Karan Raina
THE FOOD ARTIST IN SOUTH PASADENA BY NIKHIL BHAMBRI
S
outh Pasadena residents take pride in its peace, tranquility, neighborhood parks and high-quality schools. By and large, South Pasadena residents are happy to leave the dining and nightlife hubbub to Old Town Pasadena and Alhambra’s Main Street. However, in the last few years, an eclectic collection of restaurants and bars have sprung up on Mission Street. This new chapter began slowly when the Metro Stop opened and city leaders started to refurbish Mission Street. It accelerated in 2010 with the arrival of one bold restauranteur who was determined to test his luck in South Pasadena. The man’s success paved the way for other entrepreneurs. Today, the city’s original business district along Mission and El Centro streets is reclaiming its past glory as “Old Town” South Pasadena. The man behind the bustling energy is the enterprising, out-of-the-box thinker Karan Raina. Karan’s business success stems from his eagerness to constantly reinvent himself and his cooking style. His knack for understanding customers has allowed him to expand the culinary horizon of South Pasadena residents while fostering their sense of small-town community. “When you stay in a luxury Indian hotel, you do not need to go anywhere; everything is provided in the hotel,” he says about previous training. “If you want something, they will provide it even if it is not on the menu. You tell them what you want; they will do whatever they need to do to try and get it for you.” Karan brings this attitude of doing anything possible to unite South Pasadena residents around a shared love of food. Originally from New Delhi, Karan entered the restaurant business in 1995 when he opened Radhika Modern Indian in Alhambra. He soon relocated to Pasadena but had to shut the restaurant when his lease ran out in 2008. Two years later, in 2010, Karan opened Radhika Modern Indian at 966 Mission Street, South Pasadena. Most people discouraged Karan from opening his restaurant in South Pasadena because of the city’s relative lack of commercial activity. At that time, Mission Street had very little retail action except for a few family-owned antique stores. “This area was not looked at as a forward-moving kind of vibe,” says Kiran, Karan’s son. “No businesses were looking to jump here and invest a lot of money in starting a project, let alone a family, high-end restaurant.” Karan pioneered in bringing a full-service restaurant to the block, ultimately causing a restaurant ecosystem to gain momentum. “Now more restaurants want to come and get a piece of the pie,” Kiran says. A few years later, Griffin’s of Kinsdale, Simplee Boba, Bluefin Sushi and Roll, and La Monarca Bakery and Cafe opened on the same block. Radhika is housed in the historic Mission Arroyo Hotel. Inside, remnants of India come in contact with Los Angeles’ trendy, hipster culture. “Because my audience is all contemporary Southern Californian, I want to create a SoCal ambiance,” Karan says. “I do not want to overly clam things up with ethnic murals.” The blue painted walls, decorated with wine bottles, Indian paintings and artifacts, surround the smell of Indian spices and racy Bhangra/Bollywood music. Modern-looking blue-and-red-striped lamps hang from the ceiling. The vibe is completely different from most Indian restaurants where customers feel they have been transported to a Mughal Court or ancient temple in India. “India has a lot more than the Taj Mahal; there are many deeper layers, such as the cuisine,” Karan says. “Our decoration is not in-your-face Indian art. Instead, you see a subtle but often underappreciated aspect of Indian life, and we do it just to create the ambiance.” For example, the cloths on the sofas contain old Rajasthani-style icons, while the walls display photographs of Indian street shops.
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