Chef

Kathakali

Discipline: Chef
Based in: Kirkland, Washington, United States
Venue: Kathakali, An Indian Eatery · Restaurant

i. Biography

Early Years

The work starts with what was already on the table: the food Kathakali grew up eating, and the gap he saw in a city that had not seen much of it. “I wanted to bring the food I grew up eating to a city that hadn't seen much of it.” That line sets the brief. The point is not a borrowed style or a credential-led menu; it is Kerala food, carried from home into a kitchen that makes it legible for Kirkland.

Making a Name

Opening Kathakali, An Indian Eatery in Kirkland gave the project its form: a restaurant built around Kerala cuisine with an urban twist. The name on the door and the chef in the kitchen are the same anchor, with Kathakali serving as both operator and cook. The menu language stays rooted in Kerala, from God's Own Country, while also reaching across South Indian cuisine and a wider range of South and North Indian foods. That breadth does not replace the center; it extends it. The useful phrase is still the most exact one: Kerala cuisine with an urban twist. It names the balance the restaurant is trying to hold between inherited food and a modern service setting.

The Present

The present tense of the work is the restaurant itself. At Kathakali, An Indian Eatery, the kitchen continues to carry the same premise that started it: serving food he grew up eating in a city where it had not been widely seen. What defines the cooking is not volume but orientation. Kerala remains the core, South India remains the base, and South and North Indian foods widen the field without blurring the regional line. That is the operating model now: a chef identified with the restaurant he opened, serving Kerala cuisine with an urban twist and keeping the original food culture intact enough to read at the table.