."

"They decided they're better off moving that part of the business to a larger location," Sahn said. Mody could not be reached for comment. 

Bombay Kitchen will rent out that part of the facility to a "noncooking" business with an accepted use for the zone, such as storage facilities, research laboratories and offices, Sahn said.

The processor is optimistic it will receive a longer permit to continue producing yogurt-based products after the six-month permit expires in September.

In the meantime, the village's building department has "the right to enter the Premises during any hours of operation to inspect for compliance with all conditions," according to the resolution, which was adopted March 10.

"There shall be no cooking, frying or other preparation of food products that involves the application of heat from any source," the resolution reads.

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.