This pop-up restaurant is bringing southern Indian food to Columbia

Good taste, honed over the course of his life, meets growing passion when Bharani Kumar enters the kitchen.

The chef behind Frying Lotus, an Indian pop-up restaurant in Columbia, didn't anticipate the life he's now leading. But a desire to honor flavors passed down to him like a quiet inheritance brought out the gourmet inside.

"I wanted to present the food I grew up eating," Kumar said.

Early pop-up dates took place at Beet Box, the Fay Street restaurant where Kumar works; a pop-up down the street at Logboat Brewing Co. introduced his dishes to a different audience this month, he said.

The menu for July's pop-up included appetizers such as house masala wings — marinated for 72 hours using a "secret" family mix — with raitha and tamarind date sauce, and papadum masala.

Kumar's featured entrees were chicken gravy and saag paneer (or fried cheese in a creamy spinach sauce), each served with peas pulao, a rice pilaf-type dish. And don't forget the paratha — the southern Indian bread Kumar hand rolls, spirals and rolls again with care.

Carrying family flavors forward

Growing up in Salt Lake City before moving to Missouri around age 12, Kumar ate meals influenced by his parents' heritage in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. Much of the Indian food served in the United States comes from the country's north, he said.

Southern Indian food, in its way, shares traits with food from the American South, Kumar added. Both regional cuisines have a hearty nature and highlight vegetables. Lentils, onions and tomatoes play central roles in dishes from the area, Kumar said.

Leaving home to attend the University of Missouri, he experienced a sensation common to college students.

"As the years went on, I missed the food my mom would make" and requested certain dishes upon homecomings, Kumar said. A sense of how truly fortunate at the table he was settled over him.

What Kumar did with these longings, and this recognition, distinguishes him from peers.

The political science major eventually wound his way to the kitchen at Beet Box. Carrying in leftover curry for coworkers to sample, he experienced a swell of affirmation and encouragement. Kumar decided to carry these flavors further, to more people.

How Frying Lotus is part of an up-and-coming food scene in Columbia

The support Kumar continues to experience is unsurprising if you know much about the activity around Beet Box. The restaurant is gaining a reputation for lovingly nudging its young cooks from the nest.

Kumar's friend and roommate Vinnie DeBono is the proprietor behind Kiki's Noodle Bowl, a ramen fusion pop-up gaining a serious following around town. Beet Box owners Ben Hamrah and Amanda Elliott have fostered a nurturing environment, Kumar testified, developing the next tide of culinary talent to shape the Columbia food scene.

More: This Columbia pop-up restaurant's chef adds cultural influences to every bowl of ramen

Early in the Frying Lotus life cycle, his bosses encouraged him to be unapologetic about authenticity, Kumar said. And further study of Indian culinary cycles has only strengthened his ties.

A trip this year to the state of Kerala, which neighbors Tamil Nadu to the west, opened Kumar's eyes to the where and how of spice cultivation in the region. At a future pop-up, he hopes to serve a Kerala-style beef curry, hewing close to tradition while innovating from inside it.

To hear Kumar tell it, he wants to cultivate a clientele in the same fashion he's refined his own taste: over time, with intention and appreciation. Much of the food he serves requires serious preparation; curries cook for a matter of hours and it takes him almost two months to hand-make the amount of paratha needed for a pop-up.

But these dishes travel well and are served relatively easily, so he hopes to expand into catering in the not-too-distant future. Till and past that point, Kumar will continue a reflexive relationship, where his eagerness and curiosity in the kitchen meet the same qualities in customers just beyond its doors.

Keep up with what's next for Frying Lotus via Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/frying_lotus/.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at [email protected] or by calling 573-815-1731. He's on Twitter/X @aarikdanielsen.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How Frying Lotus pop-up honors young Columbia chef's Indian heritage