HELL'S KITCHEN — Shom Chowdhury used to be a juice man. But now, he’s sipping on broth.
The athletic founder of Indie Fresh, a new cafe in Gotham West Market on 11th Avenue, relies on liquid protein and vegetables to fuel his workouts. He’s on an all-soup diet, eating and drinking solely the offerings of his new shop, such as mushroom dashi broth, butternut squash chicken soup and bison borsht.
Chowdhury said he and IndieFresh chef Akhtar Nawab, formerly of La Esquina, have been buddies for a decade and work out together.
“I noticed that just juicing alone wasn’t really giving people the nutrition they needed,” said Chowdhury, 40, the former COO of JuicePress and a Chelsea resident.
He turned to soup made with lean protein instead.
“I like the perfect delivery of liquid in a bottle,” he said.
Chowdhury and Nawab’s broths and soups are all-natural and gluten and dairy free, he said. The bison used for the borscht cooks for 16 hours, including the time it takes to make a homemade stock, Chowdhury said. He said the borscht impressed his skeptical Russian in-laws.
On Wednesday, Bill Brooks, 34, of Bed-Stuy, took a to-go cup of beef pho broth to sip because, he said, he was feeling a bit under the weather.
“This is my coffee for the next few hours,” he said.
Brooks said broth was hearty yet light. “It’s meaty, unctuous, it’s got some viscosity to it but it’s not like a heavy dish,” he said. “It’s not like eating a side of beef short ribs.”
A glass jar of Indie Fresh’s broth, also in flavors such as ginger chicken and smoked vegetable, costs $9, and soups like cod chowder, broccoli coconut and hemp curry and others run from $9 to $10.
