MANILA, Philippines - Who is the Indian-American chef who was named by Mario Batali as one of the world’s emerging chef talents, and whose La Esquina Restaurant is considered one of New York City’s can’t miss dining destination?
Raised in Louisville, KY, he grew up on his mother’s traditional Indian meals. This taught him that cooking played an important role in upholding his family’s heritage. Rolling out homemade bread was a kitchen chore he considers an inspiration for pursuing a career in the culinary arts.
Before enrolling at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, he studied at the University of Louisville while working in local kitchens.
After graduation, he spent two years in San Francisco spending time in kitchens like Bizou, Jardineire, and La Folie. Loretta Keller, chef and owner of Bizou, would become an inspiration, exposing him to the local and seasonal green market movement firsthand. These lessons are seen on his menus today, through the role of high-quality, fresh ingredients.
In 1998, he moved to New York to work with Tom Colicchio at Gramercy Tavern. It was there that he learned kitchen management and business skills.
In 2001, he became a sous chef at Craft, and a year later he moved to Craftbar as the executive chef in EU, a gastropub named for the European Union in 2007. The menu was an approximate mix of classic pub fare from Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, serving tapas alongside antipasti.
Frank Bruni of the New York Times recognized his cuisine as having “frequently clever touches†and New York Magazine named his duck egg one of the top best egg dishes in the city.
In 2003, he left the EU to open Elettaria, acting as both chef and co-owner of the Greenwich Village restaurant. Turning to his Indian ancestry for inspiration, the menu is a new direction for the chef, focusing on creative and innovative dishes filled with spices like cardamom, coriander, cumin, and turmeric.
Elettraria is the Latin word for green cardamom, a nod to his heritage, while staying true to his less-is-more style of cooking. The restaurant earned a loyal following.
He joined La Esquina as executive chef in 2010, adding his personal touch and direction to the restaurant’s Mexican-inspired cuisine, crafting innovative new dishes for the menu as well as implementing a farm-to-table approach to ingredient sourcing. With these new elements, he has elevated the restaurant’s culinary program, creating a fresh new menu approach to establish it as a can’t miss New York City dining destination.
He has received various top accolades during his tenure in the industry, including the 2007 StarChefs.com NYC Rising Star Chef award as well as being named one of the top ten emerging talents in the US by Mario Batali in Coco: 10 of the World’s Greatest Chefs, 100 culinary stars. In 2009, he appeared in the Food Network’s Iron Chef America.
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Last week’s question:
Who is the 20th century British architect known for his buildings in Britain, Africa, and India?
Answer: Maxwell Fry
Winner: Girlie Villaceran of Pasig City
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