“The naan didn’t taste like naan.”  –> That’s because we don’t serve naan. We serve roti.

“Why are they serving Mexican black beans?”  –> We don’t serve black beans. We serve black lentils (daal).  There are dozens of different types of lentils.

“Why are there white people serving us Indian food?” —> We live in the United States of America!

And my favourite most hated comment: “It’s Americanized Indian food.”  –> It’s homestyle Indian food, different to what people may have tried before.

1 – How cute were they?

2 – How funny were they?

3 – How cheap (with their tip)?

4 – How clean (did they buss their table)?

5 – How polite?

I myself am somewhat obsessed by Kingfisher because they do a couple of things REALLY well:

• Despite serious competition from foreign brands, they dominate in beer sales in India.
• As though that weren’t enough, they operate Kingfisher Airlines. Only in India can you get away with flying a plane (a really cool one at that!) with the very same name as the alcohol you bottle.  They have the highest market share among Indian airlines and have been given a five star rating by Skytrax. (Only five other airlines have this award, including Cathay Pacific and Singapore Air.)
• And then, last of all, they have the very very cool Kingfisher Calendar. I may not be politically correct here in enjoying this calendar but they get the absolute hottest gorgeous Indian female models, take them to beautiful exotic locations, put them in swimsuits and using their best photographers create a stunning calendar!

Getting hold of a hard copy of this calendar is very difficult here in the U.S. For now, all I have for you is the link, but Cousin Kiwi is working on getting hard copies for me from India.  I’m not entirely sure why I REALLY want one. Maybe it’s because a few of my male cousins, friends and lesbian friends would love me forever if I gifted them one, or maybe I could start a side business of selling Kingfisher calendars to other obsessed persons..  Either way, if he gets me some, we’ll have some fun contests and give them out as prizes at Kasa.

Take care and enjoy!

Anamika

When we meet other small business owners, there is a definite and instant camaraderie, an unspoken understanding that we belong to the same club.  No matter our product or service, our shared painful, exhausting, rewarding and sometimes humiliating experiences bond us together (even if we mercilessly compete with each other).

Acquaintances often ask us to share our experience of running a restaurant as they consider embarking on their own dream venture, so this post is for those brave souls.  I will say that Tim, Suresh and I are still seriously in learning mode even after 2 years, but so far this is a collection of what I’ve learned.

If you’re confident about your food and can raise enough money to get started, then you’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg. Thereafter, no matter how much preparation and due diligence you’ve done, chaos will ensue.  This is some of what we have been dealing with:

• Smelling of Chicken Tikka ALL the time
• Not seeing your children and family for days at a time (no exaggeration)
• Being self critical to an extreme and disciplining yourself with an iron fist
• Scrubbing things clean for hours
• Lifting stuff so heavy, you permanently have shoulder or wrist aches
• Controlling your emotions, not showing how upset or angry you are
• Stopping yourself from stalking and throttling an ignorant yelper (although mostly people LOVE US ON YELP, and we LOVE them…   :)
• Paying attention to mind numbingly boring details
• Thinking, eating, sleeping and dreaming your restaurant
• Listening to everyone on your staff’s issues and dealing with them
• Going wherever necessary with your menu to shamelessly promote your restaurant
• Making mistakes and moving on optimistically
• Learning Spanish at 10pm at night after a long day at work
• Watching your friends have a social life on the weekends without you since it’s your busiest work time
• Trusting your instincts and confidently hiring (and firing) people
• Forgetting about privacy – your phone is on 24/7
• Having unyielding faith in your food and concept
• Giving up everything you own to the bank, including your first born child
• Did I mention…smelling of Chicken Tikka ALL the time!

On the flip side, there is nothing more I would rather be doing with my life as I love Kasa deeply — despite the occasions when I feel I can’t take the stress any more, like the time I checked myself into a hotel for the weekend, told Suresh and Tim I wasn’t coming in and switched my phone off.  I pretended to be a tourist with my English accent, walked the city, met a bunch of friendly Americans who gave me recommendations on where to eat, shopped and went back to Kasa recharged.

Most importantly, prepare to pace yourself and take a vacation before a breakdown.

