RASA
Indian restaurant · Near Southeast ·
Customized bowls of deeply-flavored Indian fare with beer
Customized bowls of deeply-flavored Indian fare with beer
"Co-owners and Eater Young Guns (‘18) Sahil Rahman and Rahul Vinod started this local fast-casual brand to introduce Indian food to a broad audience. Choose from premade bowls highlighting chicken tikka, lamb kebab, shrimp, spiced beef, and more. Customers can also build their own, choosing from a base of vegetables or rice and adding mains, veggies, and toppings. End the meal on a sweet note with masala chai chocolate chip cookies and vegan soft serve. Pair the meal with icy bottles of Taj Mahal beer, cardamom mint juleps, and spiked lassis, which can be delivered in a coconut. Along with its newest Rockville outpost, the fast-growing brand maintains locations in Navy Yard, Arlington, Mt. Vernon Triangle, and Fairfax." - Tierney Plumb
"Co-founder Rahul Vinod tells Eater: “We got the call early this morning from the WCK team and then moved quickly to mobilize.” The team arrived at the Navy Yard location at 8:30 a.m. to prep and cook over 300 orders of its Tikka a Chance on Me and Aloo Need is Love bowls. Vinod did the drops himself at three locations: D.C. police air support, the DCA fire station, and DCA operations." - Tierney Plumb
"The VP enjoyed a mango lassi and discussed her love for idli with the owners." - Tierney Plumb
"The Mango Lassi at the fast-casual Indian destination comes with puréed fresh mango, saffron, dahi (yogurt), sugar, and water ($5). The colorful, traditional drink can be spiked with Cotton & Reed spiced rum." - Tierney Plumb, Vinciane Ngomsi
"As D.C. prepares to lift the majority of public health restrictions on businesses, the Indian-American owners of fast-casual RASA are personally grappling with the world’s worst wave of coronavirus cases. Owners Sahil Rahman and Rahul Vinod say they’ve lost more than 10 family members in India, making a faraway crisis that’s responsible for close to 250,000 (counted) deaths hit close to home. “Because it’s so far away it’s easy to not understand how bad it is,” Rahman says. “It’s the closest thing to a wartime situation.” The country is in dire need of oxygen, so to help from afar, RASA is sending 10 percent of proceeds from Aloo Need Is Love bowls full of sweet potato tikki towards Mission Oxygen India. They point to Diaspora Co.’s list of relief groups for other ways to donate. “The global community is finally starting to step up and provide support,” Rahman says. “Until we defeat COVID globally, we haven’t defeated it.”" - Tierney Plumb