Ruby Murray's Launches Indian Takeout Kitchen in Sag Harbor

Ruby Murray’s has ghosted the ghost kitchen and opened for business at a new storefront location just off Division Street in Sag Harbor, which is good news for fans hoping that the viral British-Indian culinary hit would find a more permanent home in the Hamptons.

Ryan Glasson, the operations manager and co-owner along with Ed Brooks, said that debuting their reservation-based takeout concept in the dead of last winter helped them establish whether they could build up the off-season market for their food start-up.

“I said that launching in January, we were going to see if we got something or not,” says Glasson. “After about two weeks … we knew we had something.”

However, the arrangement they had using the kitchen at Wishbone Farms in Southampton as a commissary — or ghost kitchen — came to an end. They looked around for similar ways to use an already existing commercial kitchen to make and dispense food, while subsidizing rent during its off-hours, but found little interest. “For most it was just too hectic,” Glasson says.

The way a lot of things happen in the Hamptons, Glasson kept driving by a “For Rent” sign on a retail property on Division Street in Sag Harbor, across from the police station. A small space with low visibility, he figured he might have a “nibble” at negotiating a good lease for Ruby Murray’s kitchen in what had been previously home to a coffee shop and a bookstore. Glasson and Brooks signed the lease in May and opened Memorial Day weekend.

According to Brooks, moving their operations to centrally-located Sag Harbor is part of a larger plan to grow the Ruby Murray’s brand.

“Being out here is fantastic. You’re getting in front of an audience with money that’s going back to the city. It’s double-edged,” says Brooks, who lives year-round in Southampton. “We’re very focused on providing something different that’s not here at the moment for the year-rounders, that’s in our DNA. We’re very focused on the local community. But we’ve got a brand that travels, so the next part is to get into the city.”

The first few weeks of operation have shown Glasson and Brooks a little of what they were missing without a flagship location. “You don’t get the human interaction with a commissary kitchen,” Glasson says. “Now we have our own spot, and people can see us and see what we’re doing. It’s not such a mystery.”

Passersby to the Sag Harbor location, curious about the new retail look in this tucked-away shopping alcove, were poking their heads through the door. What they saw amounts to an operational kiosk in front of a small, commercial kitchen, a group of busy cooks, and Glasson in his chef’s whites, busily running what is a tight little operation among the steaming rice cooker and baking sheets crammed with chickpeas. One visitor, investigating the menu tablet, said he was “excited” to see Ruby Murray’s in the village, and called it his favorite new place.

Back in January, when Ruby Murray’s began marketing their takeout service, Hamptons residents would find them on Instagram or YouTube and ask Glasson, “Is this some sort of scam?” Now, in their new digs, there are a few places to sit, but Ruby Murray’s is still built around reservation-based takeout. They only make a certain amount of food each day and — for the sake of quality control — when it runs out, it runs out.

The menu at Ruby Murray’s is Anglo-Indian, meaning it is not the same Indian food that you would find cooked at home on the sub-continent. It doesn’t pretend to be. This style of Indian cooking has its root in British colonialism and has maintained an almost cult popularity among citizens of the United Kingdom. For many Brits — like Brooks, who’s from Scotland — it is fairly common to have Indian takeout in the neighborhood. Missing this childhood staple in the Hamptons — and seeing a post-pandemic market in the area for people who wanted good takeout that wasn’t the “same old, same old” — was indeed the inspiration behind the concept.

The difference with British-Indian cuisine lies mainly in the spice profile. Glasson said that regional Indian food had too much flavor and heat for British palates, so enterprising Indian chefs found a way to make their food more accessible; they discovered that adding “some tomatoes and cream” made it increasingly more popular to westerners.

Many authentic Indian dishes also feature a range of whole spices and regional varieties, while Anglo-Indian, or British-Indian, is known to have a tomato-gravy underpinning that provides its mass appeal to tastebuds across the world.

With the Hamptons thinking more year-round now, part of Ruby Murray’s strategy is to make themselves a weekly, year-round ordering option in local households. Among the most popular dishes on the menu so far are classics like tikka masala, butter chicken and chicken korma. There’s also an array of chutneys — now being sold in jars — and typical Indian staples like samosas and naan. Glasson says he will probably add curry bowls and naan wraps to the menu soon.

While most orders now come through DoorDash and ChowNow, you can order on their website, too, or in person. Ruby Murray’s can deliver to any location in the Hamptons.

Ruby Murray’s is located at 51 Division Street, Sag Harbor. Visit rubymurrays.world for more info.