Alum’s Indian Eatery Serves Up Culture, Comfort, and Crunchwraps

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Mouleena Khan ’12 launched Brooklyn’s Bengali-style Cheeni—and gained fame when the New York Times documented the process

By Joe Wilensky

While thousands of hopeful restaurateurs open eateries in NYC every year, few have ever had those efforts scrupulously documented by a major media outlet.

But in October 2025, the New York Times took a deep dive into a venture by Mouleena Khan ’12, whose process of envisioning, creating, and launching Brooklyn’s Indian-inspired Cheeni it showcased in a multimedia feature headlined, “Opening a Restaurant in New York is No Picnic. Here’s What It Takes.”

“We sought out the underdog, a first-timer risking it all to pursue the dream,” the Times explained. “Someone who had never recruited investors, landed a liquor license, or scaled up a recipe for hundreds of diners.”

Cheeni represents a career switch for Khan, an engineering alum who’d long worked in healthcare operations.

We sought out the underdog, a first-timer risking it all to pursue the dream.

The New York Times

The article followed her for nearly a year as she partnered with a chef, gathered investors, found a space in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, navigated municipal red tape, and much more.

Opened in July 2025, the café draws on Khan’s Bengali heritage, Indian home cooking, and favorite street snacks.

But the menu also includes Asian influences and some very American touches—like a masala egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwich and a “crunchwrap” inspired by a popular offering at Taco Bell.

“Cheeni is that rare spot you can’t neatly label,” says one Yelp reviewer. “Part café, part bar, part restaurant, and somehow perfect for pretty much any time you want to eat or drink.”

Khan majored in operations research and information engineering on the Hill, with a minor in dance.

After graduation, she worked for the professional services giant Deloitte, earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, and held positions on the business side of healthcare.

But she was unhappy, and took time off to think about her next steps.

Cheeni is that rare spot you can’t neatly label—part café, part bar, part restaurant, and somehow perfect for pretty much any time you want to eat or drink.

A five-star review on Yelp

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Chatting with a friend who was running a coffee shop in their Bed-Stuy neighborhood, they half joked about starting some sort of restaurant together.

“I didn’t have any experience in hospitality—so who else would work with me, other than a friend?” Khan recalls with a laugh. “We decided to go for it.”

The reporting process entailed regular visits from the writer and photographer, documenting every step of Cheeni’s development—including choosing its location, in the first-floor commercial space of a building that had just been built.

“We were excited about this being new construction, since it felt like there wouldn’t be as many problems—but new construction does not mean no problems,” says Khan, who dealt with issues like installing plumbing and a kitchen exhaust system.

I didn’t have any experience in hospitality—so who else would work with me, other than a friend?

Khan’s boyfriend and her business partner’s husband did most of the painting and built the tables, bar, and interior walls; much of the décor and art was sourced from vintage shops.

The cushions for the bench seats were upholstered with fabric from Khan’s mother’s old saris, and the partners made several visits to Khan’s parents in Pennsylvania to learn family recipes.

Khan also credits some fellow alums with helping get Cheeni off the ground.

Sister Alisha Khan ’16 aided with décor; Jessica Lopez ’12, volunteered as a server for the first few weeks; Kim Murphy ’12 offered PR and planning strategy; and Ishaan Berry ’12, BS ’13, helped refine the cuisine and suggested the name, which means “sugar” in Bengali and Hindi.

Cheeni’s most popular menu items include vada pav (a fried, spicy potato patty on a bun), phuchka (spicy potatoes in a crisp semolina shell), and the kati roll crunchwrap (ground tandoori chicken and veggies with cheese and a special sauce).

Friend Ishaan Berry ’12, BS ’13, suggested the eatery's name, which means “sugar” in Bengali and Hindi.

Khan has recently introduced some regular events, including a monthly multicourse dinner with wine pairings, South Asian-themed trivia contests, and “drink and dance” nights with guest DJs.

The Times article certainly boosted the restaurant’s traffic (as well as its Instagram followers), Khan says—though it’s difficult to quantify how much.

“We definitely have regulars who are just folks in the neighborhood,” she says. “A lot of them said, ‘Oh, we read the New York Times article—but we were coming anyway.’”

Top: Khan at Cheeni (Joe Wilensky / Cornell University). Food photography by Eivind Sundgot Oskarson; all other images provided, unless otherwise indicated.

Published March 3, 2026

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