- Published
One hundred and twenty-five years ago, in 1901, an Indian chef opened what was almost certainly the first Indian restaurant in the US.
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what → publish → US
Ranji Smile was one of the most colourful and enigmatic figures to shape the American food scene.
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Smile → shape → scene
In the summer of 1899, Smile sailed from London to New York.
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Smile → sail → York
We know hardly anything about his origins and early life, not even his real name.
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We → know → origins
Whatever his origins, Smile possessed an uncommon knack for reinvention.
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Smile → possess → reinvention
Once through the portals of Ellis Island, he appended a new name to his identity, something more in keeping with America's egalitarian promise: Joe.
Joe Ranji Smile arrived in New York to work at Sherry's Restaurant, a glittering new establishment on Fifth Avenue.
In London, he had been a curry cook at the Cecil and Savoy hotels.
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he → append → hotels
Here, according to an 1899 profile in Harper's, he was noticed by Sherry's owner, Louis Sherry, who invited him to bring his culinary skills across the Atlantic.
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who → accord → Atlantic
Late Victorian London already boasted an Indian dining scene: as early as 1810, Sake Dean Mohamed, a native of Patna, had opened his Hindostanee Coffee House near Portman Square, plying customers with both curry and hookah.
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Mohamed → boast → curry
Manhattanite tastebuds lacked much exposure to masala.
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tastebuds → lack → masala
Swami Vivekananda, the spellbinding orator and exponent of Hindu philosophy, enthralled audiences during his visits to the city in the 1890s.
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Vivekananda → enthral → 1890s
At the same time, more Indian sailors, students and professionals trickled into New York.
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sailors → trickle → York
This was probably why Louis Sherry decided to add a curry cook to his kitchen staff.
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Sherry → decide → staff
At Sherry's Restaurant, Smile joined one of the great culinary institutions of the American Gilded Age.
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Smile → join → Age
Positioning itself as a rival to Delmonico's, New York's byword for fine dining, Sherry's catered to city plutocrats like the Astors and was famed for over-the-top dining experiences.
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Sherry → position → experiences
During one such soiree, patrons marched their horses into a ballroom, saddled up and ate on horseback.
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patrons → march → horseback
Smile, a skilled showman, thrived in this environment.
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Smile → thrive → environment
Customers soon flocked to taste his preparations of Bombay duck, a glutinous lizardfish that is a delicacy along the western Indian coast, and novel creations like "Lettuce Ceylon".
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that → flock → Ceylon
Cooking and serving became a performance.
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Cooking → cook → ?
Dressed in a satin coat and blue silk turban, Smile salaamed in front of customers before enquiring, "Will you have the curry hot or mild, sahib?"
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curry → dress → customers
Pictures of Sherry's curry chef were soon splashed across newspapers and magazines.
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Pictures → splash → newspapers
One headline said it all: "New York women go wild over him."
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women → say → him
As his fame grew, Smile decided in 1901 to leave Sherry's and set up his own establishment, one exclusively devoted to Indian cuisine.
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Smile → grow → cuisine
For financial backing, he leaned on Roland R Conklin, a prominent financier, external and the inventor of an early version of the motorhome.
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he → lean → motorhome
Omar Khayyam, Smile's Indian restaurant, opened in late 1901 at 325 Fifth Avenue.
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Khayyam → open → Avenue
This was prime real estate, a block away from the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where, 29 years later, the Empire State Building would rise.
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Building → rise → Hotel
Smile adorned the restaurant with Indian draperies and hanging lanterns.
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Smile → adorn → draperies
As the New York Herald reported, a fleet of Indian waiters in "voluminous turbans" staffed the premises, as did a group of Indian musicians.
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group → report → musicians
Now quite the embodiment of the American immigrant success story, Smile eagerly awaited his customers and fans.
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Smile → await → customers
Alas, they never materialised.
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they → materialise → ?
Within a year, Omar Khayyam shuttered.
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Khayyam → shutter → year
The New York Sun claimed that people had "tired" of Indian fare, dismissing it as a passing fad.
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people → claim → fad
Smile's stardom, which had blazed so brightly in the Big Apple, also began to dim.
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which → blaze → Apple
Unfortunately, his showmanship and flare for theatrics shaded into deceit and criminal activity.
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showmanship → shade → deceit
Smile began claiming that he was, after all, not an everyday Joe but rather a prince, the son of the emir of Baluchistan, a fictional title.
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he → begin → Baluchistan
And, before opening Omar Khayyam, he made a quick visit to Bombay, where he pronounced himself to be a guest at the upcoming coronation of King Edward VII in London and recruited a retinue of staff: valets, a dancing girl, and "mahouts to drive his herds of elephants".
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himself → open → elephants
All of this was reported in New York newspapers like the Times because, as a subsequent federal case against him alleged, Smile illegally trafficked this staff into the US to work at his restaurant.
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Smile → report → restaurant
Instead of becoming a pioneer outpost of Indian gastronomy, Omar Khayyam nearly got Smile deported.
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Smile → become → gastronomy
"Prince" Joe Ranji Smile evaded deportation (many in his retinue were not as lucky) and went on evolving his invented persona, all while wooing and marrying a series of impressionable young American women.
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many → evade → women
He began claiming that Indian food was a secret elixir for female beauty.
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food → begin → beauty
"The eye will grow lustrous, the complexion will be yet so lovely," Smile promised, displaying his wives as clinching proof.
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Smile → grow → proof
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