If you’re still up for plunging ahead despite all this, then you’re as mad as we are and we look forward to bonding with you as a comrade in arms one day.

Anamika

We want the experience to be communal and intimate, so expect to eat family style, make new friends, try amazing wines and push your culinary boundaries.  We’ve limited the dinner to the first 16 people who reserve tickets by calling Kasa’s co-owner Tim at 917-535-0148 to pre-pay. Tickets costs $75 – click here for the menu and more information.

Some of these dishes can be difficult to do on a normal basis at Kasa because of the time it takes in the sun for instance, or when certain dishes cannot hold up to large batch cooking, or crunchy savoury pakoras become soggy if not served immediately.

I’m also grateful to Mark Bright for recognizing this potential in my cooking and agreeing to pair and serve the wine on the night.  (Mark also designed our wine lists at Kasa.) We’ve become friends through our joined love of good things in taste (food and wine) as well as our love for taking people through that journey with us.  And so we are putting together Indian Laundry at Kasa.

I hope to see some of you at the event.  Get your tickets today!

This Wednesday evening, April 7th, we’re going to have some fun with a ‘Trinidad Night’ at Kasa Castro.  Why?  For no other reason than to celebrate the wonderful Trini culture and cuisine with its strong connections to India, Africa and Britain.  We’ll be serving a Trini Plate ($10.95) with:

• Curried Chicken
• Aloo Channa
• Pumpkin Talkari
• Daal Roti
• And of course plenty of cold Red Stripes will be at the ready

When slavery was abolished in the British empire in 1838, the colony of Trinidad needed alternative sources of cheap labor. In came the first Indians, who today constitute about 45% of the population.  The dishes that evolved from this emigration are uniquely Trinidadian using produce, spices and herbs native to the island, joined with a strong Indian influence.  I’m so excited to have discovered these new dishes!

Adriel

The idea for Trinidad Night came from chatting with Adriel, one of our favorite Kasa customers, a Princeton alum, McKinsey consultant and most importantly a Trinidadian.  Whilst in the store, he asked me to cook up some Trini food as a special. Since I didn’t know anything about the cuisine, I told him to email me some recipes.  I have since discovered that his interests (other than food) involve ‘coming up with ideas and doing nothing with them’.  I didn’t let him get away with that though — I managed to get some recipes from him AND get him to cook and taste with me on Wednesday to make sure the food is as authentic as possible.

If you want to try these recipes at home, the trick is to find Chief’s Curry Powder (apparently everyone in Trinidad uses this) or green seasoning — not easy even in such a cosmopolitan city as San Francisco.  But my hunt led me to Oriental Lucky Mart in Oakland, where I found not only the curry powder but also the best Jamaican beef patties ever.  Just pop them in the oven and get dreamy!

I’m still working on finding Chadon Beni (aka Culantro, Ngo Gai or Ngo Tai), an herb related to Cilantro.  I need to check out Vietnamese grocery stores for this fresh herb.

Another cool find was a flag from Trinidad.  On Valencia and 24th street, on display at the parking lot, you can practically find ANY flag from around the world.

Look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, and if you have any leads on the Chadon Beni / Culantro / Ngo Gai / Ngo Tai, please let me know.

Anamika

Pushkar Mela, Rajasthan

India is a third of the size of the U.S. but almost four times as populated, a fact that astounds me.  It’s no wonder that wherever you look, you’ll find a sea of humanity and, given this lack of space, the animals and humans are forced to live in close proximity to each other.

They seemed to have worked out some kind of arrangement though that works for both sides.  People don’t blink an eye at the sight of stray dogs, bony cats, skinny cows, brazen monkeys, elephants, rats, peacocks and camels.

A few years ago, I took a trip to Rajasthan and haven’t quite got it out of my system.  The food was amazing,  the people were warm and the desert landscape was stunning.  If you are lucky enough to see one of the famous tigers of Ranthambore, they are magnificently regal.  And the Rajasthani women, with their vibrant-colored clothes against the starkly dry desert, are awe-inspiringly beautiful.

But the camels — the ships of the desert — stole my heart.  I think what made me fall in love with them is their graceful, friendly, loyal nature with a quiet strength and curious sense of humour.

