IN-PERSON EVENT at Essex Market Teaching Kitchen
SOLD OUT
Join Chef Chintan Pandya (Dhamaka, Adda, & Radi) and Vishwesh Bhatt, chef of Snackbar in Oxford, Mississippi, and author of ‘I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef’, for a conversation around bold blends of spices, culture and heritage.
Chef Vishwesh Bhatt hails from the Indian state of Gujarat but has lived in Oxford, Mississippi, for more than two decades. As he notes in the introduction, “I want people to see me as I see myself: an immigrant, a son of immigrants, who chose to make the South his home, and in doing so became a Southern chef.” Bhatt’s food draws from his Indian heritage and is unpretentious, inventive, and incredibly delicious. Bhatt vividly recounts the special meals cooked by his mother and grandmothers and presents them alongside dishes he’s shared with friends, colleagues, and family across the decades. I Am From Here makes an elegant, delicious case that a more expansive, inclusive South is a more delicious South—for everyone.
Your ticket includes a glass of wine and a tasting of small bites from Dhamaka.
Copies of I AM FROM HERE: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef by Vishwesh Bhatt are available from our partner bookstore, Kitchen Arts & Letters for purchase online with your ticket or separately at the event. If you order a book with your ticket, you will be able to retrieve it for signing at the event.
This is an in-person event. Tickets must be purchased online in advance. Tickets will not be available for purchase at the door.
You must show photo ID and proof of COVID vaccine to attend this event.
Photo by Angie Mosier
VISHWESH BHATT
Vishwesh Bhatt has been the executive chef of Snackbar in Oxford, Mississippi since 2009, earning him Best Chef: South (2019 James Beard Awards) and induction into the Fellowship of Southern Farmers, Artisans, and Chefs in 2022. His food draws from his Indian heritage and is unpretentious, inventive, and incredibly delicious.He was named Best Chef of the South by the James Beard Foundation in 2019.
CHINTAN PANDYA
Born in Mumbai, Chintan became interested in the culinary world at a young age.
Eventually Chintan left India for bigger opportunities. It was in New York that Chintan joined the Michelin-starred Junoon for a brief stint before he met restaurateur Roni Mazumdar in 2017 and became the chef at the modern and upscale Rahi, followed by Adda Indian Canteen for which Chintan was the winner of the 2019 StarChefs New York Rising Star. In 2021 the duo opened Dhamaka, for which Chintan won The James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef New York State. The first win in this category for an Indian chef. Dhamaka was also named the #1 restaurant of the year by The New York Times, Esquire Magazine, and one of the top 50 restaurants in the country by The New York Times. Dhamaka was also nominated for the James Beard Foundation “Best New Restaurant of 2021” award.
Chef Pandya’s mission is to push the boundaries of what Indian food means in America. He continues to break new ground on an under-appreciated but phenomenal cuisine.
Essex Market is New York City’s most historic public market. Our mission is to foster small business, and to serve the community with fresh and high quality food & services.
Chef and Partner Chintan Pandya and restaurateur Roni Mazumdar are bringing Dhamaka, a new “Unapologetic Indian” restaurant serving provincial Indian cuisine to the new Essex Market.
Kitchen Arts & Letters is a bookstore devoted to food and drink, with titles imported from around the world. They emphasize works on food culture and innovation.