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Vijay Kumar, Chintan Pandya & Roni Mazumdar

Partners, Unapologetic Foods

VIJAY KUMAR
In 2021, Vijay Kumar packed up from San Francisco, where he was working as a chef, to travel cross-country to New York City and work with restaurateurs Roni Mazumdar and Chef Chintan Pandya, whose Unapologetic Foods group is known for presenting Indian food honestly and authentically. In October of that year, the trio opened Semma, serving heritage Southern Indian cuisine inspired by Chef Vijay’s upbringing. To date Chef Vijay and Semma have received world-wide critical acclaim, including Vijay being the winner of the prestigious James Beard Foundation award Best Chef New York State 2025 and being placed as the #1 restaurant of the year on The New York Times Top 100 Restaurants in New York list. Upon its debut Semma was named a Top Ten Best New Restaurant in America by Bon Appetit; Esquire; and as one of the Top 50 Restaurants of the Year by The New York Times. In 2022 Semma was awarded a Michelin star, an honor it has held every year since, making it the only Indian restaurant in New York City with that recognition.

Vijay grew up in the humblest of settings on a family farm in a small town near Madurai, located in the Southern part of India. The eldest of three children, Vijay helped his mother and grandmother in farming and cooking. It was this childhood upbringing where his passion for fresh ingredients and cooking arose.

CHINTAN PANDYA
Born in Mumbai, Chintan became interested in the culinary world at a young age. When of age, he enrolled in one of the most prestigious culinary schools in India, the Oberoi Centre of Learning & Development where he trained under the finest chefs from Oberoi Hotels. During this time, Chintan traveled throughout the sub-continent to develop a deeper connection with the way locals ate and became well-versed in the bold spices and dishes of the people.

Eventually Chintan left India for bigger opportunities. His culinary career took him to an extremely diverse set of locales including Singapore, Cleveland, Atlanta, and finally New York. He met restaurateur Roni Mazumdar in 2017 and became the chef at the modern and upscale Rahi, followed by Adda Indian Canteen for which Chintan was the winner of the 2019 StarChefs New York Rising Star, and Adda was named one of the best restaurants of the year by Food & Wine, Eater, and Bon Appetit. In 2021 the duo opened Dhamaka, for which Chintan won The James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef New York State. The first win in this category for an Indian chef. Serving food from “the forgotten India” it gave Chintan the opportunity to showcase the foods he came across when traveling throughout the villages of India. Dhamaka was also named the #1 restaurant of the year by The New York Times, Esquire Magazine, and one of the top 50 restaurants in the country by The New York Times.

In 2022, he and partner Mazumdar opened the quick service eatery Rowdy Rooster serving Indian spiced fried chicken for which Food & Wine Magazine named them as one of 16 people and companies changing the way we eat and drink in 2022. That was followed up by Masalawala & Sons in Park Slope, Brooklyn which specializes in Bengali cuisine, and also received a 2-star review in The New York Times.

Chef Pandya’s mission is to push the boundaries of what Indian food means in America. He continues to break new ground on an under-appreciated but phenomenal cui.

RONI MAZUMDAR
Roni Mazumdar, with partner Chef Chintan Pandya, is the innovative restaurateur behind Unapologetic Foods which owns and operates Adda, Dhamaka, Semma, Rowdy Rooster, Masalawala & Sons, Naks and soon to come Kebabwala. These restaurants and food brands have set the New York City scene on fire.

Roni is an active voice in speaking out on behalf of the future of the restaurant industry and the AAPI experience. He is on the board of the National Restaurant Association and part of the task force to create a new vision for the organization; has given talks, speeches, and sat on panels at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; NYU Stern School of Business, American Express; Food & Wine Aspen Classic; and JetBlue. In addition to numerous interviews, Eater named Roni and Chintan as part of their New Guards of New York Dining, which explored the state of power and influence in the New York City dining scene. Crain’s New York Business honored him with placement on their prestigious 40 Under 40 Class of 2020 list, Bloomberg BusinessWeek named him and Chef Pandya as one of the People that Defined Global Business in 2021, and in 2023 they were #3 on the Observer’s Dining and Nightlife Power List.

Roni’s philosophy of business is continually met with a mind for philanthropy and community. He’s involved with Accion, one of the leading global nonprofits; and contributed a dish to Leyla Moushabeck’s The Immigrant Cookbook. Roni is part of City Harvest’s Food Council helping spread awareness of the organization’s mission of raising funds in donating high quality food to help feed hungry New Yorkers, and No Kid Hungry whose mission is to end childhood hunger.