At just 27 years of age, Rasika Venkatesa has already put herself in position to plan her first restaurant. Currently serving a tasting menu in her residency at Fulgrances Laundromat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, (though March 1, 2025), Rasika attended hotel management school in India, worked her way up from commis to chef de partie at The French Laundry, and attained the position of chef de cuisine at Mourad in San Francisco. (As if that weren't enough, she also recently competed on Top Chef.) After relocating to New York City in 2024, Rasika is currently planning a brick-and-mortar incarnation of her pop-up Mythily (named for her grandmother and North Star). The restaurant, like the pop-up, will offer a personal and progressive take on Southern Indian cuisine (specifically the food of Tamil Nadu), and Rasika is refining dishes and menus in her current residency. Rasika discusses all of this and more in this deeply personal and open conversation.
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Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.
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