OUR TEAM

Chef Vikram Sunderam

Executive Chef Vikram Sunderam, who has been with Rasika since pre-opening, is also a multiple times nominee for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic from the James Beard Foundation, as well as being a “Chef of the Year” candidate of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

Under the watchful eye of Bajaj and Sunderam’s direction in the kitchen, Rasika won “Best New Restaurant” in 2007, from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington and Zagat named it “Top New Restaurant” for the DC and Baltimore region that same year.

 

Atul Narain, Group General Manager

Atul Narain is the group general manager of both Rasika and Rasika West End.  He joined Restaurateur Ashok Bajaj in August of 2002 to work at The Bombay Club.  A native of New Delhi, India, Atul earned a hotel management diploma from the University of Delhi, and then launched into his hospitality career with Taj Hotels & Resorts in operations management. He would serve this prestigious company for over a decade and was tapped to be the food & beverage manager for the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi. Atul also worked at Hyatt Regency Delhi as assistant director of food & beverage while living in India.

At Knightsbridge, Atul has worked as part of the management team for The Bombay Club, 701 and The Oval Room before being tapped to open the highly acclaimed Rasika in Penn Quarter in December 2005 as general manager. Then in 2012, his role was expanded to oversee two restaurants, and Atul was integral to the successful opening of Rasika West End which earned three (out of four) stars in The Washington Post’s Fall Dining Guide. Atul was also named by Nycci Nellis of The List and featured in Eater as one of Washington’s top five general managers providing exceptional service for diners in 2012.