How Diverse Influences Shape a Midwestern Tasting Menu | Bon Appétit

"Agni's tasting menu is shaped by wide-ranging references. Practically every dish served at the Columbus, Ohio restaurant is an homage to a person or place who has inspired a member of the kitchen team. The recipe for Bengali goat curry is sourced directly from chef-owner Avishar Barua’s mother, spooned over a bed of ribbed pasta shells; a rohan duck adobo borrows from the teachings chef de cuisine James Garlock’s Filipino peers from culinary school; and a “Heckuvagood” sauce (adorning a chaat starter course) gestures to the Midwest’s cherished Heluva Good! dip. Like Barua, Agni is both Bengali-American and unmistakably Midwestern. It’s also deeply influenced by the restaurant’s kitchen team, most of whom hail from Oaxaca. In that spirit, the ever-changing menu may feature a duck mole or a cafe con pan-inspired dessert, conceived with direct input from Agni’s staff. The version of Agni’s menu, served in Spring 2024, begins with an idiosyncratic French onion chaat and ends with a cafe con pan bread pudding—fitting, artfully composed bookends for the story that Agni sets out to tell during each meal." - ByLi Goldstein