Chef Chintan Pandya has transformed the perception of Indian cuisine in America through the award-winning restaurant group, Unapologetic Foods. Through concepts such as Dhamaka, Adda, Semma, and Rowdy Rooster, the team has demonstrated how authenticity, cultural storytelling, operational excellence, and entrepreneurial vision can create some of the most celebrated restaurants in the country. Chef Chintan will join Barry Tonkinson, Senior VP of The Institute of Culinary Education, to discuss Unapologetic Foods’ journey, lessons learned, and insights into building a successful restaurant group in one of the world’s most competitive dining markets.

Chintan Pandya

Executive Chef / Partner, Unapologetic Foods

James Beard Award-winning Chef Chintan Pandya was born in Mumbai and became interested in the culinary world at a young age. When able, he enrolled in one of the most prestigious culinary schools in India, the Oberoi Centre of Learning & Development, where he trained under the finest chefs from Oberoi Hotels. His professional career began at a hotel restaurant in Mumbai, where he spent eight years in the kitchen learning traditional Indian cuisine and techniques. During this time, Chintan traveled throughout the subcontinent of India to develop a deeper connection and understanding of the way locals ate and always had a desire to share that with the rest of the world.

Eventually, Chintan left India for bigger opportunities. His culinary career took him to an extremely diverse set of locales including Singapore, Cleveland, Atlanta, and finally New York. It was in New York that Chintan joined the popular Indian restaurant 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 named the 2019 StarChefs New York Rising Star Chef. Within a year, Adda was named in Food & Wine Magazine’s “Top Ten Best New Restaurants 2019”, Eater National’s Best New Restaurants 2019″ and Bon Appetit’s “Top 50 Best New Restaurants of 2019”.

In 2021, he and Mazumdar opened Dhamaka, a restaurant serving food from “the forgotten side of India.” Dhamaka was met with worldwide acclaim for its unapologetic approach to Indian cuisine that offers diners a glimpse into the home kitchens of people from the villages of India. The New York Times and Esquire chose Dhamaka as the #1 restaurant of 2021, Time Out named Dhamaka as one of the “21 Best New Restaurants in the World Right Now”, and The New York Times touted it as one of the 50 best restaurants in the Country. In addition, Dhamaka was nominated for James Beard Foundation Awards: “Best New Restaurant of 2021”, and “Best Chef New York State”, this is the first time in James Beard award history that an Indian restaurant has been nominated in the category, only the second time a chef of Indian descent was nominated, and Chintan has the distinction of being the first Indian chef to win this prestigious award.

Furthermore, in 2022, Chintan and Roni opened the fast casual Rowdy Rooster serving Indian Fried Chicken, touting India’s history of frying the bird Americans love. This resulted in another rave review from The New York Times, and Food & Wine Magazine named the pair as one of 16 people and companies changing the way we eat and drink in 2022, and Masalawala & Sons located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Masalawala & Sons is a homage to the foods of Kolkata, and dishes encountered by Roni’s father Satyen Mazumdar as he traveled through India. They also opened Kebabwala, celebrating India’s long tradition of fresh and flavorful kebabs. In 2023, the pair veered from Indian cuisine to open Naks, an unapologetic Filipino restaurant with their longtime employee Eric Valdez. This success was followed up with Sanwits, a sandwich shop putting Filipino homestyle dishes between bread.

2025 brought a reimagined Adda to Manhattan’s East Village, where Chef Chintan designed an interactive dining experience to bring diners the energy and excitement of India’s food markets. His “butter chicken experience” reclaimed this as India’s national dish and went “viral,” bringing the group more worldwide acclaim.

Chintan has also taken cuisine to the next level by partnering with artist Mattia Casalegno on Aerobanquets RMX, a virtual reality experience that combines food and fantasy, which took place at the James Beard House and continues to tour the globe.

In addition to numerous interviews, Eater named Roni and Chintan as part of their New Guards of New York Dining, which explored the state of power and influence in the New York City dining scene; Bloomberg BusinessWeek named them as one of the People that

Defined Global Business in 2021 and recognized in the top ten on Observer’s annual Dining and Nightlife Power List. A semi-regular on Beat Bobby Flay, Chintan has also been seen on NBC Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, and Good Day New York among other television appearances, and recently led a lecture at Harvard University on textures and the elasticity of Indian food.

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.

Time: 12:00 pm EDT

Free!

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