If Top Chef is a science, Avishar Barua defies any math. The chef’s equation includes equal parts Bengalese heritage and Ohio origin with a hearty dose of creativity and some molecular gastronomy on top. That formula does not always lead to a winning result, though. He wound up facing elimination in the very first episode when he did not cook the rice on his “chukar-fried chukar” to the judges’ liking. After claiming he didn’t like anything on the plate, Avishar had quite the rebound over the next couple of episodes. He utilized his science background to great effect, winning an Elimination Challenge and Quickfire Challenge back-to-back. Unfortunately, as physics decrees, what goes up must come down. At the Mt. View Orchards, he took another crack at rice with his “Ohiotto,” but the apple did not fall too far from the tree when it came to critique. After escaping elimination once more, Avishar joked that he would make one more rice dish before going home. Little did he know how true that would be. Tasked with creating a transportable meal for frontline workers, he made a beef curry, opting to be more on the mild side. And while the rice was cooked properly this time, the dish’s main issue came from a lack of seasoning overall. It was the complete opposite problem of what sent him to the bottom the first time and was enough to send him cartwheeling out of the game and into Last Chance Kitchen. Read on to hear Avishar’s thoughts on his time in the game, and check out Last Chance Kitchen to watch him and other eliminated chefs fight for redemption and a chance to get back into the competition. What compelled you to apply for Top Chef, especially in the middle of the pandemic when things are so hard on the restaurant industry? I actually did not apply for Top Chef. The show surprisingly contacted me. I thought it was some kind of joke, but I played along anyway and ended up in Portland! The pandemic ravaged the restaurant industry, but we are resilient, and I thought it would be meaningful to compete to show that there is indeed a future for us, and we need to keep pushing to keep our industry going. My staff was also insistent that I go and that it was an opportunity of a lifetime, I could not argue with them! You always seemed to bring such out-of-the-box thinking to conceptualizing your dishes. Does that sense of creativity come from anywhere in particular? Thank you! I have found that I am really bad at copying people, so I just try to trust my experience, intuition, knowledge, quirkiness, and sense of humor. I’ve always been a weird one, and I read somewhere that Portland likes to keep it weird, so I just went for it! You started the season on a low note, winding up in the bottom and saying you didn’t like anything on the plate. How did it feel to struggle so early on? Historically, I have bad luck, slow starts, and a lot of insecurities, so it wasn’t necessarily surprising. However, it certainly did not feel good. I began to question all my decisions in cooking professionally until that point and thought about how poorly I was representing Ohio, my heritage, and disappointing everyone at home. We saw you use your biology degree when making those carbonated compressed grapes. Overall, how much of those techniques did you bring to your cooking this season? Cooking consistently is always science! While I employ the scientific method often at the restaurant, I don’t necessarily employ Modernist techniques unless it absolutely makes sense. I try to keep an open mind and do things because they make sense and contribute to the overall vision, not because they look cool or are gimmicky. Given that, I did go through quite a lot of liquid nitrogen this season, but I promise I had no choice! You got off to a streak of wins, winning alongside Shota, then the next Quickfire Challenge. Did you change anything in particular with the way you approached the challenges to get those successes? When I survived the first elimination and saw how thin the margin is between success and failure in Top Chef, I decided to try to get out of my head and just try to be me. A lot of the challenges we encountered were things that were not completely foreign to me and that I later realized I could definitely do. After I started to get out of my head, adapting to the continuously variable situations, and started talking to the other cheftestants, I began to shake the notion that I did not belong on Top Chef. The biggest fight we had to deal with this year was ourselves; we often proved to be our own worst enemies. As to the wins, Shota and I meshed very well and had a complete understanding of how we were going to bring the dish together. We planned, talked, and listened meaningfully, and worked with purpose. When I heard the dessert challenge, my brain and my love of ice cream went into overdrive, and I knew exactly what I wanted to get done in the time allotted. While it was completely unconventional and pretty risky to serve something that timed improperly could cause taste buds to be ripped off, in this case, the risk/reward ratio paid off. Plus, it happens to be a variation of our state dish, so that was a fun kicker! It seemed like rice was one of your sticking points in Top Chef, though you did end up coming out with a good rice dish in the end. What made you decide to keep going back to rice, despite how many times it landed you in the bottom? Rice is pretty much life in most Asian households and was definitely the first thing I learned to make. I am often a stickler with rice with my staff and push pretty hard on them to make sure it is always as close to perfect as it can be. If it is even slightly off, I usually make them make it again. Not being able to cook rice properly on national television definitely stuck with me as a mental roadblock. I was definitely in my head; I cook rice daily, and two of my most popular dishes are based around rice. Competition definitely has a way of sensing a lack of confidence. I didn’t always want to come back to making rice, but somehow I ended up with it, and it seemed like I just had to get over my fears! You mentioned how you were surprised to become so close with your competitors, calling your cast a “weird messed-up support group.” Can you elaborate on that dynamic? We are all from completely different backgrounds, but all of us were Executive Chefs this season, and the pandemic completely displaced our professional lives. We found that if we supported each other, we could get back on our feet and push each other to cook better. Our lives were already sabotaged, so we agreed that we should try our best to showcase our strengths win by proper sportsmanship. Let’s get into the challenge that eliminated you. First, with your dad being a doctor, how did it feel about cooking for frontline workers? As soon as the pandemic hit, we shifted in our restaurant mission and immediately started feeding those in need. The definition of “in need” was not only shelters that had to push people out due to restrictions but also frontline workers. Frontline workers never got a chance to stop working or take a breath and, in many situations, were not able to experience a good meal for a long period of time. We know the importance of morale in dire times, and we would send food out to different groups of doctors every other day. While we expected no return, we had many emotional moments when doctors would send us a picture with the food and tell us how much our efforts made their lives better. To be able to take care of those whose life and occupation involve taking care of others is a humbling experience. Doing it on a platform like Top Chef for an amazing association like World Central Kitchen was one of the most significant moments of my cooking career. You made an effort to ease up on the spices, which ends up being the main critique from the judges. What did you make of that feedback?Top Chef is always a competition; while food can be subjective, the judges are the experts! I pulled myself out of competition mode and focused on how I could best feed frontline workers something nourishing, vegetarian and gluten-free friendly, temperature stable, reheatable, generous in portion, utensil-free friendly, uniquely inspired by my heritage, and hopefully comforting. I also wanted to be able to have enough time to help others when finished. I did taste my dish repeatedly and had other cheftestants try it, and we found it agreeable, but the margins for success and failure in the competition begin to blur as our numbers reduce. Someone always has to go, and in this case, it was me! Were you surprised you were eliminated over Chris or Maria? I was surprised in the sense that I certainly did not want to go home on such a meaningful challenge on something I am familiar with, but perhaps my bias, stress level, and subjective and conditioned palate got the best of me. Are there any links or recommendations on how to help the restaurant during this time, either for chefs or patrons? Yes! I am building up an interactive platform through my Instagram (@avishar), where we open source and share recipes, ingredients, techniques, collaborations, and stories. Our restaurant www.servicebarcolumbus.com (@servicebarcbus), and its digital menu (@secretkitchenmenu) are fun places to see what we are up to. We all have to work together to help create a better future for restaurants and hospitality; we love interacting with our guests, other restaurants, and chefs. Dialogue has been the ingredient that we are most fond of! We try to not only feed people food, but also useful information, humor, and inspired conversations. A lot of conversations need to happen regarding the restaurant industry, and how we can make it in the next few years, we would love to continue to be part of them! Next, check out our interview with Gabriel Pascuzzi, who was eliminated in Episode 6.
