Meet Sagar Ghosh | Chef-owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sagar Ghosh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sagar, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The overall theme of my first and also my second restaurant was to feature and share the food of my heritage and work experience, I created this broad menu with This broad menu with my long time chef-partner Sourav Biswas.

Both of us were born and raised in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), the Bengali region known for refined flavors sophisticated street food. We attended hospitality school there, too.

We are also paying homage to our training in Delhi in (northwest India) in the restaurant name and the regional dishes.
The Bengal Tiger on our menu symbolizes the boldness and power of our home region. This was planned. It was more lucky that Delhi Belly was opened in the Year of the Tiger, 2022.

Having a partner and friend like Sourav was always the plan. It means that a professional chef oversees every plate in the kitchen because one or the other of us is there.

This gives me the time to make each dish shine. For example, we grindIndividual batches of seasonings brought by my relatives or friends (or my wife or myself) from India. All meats are halal.

We now know that the Indians who come to the restaurant and become return customers are happy with our food. And we also want people new to Indian food to learn about it and enjoy it, too.

So we organized our extensive menu into the categories of a traditional Indian meal. We have symbols to indicate vegan, contemporary and signature dishes. The staff is delighted to answer all questions about the menu to help diners decide on the perfect choice of dishes for them no what order they have them.

I also realized when I was growing up that I loved to organize and start projects on my own. I moved up in every company I worked with and tried to learn from every job. I gained an early international perspective and understanding of diner tastes by working in a range of positions including cruise ship chef. Almost as soon as I came to America, I was asked to be the lead on a development team for a chain of upscale contemporary Indian restaurants. Soon after was the opening chef for two prominent restaurants. The chain and the restaurant that is still open use the menu I developed for them, which makes me very happy.

And now that Delhi Belly is a year old, I was approached to do a second restaurant, which is opening in Huntington Beach and called IndiGO.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think this was answered in the question about thinking out my career. Please let me know

The overall theme of my first and also my second restaurant was to feature and share the food of Kolkata, (formerly Calcutta). This broad menu was created by both myself and my long time chef-partner Sourav Biswas. Both of us were born and raised in this Bengali region known for refined flavors sophisticated street food. We attended hospitality school there, too.

We are also paying homage to our training in Delhi in (northwest India) in the restaurant name and by featuring dishes of the region.

The Bengal Tiger on the menu symbolizes the boldness and power of our home region. And Delhi Belly was opened in the Year of the Tiger,2022.

Having a partner and friend like Sourav was always the plan. It means that a professional chef oversees every plate in the kitchen because one or the other of us is there.

This gives me the time to make each dish shine. For example, we grindIndividual batches of seasonings brought by my relatives or friends (or my wife or myself) from India. All meats are halal.

We now know that the Indians who come to the restaurant and become return customers are happy with our food. And we also want people new to Indian food to learn about it and enjoy it, too.

So we organized our extensive menu into the categories of a traditional Indian meal. We have symbols to indicate vegan, contemporary and signature dishes. The staff is delighted to answer all questions about the menu to help diners decide on the perfect choice of dishes for them no what order they have them.

I also realized when I was growing up that I loved to organize and start projects on my own. I moved up in every company I worked with and tried to learn from every job. I gained an early international perspective and understanding of diner tastes by working in a range of positions including cruise ship chef. Almost as soon as I came to America, I was asked to be the lead on a development team for a chain of upscale contemporary Indian restaurants. Soon after was the opening chef for two prominent restaurants. The chain and the restaurant that is still open use the menu I developed for them, which makes me very happy.

And now that Delhi Belly is a year old, I was approached to do a second restaurant, which is opening in Huntington Beach and called IndiGO.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Los Angeles is the most diverse culinary city in the world and I would love to introduce friends to as much of it as I could. I would take them to places that exist only in LA and nowhere else.

We would start with the phenomenal East Asian nearby places in the San Gabriel valley to eat. We would look into the town of Alhambra, which has a rich history. Mr. Wilson was named after one of the founders. Their family was one of the most prominent politically and one member, General George Patton, great up in San Marino nearby.

This is also the home of the newly remodeled Huntington Gardens, which we could visit. Mission Street there (with great architecture and great drinks and fun at Aro-Latin) is one of the prettiest residential places in LA, along with nearby Pasadena, and great to tour in the car.

I’d take them to Muscle Beach in Venice and a meal at the Great White that defines Mediterranean, some of the food stalls on the beach and any of Chef Anthony Mure’s Italian restaurants (like Barrique in the little yellow house on Main) since he is one of the most talented chefs anywhere. We’d walk the length of Abbot Kinney and hang out at the Marina on the point.

I’d take a day trip to the canyons and eat at some of the legendary places there such as Saddlepeak lodge and also show off the colorful Gelson’s on Mulholland that has dining places for lunch.

We’d drive up the coast another day and start by hanging out on the beach (Paradise Cove) or at Back on the Beach on the Marion Davies estate in Santa Monica. Patrick’s Roadhouse is another landmark, fun place.

Downtown Los Angeles is another day destination with the east side across the river just filled with authentic Mexican eating places and bakeries. Even Olvera Street, a tourist spot, has wonderful museums in it. And San Antonio Winery is 100 years old and still has the flavor of old LA.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Friends and family: I mentioned Sourav Biswas, who is my partner and friend, and who I have known since high school. He has not only added to the development of our elevated casual cuisine with creativity, dedication and long hours but made it fun along the way. We both still love to come to work everyday (we work six days a week).

My wife, Aaushi, has been invaluable. She went to school in Alhambra and helped pick this spot. We are on a little bit of a challenging street with blocks of different international restaurants so this puts us on our toes to shine. She has come and waited on customers or just to keep me company from day one.

Sri Sambangi, our commercial partner, brings his financial expertise and backing, plus decades of experience in online branding to Delhi Belly. We are an example of his mission as a high-tech entrepreneur to raise public awareness of smaller, quality authentic regional Indian restaurants. Delhi Belly is one of five successful restaurants he championed in the last two years.

Website: www.delhibellyla.com

Instagram: @delhibellyindianbistro

Facebook: www.delhibellyla.com

Other: Google us and find a list of our awards and articles about us