Chef Anita Jaisinghani on creating a wildly successful Indian diner in Houston, Texas

Chef Anita Jaisinghani grew up in India and, while she loved food, she didn’t make it a career at first. She became a microbiologist, worked in that field when she and her husband moved to Canada, and only decided to enter the restaurant business when they moved to Houston. There, she opened what she describes as an Indian diner, Pondicheri, and in the space above it, a bakery, infusing even traditional baked goods such as croissants with Indian spices and flavors. She has received multiple James Beard Award nominations, include one for her cookbook, Masala: Recipes from India, the Land of Spices.

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