The Unapologetic Foods team, led by Roni Mazumdar and chef Chintan Pandya, have made us so many amazing things to eat since they started working together—first at Rahi in the West Village, then at the game-changing Adda in Long Island City.
Making no concessions to timid palettes or squeamish menu-readers—bheja fry, which is mostly goat brain, was an early (and delicious) signature Adda dish—Mazumdar and Pandya subsequently went all in on their love for traditional, regional Indian food, and built a mini-empire of exceptional NYC restaurants, including Dhamaka, Semma, Masalawala, and Adda 2.0.
The duo's culinary convictions extend beyond India's borders, as well. So when Dhamaka's chef de cuisine Eric Valdez expressed an interest in running a place that celebrated the food of his native Philippines, the Unapologetic team opened Naks, a fancy-ish Filipino comfort food restaurant with Valdez as chef and partner.
And then last week, just two blocks down from Naks, they expanded their Filipino footprint further with Sanwits, a cool little spot that, as Valdez told Hell Gate, brings the flavors of Manila to the streets of the East Village. "These are the things I grew up eating," he said. "So our goal at Sanwits is to take something that is very familiar—the sandwich—and use it as a vessel to introduce New Yorkers to Filipino food in an approachable way."