On our travels, a camel herder tried to convince us that we should give him a cigarette because he and his camel were in desperate need of a smoke.  We busted up laughing at this most original line, but I challenged him. “Come on now, your camel doesn’t smoke.”  But I was wrong.  That camel took a coupe looooong drags on the cigarette and truly enjoyed it.  So much so that we gave him another one and filmed it:

Had I known at the time there was a whole festival devoted to camels (the Pushkar Mela), I would have definitely coordinated the dates to be there and hang out with them and the herders some more.  (I’d skip the milk though, even if it is 1/2 the fat and more nutritious than cow milk.)  At some point, I need to get back and check out this festival with it’s camel beauty pageant, camel dance performances, and camel races.

In the meantime, here are some stunning photos by an excellent photographer to remind you why this is a MUST VISIT place (for me at least).

In London’s defense, I will say that I spend most of my time in Hounslow/Southall, the Indian enclaves of London where I grew up — if you’ve seen the film Bend It Like Beckham, it was filmed round the corner from my house. There is some really good Indian/Pakistani food in Hounslow/Southall, but the rest is just fast food pizza, fried chicken and doner kebab shops. I usually don’t eat out much as I’m busy enjoying my Pinky Aunty’s Indian home cooking. (Most of Kasa’s recipes originated from Pinky Auntie.)

As a result, I’m not really in the know as to which restaurants to try in Central London for amazing food.

Having said that, English food can get a bad rap abroad, and I spend much of my time trying to defend it’s honour. I’ve spent the last two weeks in London visiting my cousin Amars who had a major operation and I took this opportunity to get through my list of ‘MUST EAT’ English food before I head back to San Francisco:

1) English Breakfast

There really isn’t anything as satisfying as this, especially after a hangover. Much as I like American breakfasts, nothing quite hits the spot like pork sausages (with absolutely no hint of apple or anything sweet in it), baked beans (again a lot less sweet), proper bacon (that is bacon with meat on it and not crispy fat), eggs, tomatoes and fried mushrooms. Admittedly the whole thing can be a little greasy and seriously filling, but it is utterly delicious and you don’t have to think about food for many many hours to come!

2) Chicken and Mushroom Pie

This pie is comfort food at it’s best. Shortcrust pastry soaked in the thick gravy of the chicken and mushroom filling… yum! Or even yummier is Steak and Kidney pie… wow! Pot pies in the US just don’t compare.

3) Savoury pastries

• Sausage rolls – a delicious, basic English sausage covered in a very light flaky pastry… when it’s cold and raining outside and you need a snack, this totally lifts your spirits.
• Cornish pasties – a thicker pastry filled with minced beef and vegetables.  I crave this from accross the continent constantly.

4) Treacle Pudding with Hot Custard

I might say that sometimes I miss this dessert more than my family in London. It’s a light sponge pudding that has been steamed with a thin layer of sweet treacle and covered with steaming hot custard. The endorphins released when you eat this are unparalleled. I really really wish that I could find this in SF. Has anyone seen it around?  I probably have gained quite a few pounds on this dessert alone.

5) English Roast

Roast Lamb, mint sauce, yorkshire pudding, basic boiled vegetables and roast potatoes (NO MASH) with really rich gravy (very different to American gravy) is divine. Eating this on a Sunday in the pub brings back great memories.

6) A visit to Nandos

No trip to London is complete for me without a trip to this popular South African chain of Chicken and Chips. They are super successful here and on their way to the US soon. Their peri peri marinated grilled chicken with peri peri sauce and wild herb sauce with chips (thick french fries) is superb. The sides are really good too. They have different levels of heat from lemon and herb all the way to xtra hot! I keep mine at the sensible medium heat.

I come back home to San Francisco tomorrow and will have to crave these foods until my next visit. It was funny to hear, though, that my cousin Amar was craving Kasa’s Chicken Tikka Masala Kati Roll from his recovery bed at Kings Hospital!

Get better quickly, Aams, so you can get to San Francisco for your kati roll fix!

Anamika

In that same vein, you don’t always get to pick the people you work with despite having to spend hours with them.  This fact creates a kind of ‘Work Family’ dynamic where you learn some pretty interesting facts about your co-workers and start to feel comfortable with their unique quirky characteristics.

