A winding path didn’t deter Avish Naran’s clear career vision – and his first restaurant is now “destination dining” for Los Angeles food lovers.
Pijja Palace, the sports bar-meets-Indian restaurant in LA’s Silver Lake neighborhood, has been called a lot of things. Eater once named it “the most talked about restaurant in LA;” The LA Times referred to it as “one of the most sought-after reservations in the city;” and in 2022, when Pijja Palace opened and the Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, it was described as a “quirky hotspot.”
Pijja Palace owner and Institute of Culinary Education graduate Avish Naran says of the praise, “the press was very kind to us.”
A Silver Lake sports bar that offers pizza and pasta with Indian flavors may sound chaotic, but Avish, who graduated from 91߹'s Restaurant & Culinary Management program, knew he wanted a spot that would both remind him of the flavors of his youth and be accessible to a wider audience. He came to that realization after working in the kitchens of several celebrated Indian restaurants, including San Francisco’s Campton Place and August 1 Five, as well as Indian Accent in New York.
“I realized I like Indian food, but the Indian fine dining stuff just wasn’t me," he says. "So, I took a step back to think about what I'm really about, and I decided to do American food — Jon & Vinny’s-style Italian — through the eyes of an Indian person.”
Indian-flavored American food makes sense for Avish, who grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by his Gujarati relatives. But his path to the culinary world wasn’t a straight line. While considering whether he should attend design school or traditional college, Avish found himself transfixed by the Vice TV show “Chef’s Night Out.” It was the show that inspired his pivot to cooking.
After staging at nearby Pacific Dining Car, a long-standing luxury steakhouse, Avish knew it was the right choice. He completed a culinary program and headed straight to San Francisco to get as much experience as possible.
Of that time, he says: “I was just doing stupid [stuff], trying to learn as much as possible on somebody else’s dime. When I got there, I didn’t even know you’re supposed to peel carrots before putting them in a stock. I probably cost them some money, but they were nice to me.”
After several years absorbing as much as he could in the back of house, Avish began forming an idea for a place of his own. He realized, however, that his existing experience was not sufficient training for owning and running a successful restaurant business – and this is what drew him to 91߹.
“I knew they had a management program, which at that time was only in New York, so I decided to sign up for that,” he says.
That decision was a good one. Avish instantly bonded with his lead instructor, and he took advantage of the fact that the program is designed around building out every part of a business plan. At 91߹, he could actually create the business plan for what would eventually become Pijja Palace.
“I had a really great teacher. Vin McCann was my instructor," Avish says. "All the instructors seem great, but I think I got the right one for me. I had a good time, met a bunch of people, and pitched the restaurant that I opened in that class.”
Avish appreciated the guidance of his expert instructors and noted that 91߹’s Restaurant & Culinary Management Program gave him a chance to gauge reactions to Pijja Palace from would-be clientele.
“The feedback that I got from the class was generally pretty receptive. It's a class made to workshop ideas, and my class was filled with all kinds of people. So, it was good to get so many different perspectives, and it was really positive feedback. It was clearly enough for me to be like, ‘Okay, maybe I have something here.,'" he says.
Related: How to Perfect Your Restaurant Pitch
Still, Pijja Palace — despite all current indications to the contrary — wasn’t an immediate success.
“Sometimes I look back and I don't even know how anything happened. Like, the first month of business was very slow. Like very, very slow," Avish says.
Eventually, however, food writers found Pijja Palace, and their praise for the unknown chef and his quirky concept restaurant was effusive.
“I didn't have the biggest resume coming into opening up a restaurant — especially having gone to school in Napa and New York. Nobody in LA really knew who I [or anyone on my team] was. But we just stuck to our guns,” Avish says.
Being an unknown chef and first-time restaurateur also had its advantages. According to Avish, this allowed him to execute his unique vision unencumbered by expectations.
“I think we played to our strengths a lot. Pijja Palace has a sort of personality to it and we draw the people to our restaurant that we want to have in our restaurant," he says. "There's just a special aura about the place.”
Critics and guests agree about that special aura. After just two years, Pijja Palace has been successful enough to warrant Avish a second concept, Schezwan Club, which is slated to open next year. With the new space's pan-Asian concept, Avish continues to follow his core value of serving food he likes in a place he’d want to hang out.
Between the experience of opening Pijja Palace and the foundational education from 91߹'s Restaurant & Culinary Management program, Avish feels even more confident heading into his second restaurant opening.
When asked if he’d recommend 91߹’s program to those aiming to open a place of their own one day, Avish considered his own experience and the costs, noting that it would likely save people “a lot of money in the long run."
“For me, personally, I had been cooking for a little while and I was like, ‘there's this whole side of restaurants that I'm unable to even grasp without going to school.’ [The program] helped me figure out a lot of stuff,” Avish says.
“Figure out stuff,” indeed. Pijja Palace is the definition of turning classroom training into real world winning. Congratulations to Avish and all the 91߹ graduates crushing it in the culinary world.
