Avishar Barua on Agni, Joya's and Honoring Columbus

Just because a dish is well executed does not mean it has to feel stuffy. And just because you have culinary school training and a Michelin-starred kitchen on your resume does not mean you cannot dedicate your career to making dining the most fun part of someone's day. That is exactly what Avishar Barua is doing in Columbus, Ohio. And Columbus has never tasted better.Avishar Barua is a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist and the founder of Agni and Joya's, the two Columbus restaurants that make up Serious Fun, his restaurant group built around one beautiful and completely genuine philosophy: that serious hospitality and joyful dining are not opposites. They are the point. Agni is a tasting menu experience in the Brewery District where you can find a happy meal course and keeps candy at the bar. Joya's is a fast casual spot in Old Worthington where the chicken sandwich is messy and magnificent. Both feel like home. That is entirely on purpose.In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Avishar for one of the most wide-ranging and genuinely joyful conversations The Perfect Bite has ever had. From a Bengali American childhood in Columbus where he survived entirely on candy and his mom's strategically disguised rice balls, to a pre-med track at Ohio State that gave way to an organic chemistry A and a culinary epiphany. From a stage at Mission Chinese Food under Danny Bowien where he bought salt and vinegar chips for a dish and thought he was being hazed, to an unpaid stage at WD-50 where he got his ass kicked daily and then got hired. From a legendary taco at Service Bar that landed him in Food and Wine and on Top Chef Season 18, to the quiet, patient decade of building something in Columbus that honors the city, its immigrant restaurants, and its people, rather than trying to be New York.Columbus is Columbus. That is his whole philosophy. And it is more than enough.In this episode, we cover:Growing up Bengali American in Columbus surviving on candy, junk food, and his mom's strategically disguised rice ballsThe first memory of food he actually loved: Chinese food and chow fun noodlesDiscovering cooking in college out of necessity: a foil pan, chopsticks as a roasting rack, and a library cookbookCombining his biology and psychology degrees into a way of thinking about food and peopleHis brother's restaurant Eight: his first kitchen, where mac and cheese was made with bechamel and pot roast was actually burgundy braised short ribThe Columbus State ACF chef apprenticeship that let him work and learn simultaneouslyThe Mission Street Food cookbook that inspired him to pack up and move to New YorkStaging at Mission Chinese Food under Danny Bowien: buying salt and vinegar chips for a dish and thinking he was being hazedMission Chinese Food getting shut down by the Department of Health Walking down Clinton Street and into WD-50, sitting at the bar alone, and getting a bonus dessert courseThe unpaid two week stage at WD-50 and getting hired despite not being the fastest or most technically precise cookBeing at WD-50 for their James Beard Award, the Gelinaz 10-year anniversary dinner, and their closureReturning to Columbus, joining Middle West Spirits and Service BarThe cheesy brisket crunch taco: a Taco Bell inspired dish made with paratha that landed in Food and Wine and got him on Top Chef Season 18His TED Talk about the tacosWhy he believes Columbus chefs who blame their city for poor staff are simply not doing their jobHonoring the strip mall restaurants he grew up going to: Mi Li, Quang, Main MoonThe philosophy behind Agni: a tasting menu that includes a happy meal course and keeps it funJoya's: a fast casual spot built around genuine hospitality in a space with a lot of seatsBengali adda: the culture of hospitality that informs how both restaurants treat their guestsWhat Serious Fun might do next: wholesale production, white labeling, more halal and pescetarian-friendly menu itemsBeing a James Beard Award semifinalist in both 2024 and 2025 and what that means for ColumbusAdvice for founders: good things take time, the worst decisions are the ones made under pressureFind Avishar, Agni, and Joya's:Agni: 716 South High Street, Brewery District, Columbus. Wednesday through Sunday 5 PM to 11 PM. Reservations recommended. Walk-in bar seating available.Joya's: 657 High Street, Old Worthington, Columbus. Open six days a week.Instagram: @avishar, @dineatagni and @eatatjoyasRestaurant group: Serious FunSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!