This staff spotlight is on Kalyan, one of our managers.  Although he would have loved to have written this himself, he informed me that he would need a couple of hours to put pen to paper, and that he simply does not have that kind of time in his day.  Between balancing a busy and demanding work day, a caring wife, a beautiful daughter (he’s a great dad) and a little bit of wine and cards, he has zero time to write!  So I’ll write about him instead.

Whilst you may have already experienced Kalyan’s friendly nature serving you lunch or dinner (or your drunken late night cravings at 2am in the Marina!), and you may have already expected that he is a rock star behind the scenes (hard working, talented and ethical), what you wouldn’t have known is that Kalyan literally is a ROCK STAR!

Allow me to share the latest interesting fact I discovered about Kalyan: introducing (for the first time in North America)………..’K2Z, the Nepali Sean Paul’.  Most definitely check out his video below!

We really do only hire Rock Stars at Kasa!   :)

Anamika

• Suresh’s joke about the ’Punjabi Santa’ (like Santa, he has a beard, is tall and plump, and say Hoy Hoy Hoy)
• Going to Winter Wonderland in Tilden Park in Berkeley with the kids
• Dancing to Country, Salsa and Hip Hop at the Kasa Staff Holiday Party

But I couldn’t relax, as in the midst of all this, K2 (aka Kasa Marina) launched and Tim and Mer had their third baby (aka V3).  This should have been a time of only serious hard work for us, and whilst all of us at Kasa put that work in, it had to be so stop and start because of the holidays.  We literally had to force ourselves not to think or do any work on Xmas day and spend it with our families, and try to understand that the government and rest of the country were going slower because of the holidays.

So I’m glad that life is back to normality and we can just steam ahead with work now, as we have a lot more ahead of us.  The pressure is on high, not only because we have a bigger space and higher rent at K2.  We opened around December 19, and these first few weeks have been pretty steady but not that many people in the Marina know that we exist yet and we need customers flooding in.

Whilst it’s exhilarating and satisfying to have a successful restaurant or to get some wonderful press,  margins in our business are slim so we have to be super successful to make it all add up, and that pressure extends all the way through to our staff. Our staff need their hours maxed out (or else we lose them) to make rent, support families here and back home, put themselves through school or, like our Line Cook Extraordinaire Gomez who is about to have his first baby, just survive in SF. The emotional pressure of being successful is intense as our families, staff, vendors and on and on rely on us.  More customers means more hours for our staff, which means more tips (which is vital to their livelihood) and ultimately more raises.

So instead of waiting around for the Punjabi Santa to deliver a bushel of money, we’ve come up with our own Kasa Plan of Action:

1. Continue to keep the food as excellent as humanly possible
2. Continue to train our staff to provide warm, wonderful service, even if on occasion you have to deal with a not-so-pleasant customer
3. Community outreach and education in the Marina — introduce ourselves and turn people on to delicious, homestyle Indian food
4. Connect with all of our customers as much as possible…like through this blog :)

I’m confident that with a little more time and work, we will all reap the rewards of our hard work, all whilst consistently giving our endless love to Kasa Castro.  In the meanwhile, we thank you all for your continued support and hope that you’ll pass the word to your friends.

Love, Anamika

I had put this list together when I was in high school and it still holds true for me today. The list in pieces goes something like this:

1.  To become a wife and a mother

This means the world to me.  If no other thing on the list ever got achieved, I decided I would be content with this.  It drove my family of strong women and feminist-bent friends a little crazy as I would preach that my ambition was to be a ‘Housewife’.

2. To write a book

This one was by far the most difficult for me.  I tried a couple of times, playing with Indian historical fiction, a biography, boarding school stories, but the discipline of this art is daunting.

My good friend Annie (the artist who started Studio Rasa) really helped me in achieving this when we decided to work together on a children’s story based on street animals of India.  I wrote and she illustrated beautifully.  We decided that we would finish the book no matter what!

She helped me accept that I would write this book even if it never got published and to put aside all fears of rejection, and better still, to do it at a mellow, creative pace rather than at full speed.  We did indeed finish the book and self-published it.  You can download a free copy of The Mischievous Monkey here — I’d love to hear your feedback!

