This propelled him to want to restore Rasa’s original vision, the one derailed by the Michelin attention, as a welcoming place to eat high-quality but not overly pretentious Indian food. He’s let go of many external pressures (he now sometimes wears jeans and a sweatshirt at Rasa, when before he would never have stepped onto the floor without a fancy suit). Walia decided it was time to focus on more approachable food - a shift many upscale restaurants have made in the wake of the pandemic, including Palo Alto’s Baumé, whose chef also had a complicated relationship with the Michelin star.Īnother catalyst for the change: Walia’s self-reflection as the world shut down. The dark dining room, once decorated with the restaurant’s Michelin plaque, will get a drastic makeover with a lighter midcentury-modern look, fewer seats and new dishware.Īs a higher-end restaurant that had never served takeout, Rasa struggled during the pandemic, far more so than Saffron.
RASA BURLINGAME PLUS
The menu will expand to include both North and South Indian dishes, plus desserts courtesy of popular Indian ice cream company Koolfi Creamery and “Milk & Cardamom” cookbook author Hetal Vasavada.
Instead of dosas drizzled in truffle oil and $35 goat curry, the new restaurant will serve Saffron’s popular General Tso-flavored fried cauliflower. In a few weeks, he’ll reopen the space at 209 Park Road as a second location of Saffron, his older, more casual Indian restaurant in San Carlos. That’s why after eight years, Walia has decided to close Rasa on Sunday, May 8.
“Our focus changed from doing what we were doing to maintaining what we gained,” he said.
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