October 12, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Online Editor Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2006 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of One |
A smorgasbord of delicious contradictions Greater India’s
food is the greatest; owner unique
Gale Schrader, 52, has a license to thrill. Her six-year-old BYOB restaurant, Greater India, next to the Hollywood Video store in the Assi Plaza on Route 63 in North Wales (about 20 minutes from Chestnut Hill) is a triumph of mind over platter. Although it has lasted far longer than anyone would have a right to expect, Greater India still has lots more juice left in its caboose. Greater India is unique and quirk-alicious. It is the only Indian restaurant in the Delaware Valley that is owned by a non-Indian; and not only is Gale Schrader not from India, but she admittedly “does not like to cook,” knew virtually nothing about Indian food and culture prior to Greater India and had no previous experience in the restaurant business. Why on earth would such a neophyte, previously a stay-at-home mom, undertake a kamikaze enterprise in a merciless industry with a stratospheric failure rate? It’s like capturing thunder in a thimble. “I believe in destiny,” replied Gale, who is just 5-foot-2 and almost thin enough to fit between the posts in a white picket fence. “When I went to Career Day at Bishop Kendrick High School many years ago, I decided I wanted to be an airline hostess, but then I had my first child at age 20, so that was the end of my plans to be an airline hostess. “But now that my children (Elizabeth Miller, 29, who lives in Taiwan, and Charles Miller, 32, who lives in Schwenksville) are grown up and on their own, this restaurant is my airliner. It’s a long, narrow room, and I get to walk up and down and talk to everyone, which I love to do. I get to wear beautiful outfits and respond to what people want. People all want to talk to me because I am obviously not Indian, and just like an airliner, the people are all ages, backgrounds and ethnic groups, which I love. And I hate to cook, which is another reason I wanted my own restaurant. This way a great chef makes all my meals for me.”
But Gale could have opened a restaurant serving American food or Italian food (her grandmother was Italian), so why Indian? The answer goes back to a time 10 years ago when she befriended Indian employees at a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in Harleysville, near her home and where she would stop in for her morning caffeine fix. The Indian workers brought in home cooking for Gale to taste. It was her first exposure to Indian food, and she loved the variety of exotic spices. She then began visiting the homes of her new friends and attending their festivals, dressed in traditional, colorful Indian outfits. “I fell in love with the food, the culture and the hospitality of the Indian people,” she explained. Thus, when Gale decided to open her own restaurant in 2000, she plunged into the cross-cultural currents that have swallowed up many previous adventurers, even some of those with extensive restaurant experience. Gale and her husband, David, 67, owner of Schrader’s BP (formerly Amoco) gas station in Collegeville, invested $122,000 in the restaurant at first, but that was far from the end of the financial explosion. “It was heck building this place,” she insisted. “You think you get over one hurdle, and then there’s another one that hits you in the face. For example, not too long ago the hot water heater burst; when I came in to work, there was water all over the place, and I didn’t even know how to turn it off ... “And there are still many men who have no respect for women in business. A driver will park his big Pepsi truck right out front while making a delivery to another store. I’ll ask him politely to move the truck. He’ll say, ‘Yeah, lady, I’ll move it’ and then doesn’t move it. This happens regularly. And then there have been the workers who are not used to having a woman as a boss, which is even more difficult when you do not speak each other’s language ... And last Christmas I was rear-ended by a drunk driver who was taken away in handcuffs. She was two-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit. Since then I can’t lift anything over 25 pounds.” Gale’s blowtorch dedication to her “third child” is undaunted, however. Her restaurant is beautiful, from the flowing fountain in front to the linen-topped tables and Oriental carpets and spotless, aromatic restrooms, replete with diverting reading materials and recorded sounds of birds chirping. The chefs at Greater India are all Indian, and the affable servers are from Nepal. Lunch and dinner (including the popular lunch buffet) are served every day except Monday, 52 weeks a year. “I haven’t had a vacation in six years,” said Gale, who rides a bicycle to work (nine miles) every day except when there is snow or ice on the ground. Except for Mondays, she eats every one of her meals in the restaurant. Apparently some customers would like to do the same. “I can’t get enough of Greater India,” said Raymond Tumarkin, of Chestnut Hill, who brought the restaurant to this writer’s attention. And he is just one of many fans. A blogger left a message on the citysearch web site in mid-August, calling Greater India “the best-kept secret in Montgomery County,” adding that “over the course of six years, I’ve tried out all the Indian restaurants I’m aware of within a 10-mile radius of the Montgomeryville Mall and many others farther afield in Philadelphia and even California. “I keep coming back to Greater India. The food is incredible, and the sauces are thick and flavorful ... There’s a lunch buffet with easily twice the variety and three times the quality of other establishments, and it costs only $8.95, weekends included! ... The owner is very friendly and is obsessed with maintaining a top-notch presentation ... I know of no other restaurant, Indian or otherwise, that I would rate as a 10, but I would give a 10 to Greater India.” (For those who feel the lunch buffet has too much tempting food, there is a Jenny Craig outlet just a few doors away from Greater India.) Three of us sampled several items at Great India last Thursday, and there wasn’t a joker in the deck. (The spiciness and heat are adjusted to order, from mild all the way to 9-1-1.) Our favorite dishes were the sublime stuffed bread basket ($7.95); bhukari jheenga, shrimp cooked in ground tomatoes with a touch of cream and spices ($6.95); lobster lajawab, lobster cooked with onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic and served in a glorious, creamy sauce ($17.95); tandoori prawns, jumbo shrimp marinated in yogurt, lime juice, ginger and garlic, then barbecued in a clay oven ($15.95); and gulab-jaman ($2.95), a traditional dessert of soft dough balls served hot with honey gravy. Many desserts are made without preservatives by a Bethlehem company, Nuts About Ice Cream. There are many vegetarian options offered at the Indian BYOB, and almost everything on the menu is gluten-free. Some regular customers appreciate more than just the great food and atmosphere at Greater India. For example, in a recent sermon, the Rev. Dan Krewson, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Doylestown, who said from the pulpit that he was a regular customer at Greater India, praised Gale Schrader for creating her labor of love out of the merger of different cultures and sensibilities. Greater India also does extensive catering for private parties and other affairs. About 25 percent of their business is takeout. For more information, call 215-412-3690 or visit www.greaterindiafinedining.com. Len Lear can be contacted at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com. |