Producing the book made me realize what a talented artist Annie is.  Her illustrations are stunning and her work is beautiful.  The use of colour is my favourite part.  Most importantly, it helped give me the confidence that I could start and finish a project and enabled me to move on to number 3 on my list…

3. To open a restaurant

Although I’d imagined doing a high-end sit down Indian restaurant, Kasa has proven to be way more fun and in line with my speedy nature.  Annie designed our cool logo, the beautiful artists map on the website and the subtle wall of sanskrit above the banquette at Kasa Castro. She also helped me to communicate my vision of simple Indian materials for our clean decor. Our customers, of course, are mainly to be thanked sincerely for supporting Kasa and allowing us to continue to be able to cook for you all everyday.

4.  World Tournament Poker champion

Well I haven’t done this one yet, and have accepted that I probably never will.  A very apt poker saying here goes:

“You aren’t as good as you think or as bad as you think.”

5.  I can’t really talk about this one, as it needs an element of surprise.

6.  This one may be offensive to some if it is not accompanied with a deeper explanation.  I don’t really have the words or the idea down yet.

Take care,

Anamika

Of all the things I could write about, I feel like writing about the super cool women I’ve worked with this last year and a half.

Generally speaking (I know I’m going to be negatively judged for this), I prefer working with men (there will be a whole separate blog post on them too) because in my experience GENERALLY I find them more straight forward, they don’t hold grudges for as long, they are super co-operative and have an even keeled temperament at work.

However, this last year, I have had the pleasure of working with some very cool women:

At Kasa…

• Lydia (Server at Kasa) – super fast, a lot of fun, organized, clean and totally on it with her work! A real no-nonsense girl at work. Whenever I feel the pressure, she steps right in and just knows what needs to be done.

• Polly (Server at Kasa) – originally introduced as the “craziest” on Roti Josh’s blog post, Polly works at the speed of light, has real pride in her work, very straight forward, and a real sweetheart.   She’s also very smart — I’m afraid we will probably lose her when she is done with school and becomes a famous biochemist!

• Tuesday (Server at Kasa) – new to the Kasa team, but really really good. She is totally on it, smart, friendly, organized, reliable and fun. Again, she just knows what needs to be done and does it with a calm confidence.

On the creative side…

• Gi Paoletti (our designer at Kasa 2, also designed Tipsy Pig, Bloodhound and many other cool spots) – smart, always so well put together, extremely accomplished in her field and really co-operative. I love the way that she helps us problem solve our design issues and puts her whole heart into her work.

• Tammy (a metal worker building this cool metal screen we are creating for Kasa 2) – I have just recently met Tammy, and she already is a pleasure to work with. She’s fast, reliable, a practical problem solver and a true local artist.  You only have to drive by her metal yard on 1340 Bryant Street to see how talented she is.

At home…

• Janey (my wonderful Nanny) – I call her the punk Mary Poppins with her bright red hair and nose ring, but she is also organized, reliable, a sweetheart, firm and fun. Without her doing a wonderful job at home and making my life easier, I wouldn’t really be able to focus on the work that needs to be done at Kasa.
• Merideth (Tim’s wife) – one of the unsung members of the Kasa team, Merideth keeps the Volkema house running smoothly and helps Tim  keep going through all the ups and downs here at the restaurant.  Wish her luck with Volkema #3, likely to arrive right around the same time as Kasa #2!

I would love to include myself in this list, however, I will leave it to Tim and Suresh to comment on that..  :)

P.S. – My friends have already been warned — anyone caught trying to steal my nanny is in serious trouble, and the same goes for my amazing staff.

Anamika

1) you have to sell a heck of a lot of $4.50 kati rolls to make a living for two families in San Francisco; and

2) it’s time to spread the gospel for simple, fresh homestyle Indian food to other parts of the City.

So…we’re doubling down and opening our second Kasa location (dubbed K2) in the Marina next month!

The space is at 3115 Fillmore Street (b/t Union & Lombard) and is a little bigger than K1.  We’re converting the space from an old furniture store, so the permitting, design and construction process has been intense. (K2 “Coming Soon” sign)

We kept things really really simple at K1 with a handful of dishes and a clean aesthetic so that we could focus on making amazing food from scratch every day, and we plan to keep the Heart of Kasa the same at K2.

