Indian eatery rated among USA's best

Rasika is one of two restaurants from Washington that make it to Esquire's list. The others are in Las Vegas, New York, LA and San Francisco.

An Indian restaurant in Washington is among the 20 best new restaurants in the US in 2006 named by leading men's magazine Esquire.

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Rasika, which opened in December, is one of two restaurants from Washington that make it to the list. The other 18 are in cities such as Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

With acclaimed chef Vikram Sundaram at the helm, Rasika shot up the popularity charts in less than a year, with its signature dishes like crispy spinach salad with date and tamarind sauce, and black cod with fresh dill cooked in a clay oven.

"It's an honour to be among the top 20," Sundaram told the Washington Business Journal.

"We're a modern restaurant, a young restaurant. People come here to have fun. The restaurant is buzzing," he said.

Sundaram had earlier worked for 14 years in the award-winning London restaurant Bombay Brasserie. He also created airline meals for Jet Airways and packaged Indian food for supermarkets.

The 140-seat Rasika is the latest offering of Indian American restaurant entrepreneur Ashok Bajaj in Washington. His other restaurants in the American capital include Bombay Club, the Oval Room, 701 and Ardeo and Bardeo.