By Anthony O’Reilly
For Nick Yadav, a restaurant serving organic food is not enough.
It also has to be, Yadav said, “eco-friendly.”
Yadav, a resident of Dix Hills, said that is the concept behind Burger Village at 66 Middle Neck Road, a recently opened restaurant of which he is co-owner.
“The consumer definitely wants to go organic, but there are very few [restaurants] in number. The demand is very high but the supply is very low,” he said.
Yadav has been in the food and dining business for more than 15 years, but recently wanted to take a venture into organic food.
Besides the organic food, which includes lean-meat, organic cheeses, beer, wine, vodka and gluten-free bread options, everything in the restaurant is “eco-friendly,” he said.
The straws are made with a special type of plant instead of plastic and take-out containers are made with cane sugar; even the wood is a type of organic, having been reclaimed, Yadav said.
“It took me a while to find all of my suppliers,” he said.
Located just a few steps away from a Bareburger, a restaurant chain that offers organic burgers and other food items,Yadav said he’s not worried about the competition.
“The consumers now have another option. If you only have one thing and that’s what’s put in front of you, of course you’re going to say that’s the best,” he said.
“I’m not here to say one is better than the other. I want to hear that from the customers,” Yadav said.
The decision to go into Great Neck, as opposed to anywhere else in Long Island, was due to the “socio-economic,” culture of the village, Yadav said.
“For organic food, we have to go into the right demographic. You’re not going to go into a poorer village and offer them organic food because they can’t afford it,” Yadav said.
Besides burgers, the menu also offers salads and vegetarian options.
Burger Village opened about three weeks ago, Yadav said, and the reception so far has been “very good.”