Of course, we have some twists that we’re adding this time around, most notably: late night weekend hours (open til 2am Thursday thru Saturdays) and pitchers of beer and Sangria, but mainly we don’t want to mess with a good thing.

So…tell your friends, help us spread the word, and as always let us know your comments and brilliant ideas.

After 16 months of being open, curiosity finally got the better of me today and I googled ‘Prison Food Trays‘.  The reason for this strange search is that one too many yelp reviewer (5 total) has commented that they feel like they are eating on prison trays at Kasa.  These comments perplexed me for a while, as I haven’t understood the rationale (thankfully having never eaten in prison).  Post Google search, I can see where the connection is coming from.  Prison food is indeed served in compartmentalized trays, as is our food at Kasa.

Kasa Thali

Prison Tray

I feel I must explain why we serve our meals on metal trays (called a ‘Thali’) here at Kasa.  We do it as an homage to the vast majority of people in India (many of humble socioeconomic status) who eat out of these trays each and every day and have done so for centuries. Nowadays, the wealthier classes in India tend to use porcelain plates in an attempt to mimic the West and distinguish themselves from the poor.  But we love the metal thalis because they are extremely durable, never break and fit our vibe of being ultra-practical.  We think they look pretty cool too…

Our thalis, plates and bowls are all imported from India with the help of my very interesting cousin Kiwi, to whom we owe many thanks as we had him searching for days on end for just the right sizes, weight, shininess, etc.

We aim to be true to the way Indians serve and eat food in their daily lives.  I would never have guessed that the plates would make people feel like they were eating like prisoners, or even eating in an ultra modern place (a separate confusion that we hear occasionally).

My hope is that some of the Yelpers commenting about prison plates are able to read this blog and realize (just as I have done today) that it appears that the majority of India and prisoners in the US have something in common.  They both eat out of compartmentalized trays  :)

On some level, I find this discovery extremely cool.  Thalis are a no-nonsense, no-frills, humble way to eat.  I’m guessing that this is the reason for the trays in prison too.  Hopefully, most of you find our actual food to be at least a cut above though…

Cousin Kiwi

Gujurati Thali

South Indian Thali

North Indian Thali

Despite Kasa being a business entirely about Indian food, we now found ourselves in a world which had nothing to do with food.  Creating the physical space for Kasa up to code and having the finances to be able to do it was the enormous task ahead of us.

For a minute, we were all stunned and unsure about where to start the magnanimous task of transforming ‘La Castro Taqueria’ to the blurry vision of Kasa that was in our heads.  It really dawned on me that the restaurant was about to become a reality.  So far, we had ignored all the people who had told us that we were crazy to enter into this business.  I never worried about that as I kind of like crazy.

But when the owner of La Castro Taqueria, on the night of the signing, breathed a sigh of relief and fled to Vegas tocelebrate getting out of the business, I did momentarily panic as to what I had got myself into.  But not for long as there was no turning back now.  Besides, I think I truly understood the old phrase ‘Time is Money’ to my core, for everyday that went by, we paid rent with no money coming in.  Time really was of the essence just to intensify the pressure.

There was no more theorizing, no more hypothesizing — only completely plunging into action was required.

At the time, Tim was struggling with his move to San Francisco from Chicago after leaving Kraft and was desperately trying to hunt down an affordable place to live for himself and his family and their very large dog

Morgan and trying to sort out schools for their kids.

Suresh was working hard at his demanding full time Google job and I didn’t have any experience with restaurants or construction projects or health codes or building codes.  I hadn’t worked on anything business-like for the previous 6 years after being consumed by full-time child raising and being a co-op parent (which is still the hardest thing I’ve ever done).  I didn’t really know where to start either.  Those first few days were a little surreal and a lot scary.

Six months later, on June 18, 2008, Kasa finally DID open its doors for business.  For those interested in the birth of Kasa or in opening their own restaurant one day, Tim, Suresh and I will detail some of what was involved during those grueling six months in future blog posts.

Anamika