Washington DC’s celebrated Indian restaurant Rasika has been named one of the most essential and influential restaurants in America by Eater. The publication released its “All-Time Eater 38” list this week, honoring what it calls “the most essential and influential restaurants in America of the past 20 years.” Rasika, which opened in 2005 in Penn Quarter, was praised for redefining Indian dining in the United States through its balance of tradition, innovation, and accessibility.
Founded by restaurateur Ashok Bajaj and led by chef Vikram Sunderam, Rasika helped elevate Indian cuisine to a new level of national prominence. Eater noted that when Bajaj opened the restaurant two decades ago, it represented “a cutting-edge but accessible approach to Indian cuisine,” pointing to the now-iconic palak chaat, crispy spinach served with yogurt, tamarind, and garam masala, as one of the dishes that became a cultural touchstone in D.C. and beyond. The publication credited Rasika’s influence with paving the way for a national restaurant scene that has embraced contemporary Indian cooking more fully.
Rasika’s acclaim has grown steadily over the years, earning critical praise from local and national outlets, including The Washington Post, where longtime critic Tom Sietsema once called it “the restaurant I could eat in every day.” The success of its original Penn Quarter location led to a second outpost, Rasika West End, which opened in 2012. The restaurant also published a cookbook in 2014, extending its reach to home cooks across the country…