Rasa is an Indian restaurant in Burlingame, California, United States, owned by Ajay Walia and his wife Reena Miglani. It opened in 2014 and the following year, under chef Vijay Kumar became the first Indian restaurant in California to be awarded a

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

. In 2022 it closed and became a branch of the owners' casual restaurant, Saffron. It reopened in 2024, with Walia as executive chef.

History

With his wife Reena Miglani, Ajay Walia opened Rasa in October 2014 in a space formerly occupied by an Indian bistro, with the objective of making Indian cuisine, particularly

South Indian cuisine South Indian cuisine includes the cuisines of the five South India, southern states of India—Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana—and the union territories of Lakshadweep, and Puducherry (union territory), Pondicherr ...

, a fine dining option in the

San Francisco Bay area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. In October 2015, under chef Vijay Kumar, the restaurant won a

, the first Indian restaurant in California to do so. In 2016 the restaurant critic for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' called it "clearly the best Indian restaurant I have found in the Bay Area." Kumar left Rasa in 2021 and moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he became head chef at

Semma ''Semma'' ( Awesome) is a 2018 Indian Tamil language action comedy film directed by Vallikanth and written by Pandiraj. The film stars G. V. Prakash Kumar and Arthana Binu, while Yogi Babu and Mansoor Ali Khan (actor), Mansoor Ali Khan, among ...

. In May 2022, after

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

restrictions on indoor dining made it difficult to operate a fine dining restaurant, and after reevaluating the pressure of retaining the Michelin star, Walia and Miglani closed Rasa and made it a branch of Saffron, their casual Indian restaurant in San Carlos, opened in 2003, which serves both North and South Indian food. Rasa reopened on October 15, 2024.

Restaurant

Rasa occupies the first floor and mezzanine of 209 Park Road in Burlingame. Originally it served primarily

; for the reopening, the menu has been updated to be more broadly contemporary Indian with emphasis on seasonal ingredients. The dining room was predominantly black with color accents based on spices; after its redecoration as Saffron, the decor became lighter, using white with oak wood, and it has retained wallpaper and is now more brightly colored.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
2014 establishments in California Restaurants established in 2014 Asian restaurants in California Indian restaurants in the United States Burlingame, California

History

Restaurant

See also

References

External links