Chinnalagu Vijaya Kumar gets James Beard Award for best chef in New York State
Fresh off his James Beard Award for best chef in New York State a few days ago, Chinnalagu Vijaya Kumar is furiously on the lookout for fresh goat's blood. Rattha poriyal (goat's blood fry), he says, is a dish he's been dying to add to the menu at Semma, his "unapologetically" Tamil restaurant in New York City.
"Unfortunately, it's tough to source it in the US. A request for fresh goat's blood is not something people here are used to," says Vijaya Kumar. But it's something he's sure is going to be a 'semma' (Tamil slang for awesome) hit with his customers. "It's a dish straight from the heart of Tamil Nadu. It's what my food is about, showcasing Tamil cuisine in all its spice, richness, texture, and aroma."
It's the same Tamil pride Vijaya Kumar brought with him on stage at the awards ceremony on June 16.
Dressed in a veshti — he owns dozens as it's the other staple he has specially flown in from Tamil Nadu along with his condiments — Vijaya Kumar said, in a speech that's gone viral: "Never in my life did I think something like this could happen... that a kid from a small town in Tamil Nadu would one day be standing here. We're celebrating the fire and soul of South Indian cooking in a city that has never quite seen it this way, and we're doing it proudly.
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When he opened Semma in 2021 and showcased a nathai pirattal (snail masala fry) in its unabashedly rustic glory, packed with onions, tomatoes, and all the goodness of his grandma's home kitchen in Nathan, Madurai, where he grew up, he never thought it would catch on like wildfire, Vijaya Kumar says. "Every time I spoke of snails in New York, all that people knew of it in terms of a dish was the classic French escargot. Why not give people a taste of my paati's (grandmother's) escargot, I thought.
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And there was no looking back, says Vijaya Kumar, as he watched hordes of patrons lap up the nathai pirattal, wiping their plates clean with the kal dosa served alongside. He kept smashing out the muyal pirattals (wild rabbit leg), vazhakkai varuvals (roasted plantain), and Chettinad maan kari (deer curry), and almost as fast, the awards streamed in. First, the Michelin Star; then, the rating as one of New York's top restaurants; and now, the James Beard Award, considered the Oscars of the restaurant world.
"The dishes are all inspired by family recipes," says Vijaya Kumar. "Growing up, during the holidays, I would forage for snails and hunt for rabbits with my grandmother in Arukkumpatti, a small village that didn't even have a bus service. I would watch her prepare the dish. Everything I make here is exactly as it should be eaten in a home in Madurai. No fancying it up, no toning it down, it's just Tamil food, no filters."
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